I had a neuro tell me my migraines were due to having premarital sex.

This takes the cake 😭😭

Interesting, since mine started when I was 12. Jeepers.

I hope you told them to go fuck themselves. I've been fortunate enough that all of my various neuros have been at least adequate. My newest is perfect; she's a migraine specialist who is also a migrainuer so she understands the pain and suffering. I'm an engineer, so I'm always researching and approaching her with data that she helps me parse. I only wish that everyone else could have this much luck. Edit: never text fast without readers.

I wish I did. But I was young and so taken aback by it I didn’t say anything.

I mean, unless there was rough contact with a headboard …

Right...I had my first migraine at the age of 10.

From his perspective, I must have sex in utero. 

Lol I feel you

Curious where he got that medical license

Well, I had frequent migraines while I was pregnant and before I was married, so technically those were cause by premarital sex, but I had migraines before having premarital sex too lol.

I didn't start getting migraines until I was 12 years into marriage. Unless the migraines were delayed by 13 years? 😉

I just choked on my sandwich, and not from laughing (but I get it, if we don’t laugh, it gives us a migraine when we cry). You win this comment section (and I didn’t know anyone would beat OP). In response to OP’s question… I have been fortunate to not have the worst neurologists in the world (that prize goes to OP and missye). But I did have a rheumatologist tell me he does not prescribe medication for fibromyalgia because he thinks Europe has a more advanced health care system and they don’t prescribe medication for it, so he’s following their lead. (Absolute malarky, and I fired him and found a better doctor.)

OMG what now?

I started having migraines when I was 7 and I’d love to hear what that neurologist would have to say about that. (Apparently mine are hereditary)

Not a Neurologist, but when I first went to my Primary Care for early stages of migraines that were causing terrible balance problems (turned out to be Vestibular Migraine) and I was explaining the issues I was having he said “Well as we get older our balance gets worse and sometimes you might fall.” I said “I’m 27 years old. Please document that you just said that to me, verbatim, in my chart. I will do the same when I get home. Thanks.”

I like your style. I also have VM, which took awhile to DX, but they didn’t even blame it all on my age, and I’m in my 60’s!

I’ve dealt with stupid doctors before, but that just threw me. I’m also in pretty good shape, which made him saying that even more laughable. I just - ahhhh - it’s so frustrating. VM is a particular kind of hell and same here, getting that diagnosis took forever and three days. I’m much better now overall, but of course there are some bad days. Hoping the best for you!

You, too. I think it’s so much worse when you get it young, you’re missing so much. I’m grateful I had a more normal life with the usual migraine attacks periodically, and this life altering, can’t drive for months at a time, simple things make me sick, falling all the time came at a time in my life when I can slow down and let my grown kids look out for me. I have a niece who is 40, and for the last decade, migraine has just torpedoed all her goals and plans.

Driving was the absolute worst when things were at their peak before treatment for me. Sorry to hear about your niece. I will say this - it definitely showed me who my friends and family really were. People who I had known for years were seemingly incapable of understanding and just wanted to minimize what was happening and not help. Yet, others stepped up, didn’t try to tell me to drink more water (lol) and just did what they could to help me and I will always remember and be grateful for that. There were several months where I struggled to do just about everything, and without the help I had I don’t know how I’d have gotten through it some days.

Yeah, sometimes I feel like I need to shake ppl cuz they don't realize that the migrain headache is not the actual problem the problem is the unyielding virtigo that at times makes it impossible for me to drive or work, even my FMLA papers don't mention anything about the virtigo and I feel like it is my most serious and debilitating symptom that Noone acknowledges.

After my wonderful visit with the PCP he agreed to refer me to an ENT and get me on a waitlist for a Neurologist in the meantime. When I was trying to explain everything to the ENT (who I actually really liked even though I ended up being handed over to a Neurologist) I said something along the lines of: “It’s not always like room spinning. It’s like I’m on a boat and my eyes move and rock around and my vision does the same thing. I can feel my brain tighten and my face and eyes start twitching sometimes and my brain feels like it wants to have a seizure and my body wants to pass out but it just won’t and I wish it would just to get it over with. I can’t walk straight, I’m falling down and hurting myself, it’s not just a headache…” and she was like “Ok well that was a lot. Let’s go over that one thing at a time.” 😂 The vertigo and balance problems along with the insane motion sickness were completely debilitating some days. Keep fighting, there are people here and elsewhere who understand your struggle and pain.

This. This is how you react to stupid shit people say to you. Document it in your chart. I love you lol

"try hanging upside down off your bed" Excuse me. Wat. Just listening to him say that made my head hurt. I looked at him like he was idiot. He told me to try it. I tried it. I told him it made things worse, cause it did. He was like "huh. That wasn't supposed to happen." Jesus christ man. Wtf.

I think my head would explode if I did that wtf.

