Posted by Barbara D. (152.163.213.176) on July 30, 1999 at 12:49:14:
In Reply to: better off at a PAIN MANAGEMENT CLINIC posted by Michael on July 30, 1999 at 10:27:55:
Michael,
Where do you find these "pain management" clinics?
The clinic in Houston is run by one of the most "respected" headache specialitsts in the country (not my opinion at all - I think he's a quack!). I was in pain and they said they could help me. When I talked to him, he "said" he knew and treated lots of CH patients. I was then put on the assembly line with all the migraines and by the time I realized I needed to get the heck out of there, I was already $5000 poorer.
Think that is a BIG problem. How do we know who to go to? Just because someone says they are a specialist in pain management doesn't necessarily mean they've ever heard of a CH.
I think that's why this board is so great. We come here not knowing a lot about our illness and most of us have been to a lot of doctors who said they could help us, but turned out not to know as much as we did. With the board, we can "research" before we go to the doc armed. A few question to the doc and we KNOW if he knows anything. Wish I'd had this board when I was first diagnosed. It would probably have saved me a lot of pain, not to mention $$Ks in medical expenses. But the fact is when I was diagnosed, I thought Clusters were Migraines. And there wasn't anyone around to correct me including my doctor (who has learned a lot more than he wanted to know about CH since he started trying to get me help.). And if I can help anyone who reads this board avoid some of the things I've been through, then it's worth every dime it costs us.
Hugs BD