New Neurologist is like New Boyfriend

Sometimes I feel like a new neurologist is like a new boyfriend. What I mean by that is unfortunately for them, they have to put up with some of the old baggage we bring with us from our old boyfriends even if it's not in our best interest.

You know how it is, if we extend ourselves out too much or too soon, we might get hurt again. Never mind that we might be hurting ourselves or not finding our true love because we are holding back too much.

This could also be related to if we don't tell our new neurologist everything we should because they may jump to the same wrong conclusion that a prior old neurologist jumped to. This could be hurting us when our new neurologist should have the full facts about us so we can hopefully find that true magic bullet to help our Migraines. The other part of this is if our new neurologist is not going to listen to everything we have to say and jump to the wrong conclusions, isn't it better to find out upfront that they are not the right doctor for us?

Like many people, I have a lot of stress going on from everywhere. I don't talk about stress with my doctors because to me, it is just a part of life. I know that certain times of the year, my stress will be increased. I know that it can be increased at any other time without notice too and don't even think about talking about money.

I had an old neurologist that made it even harder for me to talk about stress today even though I never talked to her about my stress levels. With this old neurologist, she put me on an anti-anxiety medication alone and expected this to take care of my Migraines. She didn't seem to like when I called to say it wasn't helping and I needed something else before our next scheduled appointment. I also provided her with an interim solution which she reluctantly agreed to accept. Sometime later I found out that she was convinced my Migraines were caused by stress and could not understand why the anti-anxiety medication did not help. So you can see one of many reasons she is no longer my doctor.

With my current doctor, I have only casually mentioned stress once and only because my BP was very high for me during one of my visits where I was too stressed out to come up with something else. I have white coat hypertension during the first few appointments with any new doctor where I let them know upfront about it and my current doctor was no exception in the beginning. I have been well past my white coat syndrome with her.

I know I'm going to have to have the stress talk with my current doctor soon. I do believe, in addition to other things, stress is interfering with my Migraines to some extent, but I also believe that stress is an exasperating factor and not a direct trigger. I know when I have the stress talk with my doctor that I am going to have the bigger talk with her that is long overdue, but I need to be mentally ready for the talk. I really like my doctor and she has helped me in many ways, but I am going to have to have that general Is Stress a Trigger or Exasperating Factor talk with her too.

She has mentioned on a number of occasions how stress can be a big trigger especially for her; she is also a Migraineur. I have ignored these comments so far and not subjected her with my opinion or challenged her on that statement yet, but the time is coming that I feel I need to address it. I don't think I'm going to be comfortable talking about my stress with her until I let her know my opinion on stress and am able to talk about it intelligibly. My doctor has listened to me on many of my far fetched ideas in the past. She is smart enough to make up her own mind in many areas. As long as she is open to the idea and doesn't shut it down right away, that is all I can ask and I believe she will do that.

My doctor is also a member of the International Headache Society (IHS). The IHS had moved stress from their trigger list to their list of exacerbating factors a few years ago. I will mention that to her as well as a lot of the points that Teri Robert makes in her MigraineCast on Is Stress a Migraine Trigger which she also has as a transcript of the podcast written out.

I have a lot to cover during my next doctor's visit since so much has gone on since my last appointment. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to have our stress talk then, but if I want to be fair to my boyfriend, I mean my doctor, no I really mean myself, then I am going to have to have this talk sooner rather than later.

Who knows, if I can open her mind on this one, she may even make a better boyfriend for some of her other patients...

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