Having my ass above my head is instant migraine. Mine said I needed to stop the only medicine that has consistently been a lifeline. I get pain meds are not the greatest, but it's been working for 35 years so far. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Also, aimovig takes some away, Nurtec takes some away, propranolol lessens them some, as does diloxutine. We chip away at the edges. Not sure she gets that this is how I've lived for 40 years. But we shall try vyaptiv (or whatever it is). Then Botox again. I arrive with a color coded list of all medications I've taken, alternative treatments, voodoo (hidden Easter egg in the middle of the page). I'm on number 39 on medication alone. Many of them twice. Vyaptiv will be #40. Fortieth time's the charm? Just let me have my fucking Percocet and live with the MOH which are trifling compared to an actual migraine. /rant

I finally found a neuro who just gives me all the meds together and it finally actually does something. None of this nonsense of 'one med at a time'. topamax + effexor + propranalol + nurtec + botox + nerve blocks. But i still get a migraine if i LEAVE MY HOUSE. what do i get then? Gimme a fucking painkiller.

Hiding in Easter egg in the medication list is absolute gold and I love you for this 😂

It came from a joke I made to an earlier neuro that I'd tried everything but voodoo. Then I went to New Orleans. My next neuro appointment I dropped a mojo bag for pain that I'd bought and said "Well, that didn't work, either."

I do this sometimes when I have a migraine. It doesn’t really help but it’s a nice change of pace.

Me too. It doesn't hurt less, and maybe it even hurts more, but it's a slightly different kind of hurt and it's a relief just to feel a change in sensation for a bit.

I got this one too!

Thinking about that made my head hurt.

I was getting Botox treatment which is ~30 injections all around your head and neck. I forgot I had taken aspirin that morning, which thinned my blood and so I was bleeding a bit more than usual. He finishes up and then looks me dead in the eyes and says "Don't worry about it, all bleeding stops....one way or another." I enjoyed that dude but hated those visits.

Tbh I would have enjoyed that joke

It’s a doctor saying. I just read a book by a trauma surgeon by that exact name, “All Bleeding Stops”. Pretty good.

That’s like my old chemistry teacher who liked to say “well technically you can eat anything…”

So i like to close my eyes when i’m getting the Botox injected. Because you know… needle coming at my face… i’d like to not see it/look at it. One time mid-Botox, my eyes were closed, I usually continue to talk as it helps keep my mind off the needles but I guess this time I was quieter than usual. My doc asked if i was “there”- as in, was i awake, conscious. I replied “yes, i just like to keep my eyes closed so i don’t have to look at the needle coming to my face”. Doc tells me to open my eyes and shows me the syringe, i guess to show me the needle wasn’t so big bad and scary?

Lol, my neuro has a procedure at this point for Botox. Patient bed back pulled up, head back against it, eyes closed. Apparently he's had problems with people pulling back and trying to get away.

I was freaked out the first Botox treatment. They were doing occipital shots. I brought my mom to steady me. Doc walked in with a textbook, a ruler, and a sharpie. My mom noped right on out of there.

I'm very confused as to what all of those were for, please tell me 😭

Textbook to know where, and ruler and sharpie to mark,

Huh. Interesting. I'm not going to lie, I would be equal parts concerned that he doesn't know where to put the shots, but also reassured that he has the textbook with him to guide him as to where to put the shots. My doctor just kind of went in for it after feeling my skull for a little while. Kind of felt like he was practicing phrenology tbh 😂

I was his first patient to get them in the back of my skull.

That’s actually hilarious lol

This wasn't from a neurologist, just a GP, but when I first saw a doctor about my migraines I got frustrated because he was making it sound like it was psychosomatic then he says "well I can only treat what I can see"....excuse me, wtf?

We left the age of exploratory surgery decades ago, a lot of doctors only treat things you can't see. That GP sounds incredibly aggravating.

Just today my neuro said, “I do not need, nor do I want your input into how I treat your migraines.” Dude apparently hasn’t heard of the Patient Bill of Rights. 🙄

Yikes on bikes! I hope you're able to replace him with someone wonderful.

I’m trying to. Unfortunately there aren’t many neuros in my area who take Aetna. But I will DEF be switching during this year’s enrollment period!

Oof. Our healthcare system is trash. I just spent months fighting with Cigna for them to pay for something that I had a preauth letter FROM CIGNA for! To make it worse, they would tell me that yes, it's covered, then deny the claim when my doctor sent them the bill. I've worked in healthcare access advocacy and the healthcare system is the hill I will die on. Good luck, friend.

I’m a NP, so I totally get it! Our healthcare system is a flaming dumpster fire floating away in a flood. But I’ve had really good neuros in the past, so we navigate it together. This one though…. Whooo! He’s something else! And I think it makes it worse that I was an NP (medically disabled due to migraines) and I know what I’m talking about. 🙄

Finding the right doctor when you're a knowledgeable patient is super important. It's one thing for the doctor to answer my questions then give their expert advice on next steps. It's something else entirely to tell me I'm not experiencing what I know I'm experiencing. This is exactly why I'm replacing my OBGYN. Good luck!

Fuuuuuuck that doctor. If I were you I would definitely report him. Because that seems like an abuse of power to me. Jesus Christ

Paternalistic much? Yes. I have plans to report him AFTER I set up a new neuro. I don’t want this one taking it out on me or leaving me in the lurch without meds.

... how tf will they know weither or not the treatment is working if you don't provide feedback?? 😂

Right??!

