Headache & pain help
Pain Management | April 20, 2019
I have been a Consultant Neurologist, working in the NHS UK since October 2005. My interest is mainly management of headache, migraine and pain. I very much enjoy what I do, but early on I discovered my limitations within the NHS system.
We all live in a very busy environment and expect a quick fix for all our problems. So, we go to see our GP and expect painkillers, some of us get referred to a pain service or consultant specialists for help. Most patients are offered various pain medications. Unfortunately, when it is about chronic headache and pain management, this ‘quick fix’ doesn’t work and actually makes the situation worse.
Chronic headache, Migraine and any type of pain might be a complex medical problem. Headache sufferers are often told “it’s probably just stress related” and offered analgesia which makes the problem even worse, putting many of you into a “vicious cycle” of taking more and more painkillers and having increasingly frequent headaches and difficulty to cope with job and family. This annoying dismissal of the impact of stress on such a complex neurological disorder may be frustrating but it is also partially correct.
When pain starts to interfere with your everyday life, it is time to seek expert advice and get the problem diagnosed first, knowing if there is a source of the pain, e.g. slipped disc, arthrosis in a hip joint or it is tension or stress in your life triggering migraine or chronic tension headache… a correct diagnosis is of utmost importance, because that can significantly improve our success when trying to manage pain.
As a medical professional I was always very ambitious, aiming for pain freedom when treating my patients, but recently when battling my own battle with pain after a major surgery I realized that even with all advancements in medicine this is often not achievable. So, despite all the logical and correct interventions I experienced excruciating pain and simply needed to fight my own battle learning to manage life with pain. Luckily for me this lasted only a few weeks and the healing process looked after it very well.
This very personal experience strengthened my decision to start the motion and help NHS patients who reached the end of the blind street and were told that there is nothing else to help them to treat their pain, headache or migraine…
I decided to find partners around Europe, medical expert and centers with a holistic approachable to offer not just pharmacological advice but also nonpharmacological treatments not available in the NHS, such as intense physio and rehabilitation programs.
Since 2014 me and my colleagues, we visited multiple locations and selected the most reputable European centres located in beautiful Medical Spa Towns, where vast expertise and cutting-edge technologies comes hand in hand with the tradition.
I established Medical Spa Partners.
Our mission is to assist you to access cutting edge physio, rehab & pain programs tailored to your needs, to achieve the best possible recovery and help you to return back to your active life.
Please look at our web pages and see if one of our treatment programs might help with your problem. Get in touch with us, we can advise you on our treatment programs we designed together with our expert partners.
You might wish to have a consultation with one of our consultant physicians to establish what your diagnosis is and which of our medical centres would be the most suitable to help you.
On my blog, I will try to address one medical issue every week, starting with headache. This might help you understand some of your problems and help you manage them better. However often without seeing the patient, this might just be a guidance, but not full medical advice.
I have been a Consultant Neurologist, working in the NHS UK since October 2005. My interest is mainly management of headache, migraine and pain. I very much enjoy what I do, but early on I discovered my limitations within the NHS system.
We all live in a very busy environment and expect a quick fix for all our problems. So, we go to see our GP and expect painkillers, some of us get referred to a pain service or consultant specialists for help. Most patients are offered various pain medications. Unfortunately, when it is about chronic headache and pain management, this ‘quick fix’ doesn’t work and actually makes the situation worse.
Chronic headache, Migraine and any type of pain might be a complex medical problem. Headache sufferers are often told “it’s probably just stress related” and offered analgesia which makes the problem even worse, putting many of you into a “vicious cycle” of taking more and more painkillers and having increasingly frequent headaches and difficulty to cope with job and family. This annoying dismissal of the impact of stress on such a complex neurological disorder may be frustrating but it is also partially correct.
When pain starts to interfere with your everyday life, it is time to seek expert advice and get the problem diagnosed first, knowing if there is a source of the pain, e.g. slipped disc, arthrosis in a hip joint or it is tension or stress in your life triggering migraine or chronic tension headache… a correct diagnosis is of utmost importance, because that can significantly improve our success when trying to manage pain.
As a medical professional I was always very ambitious, aiming for pain freedom when treating my patients, but recently when battling my own battle with pain after a major surgery I realized that even with all advancements in medicine this is often not achievable. So, despite all the logical and correct interventions I experienced excruciating pain and simply needed to fight my own battle learning to manage life with pain. Luckily for me this lasted only a few weeks and the healing process looked after it very well.
This very personal experience strengthened my decision to start the motion and help NHS patients who reached the end of the blind street and were told that there is nothing else to help them to treat their pain, headache or migraine…
I decided to find partners around Europe, medical expert and centers with a holistic approachable to offer not just pharmacological advice but also nonpharmacological treatments not available in the NHS, such as intense physio and rehabilitation programs.
Since 2014 me and my colleagues, we visited multiple locations and selected the most reputable European centres located in beautiful Medical Spa Towns, where vast expertise and cutting-edge technologies comes hand in hand with the tradition.
I established Medical Spa Partners.
Our mission is to assist you to access cutting edge physio, rehab & pain programs tailored to your needs, to achieve the best possible recovery and help you to return back to your active life.
Please look at our web pages and see if one of our treatment programs might help with your problem. Get in touch with us, we can advise you on our treatment programs we designed together with our expert partners.
You might wish to have a consultation with one of our consultant physicians to establish what your diagnosis is and which of our medical centres would be the most suitable to help you.
On my blog, I will try to address one medical issue every week, starting with headache. This might help you understand some of your problems and help you manage them better. However often without seeing the patient, this might just be a guidance, but not full medical advice.