Dr. Joseph R. Cohen Southwest Pain Management Associates

Carol A. Foster, MD Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Chief of the Headache Division

Marshall University Medical Center Neuroscience

Dear “website” visitor:

Thank you for visiting our web site. After years of helping those whose suffer with headaches, we at Valley Neurological Headache and Research Center understand how miserable trying to live life with a headache can be! Are you ready to do something about those headaches? Well, first make sure you have seen a doctor. A headache, like a cough or bleeding is a symptom of a disease. You will not get better until you stop treating the symptom and start treating the disease.

Migraine, cluster and other related headache problems are chronic inherited diseases. Like diabetes, asthma and epilepsy it is so difficult to accept and finally interrogate a disease into your life. We would like to help. We offer information on this web site, the book: Gotta Headache , and the comprehensive treatment program at our headache clinic.

I know you want your headaches to just go away, but they will not. In fact, every headache you have makes it easier for your brain to have the next one. Many medications used to stop a headache will actually cause you to have more headaches. This is known as medication overuse headache or rebound headaches. In addition, many of the foods you are eating and how you are eating is making it easier to have a headache. Once again you have to treat the disease, not the symptom. If you had pneumonia you would not get better taking cough syrup!

Migraine and cluster headaches are caused by a very complicated combination of chemical and electrical problems in the brain. Researchers have not determined the exact problem but we do know it is not caused by a “bad” marriage, “bad” job, “bad” sinuses, or a “bad” uterus. It is equally inherited. Many men have migraine but are never diagnosed correctly because their attacks do not have the typical symptoms of migraine therefore they are treated for tension headache or sinus headache. Children's headaches are frequently missed as well. Remember migraine is an inherited disease, don't ignore—treat it!

Sincerely,
Carol A. Foster, M.D.

Call our clinic about Migraine Diet Counseling while you continue to see your current headache doctor. You do not have to be a Valley Neurological Headache & Research patient to have a diet visit!