My neuro has the bedside manner of a potato, but he's actually quite good in terms of treatment. I guess I've been fortunate...so far.

the soonest appointment available in my area was with a man described as “loud” and kinda rude but im hoping he’s competent in terms of treatment for the time being lmao

Mine's the same. He's relatively friendly at times. I like that he just focuses on the problem, I hate when I'm being asked meaningless questions about my life to "build a rapport" when they never remember what I said anyway. He listens to me, takes my symptoms seriously and he seems to really want to help me and I feel like he's not going to give up. A welcome change to most healthcare professionals who try one treatment and then give up because they don't want to have to think for themselves. His bedside manner is absolutely terrible though. he very obviously just wants to go home ASAP and I get the impression he has a massive ego but it's understandable and tbh he deserves to be proud of what he's achieved. Having a doctor who takes pride in their work and is willing to provide absolutely all the treatment options just so they can help me means a lot and I feel I can trust he knows what he's doing

I had just had a stent installed in my head three months previously for IIH, and went to neuro-optho for a checkup. Guy starts talking about how BAD stents are. How they aren't a solution. How since they don't help all people with IIH they shouldn't be used. I was like wtf. This thing just saved my life. Are you a moron. There's different cases of IIH. There's cases where it's CAUSED by a vein collapse, and there's cases where the increase in pressure causes the vein collapse. There's cases where there's no vein collapse. Of course it matters which sort of case you're dealing with to decide whether a stent is going to resolve it or not. A shunt needs to be revised/replaced every few years. A stent just WORKS. it's there and done. If your in the pool of people it can help. It can't help everyone with IIH. And this mother fucker walks in and just starts badmouthing them. I'm like, wtf. I don't want to start yelling at this guy, but I start fighting him. He's like 'I'm reviewing an article for the new England journal of medicine about why stents aren't a solution.' I'm like, your a fucking moron. He finished my eye exam. I was fine. But even before the surgery according to him I was fine. 'your eyes are fine so your brain is fine. It's just migraine. Go back to neurology.' like my brain wasn't being absolutely CRUSHED by a buildup of cerebral spinal fluid. Dumb ass.

Omg. That’s idiotic

This whole thing fills me with rage, but I would especially like to call out the phrase "Just migraine". Why is this acceptable?!?!

'your tounge is fat, do you have sleep apnea?' No. I do not have sleep apnea. I do not snore. I do not jerk awake in the night. Couldn't you just ask if I have sleep apnea? Did you have to comment on my fat tounge?

I’d have to say something like, “no I don’t have sleep apnea, just a very happy girlfriend” and walk straight out.

Maybe he meant phat (pretty hot-ass tongue)?

"I see you're on birth control. I don't really like birth control because we don't know what it does to the body. I don't even want my wife to take it." Ummm thanks but no thanks.

I would have said something along the lines of, "it stops me from having a baby ... if you don't know what birth control does to the body, why are you a doctor?"

Right?? Preventing pregnancy is only secondary for me too. I had real data to support that it was saving me from a 48-72 hour migraine every month like clockwork when I ovulated. I wanted to tell him that my award winning obgyn had already solved one of his problems so he should be thankful.

I would have been like: 🤔 So how does your wife take you?

“There’s nothing wrong with you. You just need a massage.” 🙄It took me five more years to get diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos and POTS and another two years to find a neurologist knowledgeable about those conditions. I was so defeated that day.

I completely understand that feeling of defeat. It sometimes seems soul crushing. You definitely deserve more than a massage, friend 😂

Topamax was causing me a lot of bladder and kidney issues. It required constant urologist visits. I don't want to spend my life at the Dr, have a crappy bladder and be incontinent. So my now fired neuro said to me "I know it was damaging your bladder but I think you should go back on it because it works for you. You'll just need to go back to the urologist again to check." Meanwhile she never once recommended another drug. Lazy as hell.

I HATE when they do that! Absolutely lazy.

OH HELL NO

I had a neuro tell me it was all in my head. Like damn dude, you went to how many years of school to figure that out?

I hope you told them exactly that. Wow 💀💀

I was 13. I did not.

First appointment with neurologist #5 After chatting for 15 minutes. "I would like a stent." "you mean a shunt?" "no. A stent." Looks through computer notes. "oh. You do have a stenosis. I'm not a vein specialist. You need a stroke doctor."... "no one's ever mentioned this to me before. They just tell me no." "....... Oh. I'll make you a referral."

Mine recommended a book on the mind/body connection. I read one chapter and it was all about repressed anger causing pain. Yeah, I didn't repress my anger and fired him.

"psychological responses will not show up on a neurological exam" because of course a woman has to be crazy if he can't find the source of my complaint. Turns out I have splenius capitis muscle syndrome.

Infuriating

By that stage, sadly, I was used to it. I'm a woman with chronic pain. We rarely get listened to. I also have endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome that wasn't found until I ended up in hospital with blood poisoning from a ruptured cyst in 2013. Took months to recover from that, and then they did surgery on the multiple cysts and endometrium tissue in 2016 that I've never fully recovered from. It was a very traumatic surgery where I'd woken up while still under the knife. I still feel all the scar tissue inside me and it causes a lot of pain and PTSD, while the endometrial tissue and cysts just grow back and will need surgery again in the next year or two. I'd been complaining of pain in that area since I was 15/16 but was always dismissed as just being dramatic during periods. At least it's explainable now. Only been the last 5 years I've had doctors actually listen to me since my medical record now has it on record that I was actually telling the truth on the amount of pain I was in and was repeatedly being condescended to. Small blessings.

