Need help : Headache Specialist in Chennai

SUJ · Post by **SUJ** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:07 am

My sister (in early 20s) has been suffering from sever headache for past 2 years. She has consulted various specialist (neurology, eye care). But no one has been able to diagnose the cause or give a cure.

Highly appreciate if anyone has recommendations for specialist who could treat this problem in Chennai. She is very frustrated now and my parents are also worried without knowing the cause and cure for it

Thanks

cabo · Post by **cabo** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:55 am

No recommendations for a specialist..but my 2 cents.
Your sister probably has a lot of evaluation done already- that means she probably does not have an underlying neurological condition/ other conditions causing her headache.

Even if she does not have typical migraine symptoms, Most chronic headaches respond to Preventive migraine meds ( antiseizure meds, BP meds-betablockers, calcium channel blockers , antidepressants etc). She needs to find a neurologist that she can trust and stick to one.

They generally start off with one class, than add on another class of drugs for resistent headaches. Sometimes, mutiple drug regimen will be needed. I suspect she ran out of patience...but, I know from experience that most chronic headaches can be controlled....but, may need a lot more medication and patience!!

rsvpvr · Post by **rsvpvr** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:20 am

SUJ;373673My sister (in early 20s) has been suffering from sever headache for past 2 years. She has consulted various specialist (neurology, eye care). But no one has been able to diagnose the cause or give a cure.

Highly appreciate if anyone has recommendations for specialist who could treat this problem in Chennai. She is very frustrated now and my parents are also worried without knowing the cause and cure for it

Thanks

My brother's son had the same issue. He get's headache very frequently and occasionally faint. He had all sorts of scans for couple of years and visited several neurologists. Everything looked normal. They would give some medicines, but then it repeats again.
So couple of months back he fainted again and my Brother took him to his friend's hospital and for some reason he ordered blood glucose level test also. It was found very low. So he was kept in the hospital till the symptoms arise again and tested again for glucose levels. Basically, they found glucose levels are very low when these symptoms arise. So he was taken to Endocrinologist for scanning of unit( i don't remember the name - I am very poor at remembering medical terms :) , may be cabo can mention it here) in stomach that controls sugar levels. Everything looked normal there also(at least not visible in the scan). His Vitamin D levels are also very low. So finally the conclusion is that there might be some issue with unit that controls sugar levels. The Endocrinologist confirmed it as Hyperglycemia after several tests. I talked to one of my friend in Iowa who is urologist and he mentioned that it is very rare. When googling, i also found similar case but got improved after treating for low levels of Vitamin-D. He is now taking medicines prescribed by Endocrinologist and is fine now.(at least the headache and fainting is not happening). He is also measuring blood sugar levels for every three hours and keeping the record to show it to Endocrinologist.

Your sister issue may be entirely different. I just wanted to mention my brother's son case here ( as headache seems to be common for both cases) so that it might be useful to you.

cabo · Post by **cabo** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:59 am

rsvpvr;373690
So he was taken to Endocrinologist for scanning of unit( i don't remember the name - I am very poor at remembering medical terms :) , may be cabo can mention it here) in stomach that controls sugar levels.

You probably are talking of " Insulinoma"- which is a tumor of the Islets cells of pancreas that produces insulin- that means excess insulin level in the body ( unlike diabetes- where there is lack of insulin/insulin resistance ) so low glucose in the blood- Hypoglycemia. Quite rare. CT scan of the pancreas is done to pick up any tumors-if the insulin levels/ c peptide levels are elevated in association with low sugars.

rsvpvr · Post by **rsvpvr** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 12:37 pm

cabo;373694You probably are talking of " Insulinoma"- which is a tumor of the Islets cells of pancreas that produces insulin- that means excess insulin level in the body ( unlike diabetes- where there is lack of insulin/insulin resistance ) so low glucose in the blood- Hypoglycemia. Quite rare. CT scan of the pancreas is done to pick up any tumors-if the insulin levels/ c peptide levels are elevated in association with low sugars.

Thanks cabo for the reply!
I hope it is benign in nature. CT scan of pancreas did not picked it up though.

cabo · Post by **cabo** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:10 pm

rsvpvr;373695
I hope it is benign in nature. CT scan of pancreas did not picked it up though.

We are probably hijacking the thread...but to answer your question...yes, 90 plus percent of insulinomas are benign. The tumors can be really small, so CT scan can miss them. MRI scans, octreotide scans, endoscopic ultrasounds before and during surgery are performed to pick them up, if the index of suspicion is high.

SUJ · Post by **SUJ** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:58 pm

cabo;373683No recommendations for a specialist..but my 2 cents.
Your sister probably has a lot of evaluation done already- that means she probably does not have an underlying neurological condition/ other conditions causing her headache.

Even if she does not have typical migraine symptoms, Most chronic headaches respond to Preventive migraine meds ( antiseizure meds, BP meds-betablockers, calcium channel blockers , antidepressants etc). She needs to find a neurologist that she can trust and stick to one.

They generally start off with one class, than add on another class of drugs for resistent headaches. Sometimes, mutiple drug regimen will be needed. I suspect she ran out of patience...but, I know from experience that most chronic headaches can be controlled....but, may need a lot more medication and patience!!

Thanks a lot, Cabo. Do you have any recommendation for neurologist. I believe she saw two. Also, are there any other specialist who can be seen for the head ache problem?

SUJ · Post by **SUJ** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:59 pm

rsvpvr;373695Thanks cabo for the reply!
I hope it is benign in nature. CT scan of pancreas did not picked it up though.

Thank you rsvpr. I'll let her know of this as well.

cabo · Post by **cabo** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:26 pm

SUJ;373701Thanks a lot, Cabo. Do you have any recommendation for neurologist. I believe she saw two. Also, are there any other specialist who can be seen for the head ache problem?

Sorry..can't help with neurologists in chennai. I am sure the members here will have some recommendations. Neurologists have an internal medicine/general medicine training as well- so they are also aware of and test for general medical problems - blood work. They will also consider chronic sinusitis, Cervical spondylosis, visual problems etc- and make appropriate referrals, if needed.

She could either start off with a good general physician attached to a standard hospital or with a good neurologist.

miths · Post by **miths** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:29 am

Hi SUJ,

one more thing to check is ENT. My wife also had severe headache. When we went to eye specialist in Appolo, she said no issue with eye, and directed us to see ENT. ENT said due to sinus, she is getting this headache. and gave some medicine, it's gone.

my sister also used to get severe headache, that's fixed by eye doctor.