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Seymour Diamond

Dr. Seymour Diamond 1925-2019

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Today the National Headache Foundation announced the death of its Executive Chairman and Founder, Seymour Diamond, M.D., who passed away today. The migraine and headache fighting community has lost a great champion.

For those of you who don’t know Dr. Diamond, he was known around the world not only as a headache doctor, but also a researcher, writer, leader, and advocate.

In October 1964, Dr. Diamond published an article on “Depressive Headaches”, the beginning of writing over 500 articles in professional literature. He became a tireless advocate for migraine patients. He wrote or co-wrote over 60 books. His books were very important as I was developing my own understanding of migraine and beginning to write articles myself 16 years ago.

Diamond founded the Diamond Headache Clinic, and was one of the founders of the National Headache Foundation. In 2012 he co-authored his life story, Headache Godfather: The Life and Times of Seymour Diamond, M.D. In 2015, he edited the textbook Headache and Migraine Biology and Management. His hard work for migraine patients was ongoing even in his later years.

Everyone who is fighting against migraine and advocating for migraine patients owes a lot to Dr. Diamond. We will miss him, and we know that many others are carrying on the work thanks to his encouragement.

Condolences to those that Dr. Diamond leaves behind – his wife of 71 years Elaine, his daughters Judi, Merle, and Amy, and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I hope that there will be many remembering Dr. Diamond and the good that he has done around the world, and that this will be a comfort to his family at this time.

The family has requested contributions in his memory be made to the National Headache Foundation.

Headache Godfather

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I’m very excited to announce a new book – a book about a headache specialist, who has been often quoted here, and who continues (at the age of 87) to fight for headache patients.

The book is called Headache Godfather.  It’s the story of Dr. Seymour Diamond, who founded the first private headache practice in the USA.

Let me just quote the first bit of the book:

Headache Godfather

In a series of cards and letters that Dr. Seymour Diamond received after announcing his retirement from the Diamond Headache Clinic, there’s a phrase that appears frequently and is most often followed by an exclamation point: “You saved my life!”

You might expect that statement in a letter to an emergency-room physician who’d literally helped his patients cheat death when they’d suffered physical trauma from automobile accidents or other violent disasters, but Seymour is a headache doctor.  And these expressions of gratitude come from people who suffered from diseases that had no treatment-and little respect as an actual disease-until Dr. Diamond with his pioneering headache-medicine mentors and peers accepted their patients’ head pain complaints as legitimate and treatable medical conditions.

Whatever you may or may not know about Dr. Diamond and his work, this much is clear: the world of headache and migraine treatment has been completely transformed in his lifetime – and his work was at the heart of that transformation.

This book is brand new, and would make a great gift for anyone who is interested in headache and migraine treatment.  Not only do you get history and a fascinating biography, you’ll also learn about the “secret” world of migraine treatment – politics, medicine, doctors, patients, suffering – so many things meet together (and not always on friendly terms!) in that world.

The book is available in paperback.  It’s also available in amazon UK.

This book is actually the personal memories of Dr. Diamond, written by Charlie Morey.  Now Mr. Morey told me the story behind the story – he’s actually Dr. Diamond’s son-in-law.  Pretty cool!  So you know you will get a personal touch from Dr. Diamond that you probably wouldn’t see elsewhere.

In addition, Mr. Morey has allowed me to offer you the first few pages of the book to whet your appetite!  So if you’ve read this far, here’s your bonus – download the first bit of Headache Godfather here (pdf 537kb).

Speaking of Dr. Diamond, I was just reminded of one of his other books (did you know he has published 73 books?!) which is actually another fun gift for a headache patients.  It’s called Headache Through the Ages, and you can still get it at amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.  It’s a fascinating tour through history, looking at interesting headache patients and unbelievable treatments.  I have one here in front of me – beautiful book.

But back to Headache Godfather – thanks again to Charlie Morey and Dr. Seymour Diamond for this book!  Check it out here.  Enjoy! 🙂

Larry King Live today

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If you’re able to get the US television station CNN (Cable News Network), you may want to catch Larry King Live today.  The topic is migraine.  There will be a whole collection of migraine advocates and medical professionals there, including Dr. Seymour Diamond, founder of the Diamond Headache Clinic, Susan Olson, former Brady Bunch star, migraine sufferer and spokesperson for migraine awareness, Lee Grant (actress/director), Dr Frank Lawlis, and Shawn King.

Check your listings for the time of the show.  I believe in North America it comes on from 9-10pm Eastern Time.  Check out the official Larry King Live page for information about the show.  If you can’t catch it, check this CNN page tomorrow for a transcript.  Then come back here to look around the site for more information on what you’ve heard! 😉

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