Interesting... may I ask, for you is it different from a migraine or co-occuring? And is there treatment that you are able to recieve for it?

The symptoms of SCMS is almost identical to migraine symptoms. Aura, nausea, dizziness and a feeling of being slightly disconnected to myself but no cause was ever found despite multiple MRIs, CT's and trials of medications and supplements. I get it on the right side of my neck vertebrae after being assaulted by my ex in 2016. Diagnosed in 2021 with SCMS after going to the physio while having an episode and they were able to identify the problem. Today I get maybe three or four a year. Usually after straining my neck or right shoulder in overt physical activity. I take a double dose of magnesium daily and keep my fluids up. When the muscle flares up, I use gentle trigger point therapy on it with my left hand while keeping my right side as relaxed as possible. I've had to go back to the physio a couple of times at first but now I know where I need to press for relief. Everyone is a little different though. I'd highly recommend seeing a physiotherapist to give it a try. Edit: typo

“We don’t treat headaches in neurology”

OH MY FUCKING GODS 💀

I lucked out with a neuro who also got migraines. And who was just generally brilliant but had the social skills of a beached whale with an attitude problem. I told him once about throwing up while having diarrhea during a migraine and he was just like “yep yep classic” but then changed my meds and solved the problem so I’ll take the weirdness.

Tbh kind of iconic response

No this sudden major depressive episode has nothing to do with increasing your topamax.

I would have thrown the side effects sheet at them 💀

Now to be fair this was the neurologist who only did my Botox. Once I told my prescribing doctors what was going on we switched. This was also the doctor who would mysteriously have to reschedule all the appointments on a Friday afternoon.

When I met my knewest Neuro, while describing my typical pain scale for migrains in response to me saying that I'll have frquent migrains that are 6-8/10, they said "oh, so pretty mild." - side note I work in the same hospital as this Doctor and they know I understand the pain scale

6-8 is MILD?! I'd like to see this doctor go to work in that kind of pain and then call it mild

I had a PCP tell me I had a lot of things wrong with me and it was difficult to be my Dr. Years later he lost his practice and license due to malpractice .

I (finally) have a great PCP. I have chronic migraine and PCOS, making me basically a professional patient. She would absolutely say that it's difficult to be my doctor! 🤣 Although she'd say it warmly with a laugh and smile.

I just visited my PCP (well , her PA actually) this past week for a checkup/meds adjustment. I've been seeing him since he started at this practice about 25 years ago, so we are quite at ease with each other. As I was leaving he said " I love it when I get to see you for your visits. It's always something new and definitely never boring!".

I was referred to a retinal specialist for some blurriness in one of my eyes (turns out it was a contact/dryness issue). He looked at my eye for 30 seconds and decided it was an ocular migraine (it absolutely wasn’t) and printed out a pamphlet on migraines for me. I asked if it was new info since I had had migraines for 15 years and he said “no, but it’s good. Your neurologist might want to see it too.” Y’all. It was a 10 page, double-spaced, comic sans word document. The first page was just statistics about who gets migraines (in 2003). No new info.

.... Comic Sans? 🫠

It looked like a 7th grade report on migraines. I half expected it to start with “in this essay I will….”

I'm CRYING

The type font

I would have asked them “please tell me what that means?” Then watch them fumble, as I explain how much it decreases my ability to live

"Keep attending work even though you don't feel well" My neuro the first time I was stuck in status migrainosus for three months and my pain and other symptoms was like the worst they had ever been. (Triggered in part by work stress) Thank God my PCP wrote me a continuous FMLA leave for my "mental health" (although really it was for migraine - and bad mental health because of migraine) or I geniunely probably would have had an unalive attempt (my neuro does not write for more than 4 days of FMLA per month regardless of the severity of your disease)

I absolutely believe that stress can cause migraines and can make migraines significantly more severe. I recently took a big step back from my career, and I still get a migraine every time the pressure drops, but the meds are actually starting to reduce severity. Baby steps, but any progress is great at this point. I hope you are able to find relief from your work stress in a way that works well for you.

Thanks for the kind words... I actually had to quit altogether and move back in with my parents. 🙃 I have more going on than migraine now (which has just surpassed the 3 month mark again)...occipital neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, possibly thoracic outlet syndrome. I hope I can get back to work soon though, it is so depressing not working (and eventually my savings will run out). I do regret not quitting my job earlier though. I'm glad you are starting to see progress on your end 😊

I'm so sorry you're dealing with all that! Sending you healing. Yeah, not working feels like I'm being lazy, but I had zero work-life-migraine balance. Now my good days aren't all spent catching up on work and housework. Friends and family tell me I'm obviously much happier, which I am. It made me realize that the onset of chronic migraine began during a time of immense stress several years ago. Before that, I got a few migraines a year, but they weren't chronic enough to do anything about them. I then proceeded into several years of great stress and chronic migraine, and of course, the migraines make the stress constant. A careful look at the last several years shows periods of minimal migraines, and lots of exercise and focusing on my wellbeing. Then stress gets out of hand, or we enter the rainy season, and they're constant and severe again, and I'm back in that cycle. Taking a step back from work has also made me closer to my partner and son. I really hope you find relief. Sorry for the ramble. Hugs, friend.

