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Are you satisfied with your doctor/specialist?

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Here are the results of our (unscientific) poll: Are you satisfied with your doctor/specialist?

Google Chart

So as you can see, 49%, the biggest group, were not satisfied.  But close behind were those who were satisfied, at 43%.

Of course there can be lots of reasons for this.  Naturally we as patients are responsible to take the time to find the specialist that we need.

But why are so many not satisfied?  Is it maybe that we don’t understand what our doctors are trying to do?  Not enough communication?  Does this simply reflect frustration because we haven’t found the "right" treatment yet?  Do we feel the specialist doesn’t have the expertise, or that they don’t have an open mind?

We’re going to try to answer these questions with our next poll, because obviously this is a big issue.  I know there are a lot of great doctors and specialists out there, so let’s see if we can get to the bottom of this.

This next poll is a little different – you can choose up to three answers.  Share your thoughts – the poll is in the right sidebar.

Migraine Art (video)

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For some time I’ve wanted to highlight some of the fantastic headache art and migraine art that is being submitted by visitors like you.  The YouTube video below will give you a glimpse of the reality of living with various types of migraine, and also an insight into the incredible creativity and talent that’s out there.

Why migraine art?  Art has a way of speaking when words aren’t enough.  You can express incredible pain, actual visual hallucinations, frustration, and hope.  Art is also used as a way to make better diagnosis.

After some testing, I want to make this a permanent feature, which means you can share your migraine art here.  And it’s not limited to migraine – cluster headache patients are welcome, as well as those with tension type headache and various chronic headache types.

Do you want to use art to help your loved ones understand?  An excellent resource is Migraine Expressions.  Also you’ll want to have a closer look at the art in the video here.  The artists explain their pictures, and other people (like you!) can leave comments!

Also, if you missed it, be sure to read the interview with Jim Chambliss here and here, who is conducting a study on migraine art and epilepsy art.  You may want to be a part of the study.

Thanks to everyone who has given us new insight by sharing their art.  If you want to share yours, you can do so here.

Health Insurance – 6 ways to Maximize Your Coverage

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When finances get tight, it’s more important than ever to be sure you’re getting the coverage you need from your insurance company.  But for people with migraine, or chronic daily headache, et cetera, things aren’t always so simple.  Sometimes it turns out that, when you most need the help, the insurance company lets you down.

Health insurance
Image © Yury Shirokov | Dreamstime.com

We’ve talked about this issue before.  We discovered from our online health insurance poll that about 30% of you still pay at least 50% of the cost of your medications out of pocket.  From many of your comments I’ve been reminded that we’re often reluctant to use treatments that could help because of the cost.  And remember the challenge of getting the drugs you need when you need them.

So what do you do?  Well, our visitors have risen to the challenge to share their best tips in the most recent Community Question.  I’ll let you read their comments for yourself, but here are some brief ideas to make sure you get the funding you need, when you need it:

  • Be involved – be involved in your treatment, be involved with the insurance company – don’t just sit back and accept whatever happens.
  • Be persistent – don’t give up!  Go through the process, ask questions, ask "why", ask for information, talk to someone else, find another doctor.
  • Be creative – think outside the box.  Try to see it from the other person’s perspective.  Keep your eyes open for other options.
  • Be organized – keep records on file, have a copy of your insurance policy, take note of who you last talked to on the phone.
  • Be informed – know the facts and myths about your treatment, know the latest options and discoveries (hey, you’ve come to the right place!), know the official policies of your insurance company, know the law, know about the options the drug company may offer.
  • Be bold – don’t be afraid to ask and question and ask again.  Remember, you’re not only helping yourself, you’re helping those that come after you in a similar situation!

But you’ve heard enough from me – go and see what our visitors had to say in our new article – Insurance: Getting covered with headache and migraine

Meet the author!

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Meet James

No, you don’t have to travel to a blog-signing somewhere, or wait for a specific date (when you might have a headache anyway!).  You can meet me right now, through my new "Life of a Migraineur" series.

Sometimes it helps to know what someone else has gone through.  Maybe you’d just like to see the person behind the Headache and Migraine News Blog.  If so, here’s the series – it’s long… I mean, in-depth, 😉 so it’s in several parts:

  • Part 1: Childhood of a Migraineur – Actually, I got off to a rather traumatic start.  First of all, I really didn’t want to leave the womb.  This resulted in hours and hours of labour for my poor Mom – and I blame it all on my own stubbornness…
  • Part 2: Diagnosis – Go west, young man.  And I did. I went west with my parents, to the great beautiful prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada…
  • Part 3: Intense treatment – Many of you reading already know what a migraine attack is like.  So I don’t want to go into all the details.  But I will at least give a hint of what an attack might be like in this point of my life…
  • Part 4: Intense research – Life went on during all of this treatment, and I learnt a lot of life lessons as well as lessons about migraine.  For example, you can’t put your life on hold while you wait to see if the next treatment will work…
  • Part 5: Connections – The hard work I put into the website, blog and ezine has been worth it – and the proof is in the feedback I’ve gotten.  Actually, it wasn’t long before I started getting emails that told me I wasn’t alone in my frustration with with misinformation and missing information about migraine and headaches…

If you’d rather start with the short version, visit What is the Headache and Migraine News Blog?

By the way, the picture is of my son and I on a recent vacation.  🙂

Headache and Migraine News Blog – new look!

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If you’re reading this through an RSS news feed, you may not have been over to visit the site lately.  If not, you won’t know that the Headache and Migraine News Blog has a new look (and a new domain name – more on that later)!  Here’s a recent snapshot:

The Headache and Migraine News Blog

This past January I decided to try moving Headache and Migraine News to the blogging software known as WordPress.  The move was a success, so I’ve taken the time to more carefully design things (with a little help from Thesis) so that you have more resources at your fingertips, and are better able to interact with other visitors so that the community here can really work together.

You’ll see many of the features that were here before, plus some new ones – a list of recent article updates, an about page, and a sitemap.  And there’s more to come!  This is all part of a plan to revitalize things over the next few months, so that you can find more practical, clear information for fighting headache and migraine.  Thanks for visiting!

Note: This blog also has a new domain name. Find it at headacheandmigrainenews.com

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The articles on Headache and Migraine News are © 2004-2026 J. Cottrill.
Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of each article, and to point you to further sources of information. However, this site is for informational purposes only and should never replace a visit to your doctor.