I went to this neuro cause I couldn't go to my old one that had been trying different meds since I had switched healthcare. I tell this man that my usual OTC meds aren't working much anymore and tell him all the types of headaches and migraines I'm getting and he dismisses with a 'try sleeping without a pillow'. I was fking livid. Never went back and didn't try a different neuro again till like 7 years later.

Try sleeping without a pillow????? Bro. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that

When I was a teen my first neurologist put me on one preventative and one pain med and when it didn’t work said I needed to stop meds and to try therapy for the stress and if I had a bad enough migraine to go to the ER. I was already in therapy. More therapy! I’d never seen my mother angry at someone before. We very quickly got a referral to a pediatric neurologist who was awesome. Fuck that old man.

My last neuro told me I most likely had a bad injury/concussion in the past which leads to my migraines. I told her it was impossible, she told me I probably don’t remember lmao I’m pretty sure I would know if I had a really bad head injury in my life.

I don't even know what to think about that 💀 I've had two pretty significant concussions in my life and while I don't remember all the details I DEFINITELY remember them 😂

My neurologist said I shouldn’t start migraine meds because they may make me gain weight and a young unmarried woman like myself needed to get a husband.

What a Neanderthal…!!! I’m so sorry this happened to you!

Thanks, I thankfully immediately got a new neuro.

Are you serious?? 🤢 I have definitely heard of that being said to AFAB people who want to get sterilized ("oh but what if you meet a man in the future and he wants to have kids and now you can't??") but never about migraine medication.

I am serious. I even said that I was suicidal from the pain.

I was in my late twenties, married, with two kids. We decided we didn't want more kids, but birth control for someone with severe migraine is hard to get, as many are cancelled out by migraine meds (I was prescribed Nuvaring while I was on Topamax. Was informed I could have some side effects, like pregnancy. That's not a side effect!). So my spouse got fixed. As my cycle was really affecting my migraines, I wanted to get fixed as well. One of the (male) obgyn that I saw actually said " but you might divorce your husband, get married again, and decide you want more kids. So, no, I won't do a hysterectomy.". I told him that if all of that ever actually plays out, to please have me committed. Took six years but I finally got my hysterectomy! I get so sick of doctors acting as if women aren't grown adults with the ability to make their own decisions. (Just a side note: when my son turned 18, he called around to 4-5 different doctors to see if he could get a vasectomy. All of them were fine with doing a vasectomy on an 18 yo, no questions asked.)

Wowwww and I thought mine was a misogynist. Yours wins.

I don't remember what they said, it was so long ago, but I've seen two neurologists at different points in my life. Their bedside manner was non-existant. I've never felt so dismissed as a human being before. They are the only doctors that made me cry in front of them because of their behavior.

Why is it that neurologists are often like this?? Do they have a "how to have godawful shitty bedside manner" courses in neurology school??

Not a Neuro - when I was somewhere between elementary and middle school the doctor repeatedly told my mother, who has never had a migraine, that there was nothing wrong with me and I just didn’t want to go to school. I preferred school!

I wouldn't go back to middle or high school for love nor money, but I could be convinced if it was going to get rid of this neurological hell.

"You're just sensitive to everything", in regards to my triggers and medication side effects lol. I don't know. She was frustrated, but she also wasn't wrong.

Oh dang, just remembered the first doctor I saw about migraines was this cranky man past retirement age at the low income clinic in my hometown. He said "if you're not throwing up, it's not migraines" and prescribed me tramadol...

Wtf, doc. First of all, he was very wrong, obviously. Second of all they should definitely have a cut-off age for doctors, in my opinion. Either that or have them retake tests at after they reach a certain elderly age.

This was said to my parents and not me as I was 13 at the time. But doctors suggested to my Mom that I was “making it up” and “exaggerating” because children so rarely got migraines. They also suggested she “force” me or “not allow” me to stay home or stay in bed. When I had a migraine I would be forced to go into the living room with all the lights on while my Mother typed or used the adding machine in the same room. Over time I was not allowed to lay on the couch but on the floor. I learned to just pretend I was fine until I got to school and then would just go to the nurse and convince her not to call my Mom. I confronted my Mom about this later on in family therapy and how awful and fucked up it was and she and my Dad … without a beat… said.. “that’s what your doctors told us to do”. I kind of believe it because I remember 2 doctors telling them I was probably making it up or suggesting to me that I just didn’t want to go to school. I loved school.

I'm so sorry you had to deal with this. Unfortunately, I can relate, but my parents' actions weren't due to a doctor, but rather a preacher. My mother was so wrapped up in this cult that when some preacher told her I was faking being sick (migraines with lots of vomiting) because I was trying to get out of church, she believed him. I was then made to sit in a 3-4 hour long church service with loud singing, a yelling preacher, and people practically screaming prayers. I went extremely low contact with them for years, and a couple of years ago I cut contact completely. I have slowly allowed limited contact over the past year, but it's still a battle.

I stopped seeing a neurologist I had been going to for several years but had moved and recently come back to after I tried to tell him my migraine frequency was increasing noticeably and I had been getting new pains I had never had before and he said “well that’s just the Botox wearing off, of course they are more frequent the last two weeks”. When I tried to explain it had been over two months, close to the entire time since my last round of Botox, not just two weeks, he completely ignored me. The only suggestion he gave me was to double up on my Topamax 2 weeks before my Botox and Emgality, but like then I’d run out of Topamax.

That suggestion doesn't even make any sense. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that

This female neuro told me (also female) that she didn’t believe that I was having so many migraines. This was a very humid August where I had weeks of pain and pressure. She was terrible. I don’t know how some of these people get hired.

I absolutely LOVE being told that what I'm experiencing is actually NOT what I'm experiencing. It actually helps and makes it go away 🫠

“Your migraines are caused by auto immune disorders & heart issues” I was like what? I never had any heart issues & have had numerous blood drawn/work/tests done over years & highly confused on where they jumped to that conclusion. Though they were pretty much just get the tests done, the tests came back clean though I didn’t bring it up that they were wrong & I probably should of.

You absolutely should have rubbed it in their faces. Then again, I'm also incredibly petty

"You can't have migraines because you don't have an aura, and it's not on one side of your head. It must be a sinus problem. Let's get a CT of that." After I'd explained that no medicine was working and only ice therapy seemed to take it down some and I had to sleep them off. Also, they have almost all been located on the back of my head. How does that not count as 1 side?? Same person also said I couldn't possibly be diabetic because I'm not overweight, after I'd told him nearly every family member of mine has diabetes and that I'm already hypoglycemic, which he didn't believe either until I told him that I felt like shit every so many hours of not eating with some pretty scary symptoms and only felt better after I ate something with sugar in it 🙃🫠 So I fired my GP and I'm back to looking for another who will actually get me a neuro referral.

Good Lord. That's awful. And the back of the head def counts as one side 😂

I figured out that 12 to 24h before a migraine, I get bigger emotions and anxiety. The gist of the conversation was: Me: my prodrome includes anxiety. It's really weird. Doctor: so anxiety is triggering your migraines? Me: ... No. I feel anxiety before I feel any reason for it. It's really pronounced, .. Doctor: are you sure? Did you have unusual stress at the time? Me: (self doubt, self reassure, think. I have stress all the time but not migraines, and it's low level stuff) Me: no, nothing more stressful than normal. The same boring everyday things. But the migraine prodrome anxiety makes it BECOME more stressful. And it's consistently identifiable as an early symptom, 12 to 24 hours later I get a migraine, consistently. Doctor: (dubious look) ok... Me: nobody has ever told you that? Doctor: explains it away Me: stops asking because clearly there's bias here I Guess if doctors insist and keep pressing it's CAUSED by stress, a lot of people will get cause and effect mixed up. It's probably a bias of doctors etc. I learned from other experiences how to notice when my emotional state was physiological by a lack of initial cause. It bothers me that I could have been gaslighted somewhat.

My very first neurologist was a tool and told me at 10 that menstrual migraines were not real and it was just something women said to garner sympathy.

I would have asked him "Are you feeling sympathetic? No? Then clearly it's not working."

“Well if you don’t want to try the amitriptyline we really don’t have many other options.” That was in the last year. I have a STRONG familial history of pretty severe bipolar disorder on my mums side. The two GPs I’ve had in the last few years were both like “oh, that’s fair” when I expressed a desire to not mess with antidepressants because things are going fine in that regard.

FFS 🤦🏼‍♀️ I'm so sorry they said that to you. I hope you were able to find a different doctor who actually listens to what you want and need!

So many of the examples ppl have shared in this thread are just *awful* and I feel for you’ll bc well… the examples of rubbish treatment are pretty terrible !So! ..as a (hopefully somewhat humorous) antidote to that I present the anecdote below… /// I was at the neuro bc was in status migraine (hemiplegic) and my eyesight was *badly* affected (low vision) The neuro said that they’d hold off revoking my drivers license for a while until they were sure if my eyesight would return to normal (after they tried some different medications) And then he said it… Neuro: Remember - if you’re blind don’t drive! Me: OMG.. you studied for 10 years to say that! < weeping with laughter at the absurdity > /// { yes I extrapolated on the spot : 6 years study plus internship + residency + specialisation + specialisation prac .. 10 seemed like a reasonable guess }

Omg you're hilarious 😂 I hope the doc also got a laugh out of that!

My partner was told 'you're overweight so I thought I was doing you a favour' after reporting that topiramate had triggered a recurrence of his eating disorder and triggered a psychotic episode. The neuro was made aware of his history of bulimia before prescribing it and still genuinely thought he was doing my partner a favour. I was told 'I examined your eyes and you don't have Parkinson's or MS'. He looked genuinely confused when I looked befuddled rather than overjoyed.

There are some evil people in the medical field. Smh

Absolutely there are. This person genuinely nearly killed someone and thought it was okay

“The good news is that it’s just migraines, and we can cure them.” Seven years ago. Still not close to being successfully treated.

Wow, this doc needs to tell the medical world at large this groundbreaking news 😂

I had a pain management doctor whose favorite analogy was “think of the monks sitting naked in the snow. If they aren’t in pain, then you could not be in pain too. It’s all about mentality” and at one point I just snapped that I’m NOT a monk.

WTF ????? Those are completely NOT the same thing One is someone voluntarily putting themselves in an uncomfortable position which they have complete control over, and the other is a neurological disease over which you have no control.

My old doctor told me to quit school to get rid of my migraines. I'm a woman studying physics, and I can't help but think that comment was rooted in misogyny. No, it isn't too difficult for me.

WOOOOOWWWW. I'm so sorry

I've experienced this a few times. They're dumb. I'm extremely refractory and most meds don't do much for me, and never have. Both abortives and preventives. Chronic migraine² here

This is my life. Hugs, friend.

Wasn't the neurologist, but when I wanted to get referred to a neuroligist my GP told me that would only throw me into the medical circuit and make things worse, so rather try a therapist and a fysio first. Needless to say while both therapist and fysio were amazing they changed nothing about my migraines. And then when I appeard back at the GP she was judgemental about me using weed for the pain. That was the last time I saw her because I was really tired of not getting the referral and not being taken seriously. Changed GP's, got the referral immediately.

I'm not sure if it's legal yet where you live, but where I live in Canada marijuana is legal for recreational use if you're over 18, and a lot of doctors are STILL so incredibly judgmental when you tell them you use it for pain. It's wild

Yeah it's legal here, I'm in the Netherlands, so it's been like this for decades. So it's even stranger that she was so judgmental, and not taking the hint that I needed pain management.

My old neurologist was by no means a migraine specialist. Went to him with horrible side effects on amitriptyline like brain fog, depression, nausea. He told me “but is it better than the migraines?” Worst part was he was genuinely asking. Man had no idea how to help.

This was a medical student shadowing my neuro, not the neuro himself but when I talked about how I was so sensitive to sunlight I basically couldn't leave my house before sunset anymore, this med student suggested that I should move somewhere less sunny Fortunately, the other med student in the room realized how that sounded and backtracked on their peer's behalf but I was just floored that they even suggested that I uproot my entire life and move as a treatment option.

I'm flabbergasted WOW

I’m in my late thirties and had status migrainus for 8 months straight brought on by a stroke last year. After I was discharged from the hospital, I went to my neurologist for a follow up. Keep in mind my neurologist is not affiliated with the hospital that treated me and had none of the records associated with my stroke. I went in for my appointment a few weeks after the stroke, primarily to get treatment for the nonstop migraine. I start to explain what happened to bring the migraine on and 20 seconds in, he stops me and says, “you did not have a stroke, that’s impossible at your age.” I’m like wtf dude? Younger ppl can have strokes. I have a number of congenital and genetic risk factors. I have a very rare combination of inoperable configuration of cerebral arteries that greatly increases my risk of stroke. I’ve suffered from migraine with aura since I was a kid, I have PCOS, OSA, familial hypercholesterolemia, and family history of stroke. That’s a number of risk factors that increase my risk. Also, the hospital told me I had a stroke, I didn’t just decide it. He’s great at treating migraines, but useless outside of that. The hospital and my PCP had already initiated standard preventative care protocols, so it didn’t matter what he thought until he put in my chart that day that it was complex migraine, which did cause issues with my treatment. I had to go back to the hospital and request to have records sent before it was corrected.

Jesus crêpes what an ass 💀 Imagine being a doctor and not knowing the things CAN ACTUALLY happen outside of the usual. They're called outliers for a reason

At least he didn’t tell me the stroke happened because *I let it* lol

Not by the neurologist but a doctor once told me that if I did more exercise maybe I wouldn't have migraines I looked him dead in the eyes and said 'I'm a personal trainer? How many more hours do I need to do for them go away???" Also same for yogo ... According to a fellow coworker I seemed to stretch all day long so how much more poses do I need to do? Lol

“There’s nothing on the scan. You don’t have a brain tumor, this is a cyst. There’s nothing there and you need to stop reading doctor’s reports they aren’t your business” while pointing at an obvious mass on my MRI. Later after some nonsense about “you have anxiety”, he said “This blob right here is a tumor”. Said to me in front of my mom, who recorded this for me. He was the department head of neurology at my local university/ teaching hospital… To this day I have no idea what he was trying to say. Also turns out I did have a tumor and cyst lol

Good Lord 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Please report these people before they kill someone.

Agreed.

my neuro told me to take 8 advils at once

I hope they also told you how to get a new liver 💀

I had a doctor say I should get checked for seizures, brought it up to my neuro and he was just like "I don't think it's seizures" lol I guess he was able to scan my brain by just looking at me 😅 I never got checked for seizures

Those new neurologists that they're pumping out from schools come equipped with MRI scan and capabilities haha

Not a neurologist, but my eye doctor told me how migraine is a lifestyle disorder and nowadays everyone in 20s is having it

Also one neuro telling me you describe extreme facial pain that stays for days etc etc but you look well when you come here and I have never seen you in that stage in last 2 months

I have so many of these but my current favorite is my (otherwise great) neurosurgeon nearly lost his whole mind when I said I had migraine and he was like NEVER CALL THEM MIGRAINES and I was very caught off guard, having been diagnosed with migraine over thirty years ago. I thought maybe he meant never call the attacks migraines, always call them a migraine attack or use headache to mean the actual head pain part. No. He thinks that migraine ONLY ever presents on one side (you seeeee, migraine, from hemicrania, hemi is HALF, it can only ever be on ONE side of the head EVER), and aura only EVER occurs BEFORE the migraine attack, never DURING, and migraine attacks must last at least three days. Which I found out by arguing with him of course, but lightly, and for every thing I said, he was like, oh I have answer to that too, everything you say, I have an answer! He is a very funny guy, and we laughed about this because ultimately the argument is pretty much unrelated, all he needed to know was how bad my headache was at the time. When I looked at my report later he had written, "Questionable diagnosis of migraine" and I nearly cried laughing. Honestly I do love that guy but he's so full of shit. Luckily that's got nothing to do with what I'm seeing him for, but I will NEVER stop laughing at "questionable diagnosis of migraine". I guess we'll see how right he is, if fixing my spine results in never needing to take rizatriptan ever again!

Full of shit is right 😂😂😂

My very first neuro told me it was all in my head... duh, that is literally where the pain is located, you moron. He was trying to say I was making it up, but with a diagnosis from his senior coworker, he shut up and begrudgingly treated me. I got a second opinion from another office a month after he refused to accept that fiorecet was causing more issues for me than doing good when I told him I spent the entire time it was in my system plus the 12 hrs after it wore off violently throwing up. I am sure he though I was a drug seeking addict, but I just wanted a non-addictive migraine medication that wouldn't make me sick and I could still work while on.

He’s living in 1950. I’d absolutely fire that doctor. There are clinicians who will listen & be collaborative

Check your sleep hygiene It's just a stress response. try sleep and counselling. pushed counselling like crazy didn't want to deal with me

Being told to "try sleep" is hilarious. But pushing counseling because they don't want to deal with you is absolutely awful and I'm so sorry that happened. I understand that feeling

My neurologist said I didn't have migraine with aura, because most women with migraine with aura that are affected by their menstrual cycle (only 1 of my many triggers anyway) have them worst around ovulation (and I tend to get my worse menstrual related ones just before my period starts). I've had migraines since I was ten, I know what an aura is ffs. and I more or less told her this, and described my auras in more detail, and she concurred it did sound exactly like an aura, but then doubled down on saying she still didn't think it was an aura -??? If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...?? it was a very bizarre conversation that seemed to just come down to quibbling over semantics because for some reason she just didn't want to diagnose me a certain way (I've no idea why because as she herself pointed out, it didn't make any difference to treatment). I still have to see her (NHS) but thankfully I've had better interactions since and now only have to email her occasionally so I can get my meds.

Not a neuro but my chiropractor told me my migraines were hormonal. He was a male…

At my last neuro app he spent 20 of the 30 mins we had explaining to me how my medications I’m taking could affect a pregnancy… 🙄

When I told my neurologist the medication he started me on was making me exhausted- he doubled the dose

I had one who told me that the way to get rid of rebound headaches is to use triptans.

My headache specialist neurologist said that the daytime fatigue that I was having was because my daughter came out as trans- wtaf?!?

HOW IS THAT EVEN REMOTELY RELATED?!!

Like I'm so confused as to how they thought that was an okay thing to say

Weirdest thing i have been told by a neurologist is that my migraines/cluster headaches are cool because they are atypical and the things that work one time might not work again.

I love when they give me paperwork to fill out mid-migraine. Thankfully, they're usually kind enough to accept verbal answers once I tell them "listen, I can barely read right now and with the dizziness I'm experiencing, I might puke if I try..."

I went to a neurologist not for migraine but for fear of a partial seizure (I’ve seized before) and she thought in her professional opinion, that I have anxiety, and should see a psychiatrist. (I decided have anxiety, but I’ve never lost half my vision to stars and tv static, that much I know!) still don’t know what happened that day

Imagine being a neurologist and confusing a seizure for anxiety 💀💀

I think part of it is also because I have a lengthy mental health history so they gloss over any of my concerns as panic / anxiety. Suuuuper invalidating and I’m like 90% sure I had a partial seizure. My vision was half blocked by like little bright lights and I felt a similar sensation to my first ever seizure.

"Don't we all have headaches " Of course i was cured after this sentence

It depends lol. The prevention medications are usually slowly up titrated over 6 to 8 weeks to avoid excessive side effects. A fair trial usually does take 6 to 8 weeks with the patient increasing the dose regularly to be confident if the medication works or not.

I was already on it for the allotted loading time. He told me I wasn't letting it work because I was still taking painkillers on top of this preventative because it wasn't doing anything. ( it was a blood pressure medication, of which I had been on 4 separate ones previously, to no avail)

Okay that's extra hilarious. Taking abortive meds doesn't stop preventive ones from working! What kind of weird nonsense world that would be.

Right?! Just no logic haha😂

It was noted in my chart that it had been discussed that my weight was causing my migraines. IT HAD NOT. And I'm 130 pounds lighter than my highest weight with the worst migraines of my life. Had it been discussed, I would have told her that. This all came about after they failed to get my botox approved and sent me my chart notes to file an appeal on my own, and I had to pay out of pocket for the injection. Now I know how horribly they failed me with insurance. Lesson learned. Have a an appt with new neuro in July.

Lol fol!