What’s involved in a headache disorder consultation?

Leading consultant neurologist Dr Mona Ghadiri-Sani subspecialises in headache disorders. She's the headache and educational lead at The Walton Centre, and the treatments she offers are the latest treatments available for management of patients with headache disorders. In this article, she tells us all about what’s involved in her day-to-day work with patients.

What type of headache patients do you see?

I see a wide variety of headache patients, with anything from:

• idiopathic endocranial hypertension, to;
• cluster headaches, and other trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, as well as;
• trigeminal neuralgia;
• dizziness, and balance issues.

These are all combined in patients that suffer from headache disorders.

What happens in a typical consultation for headaches?

What we do during a consultation is take a full history, ensure that we encompass all the symptoms that the patients have associated with their headache disorder. Then we do a full neurological examination, making sure that there's no secondary causes for their headaches. If we think there could be a secondary cause for their headache, then I arrange for a patient to have their required investigations including a scan.

What's involved in treatments for headaches?

After that we put a treatment option into place so the patient can access the treatment which is best suited to them. This is because we have so many different treatment and patient's lives are all different. Some are all very busy working, and they want something that they can take once a month. These are injection treatments, and some don't want injections and want a simple tablet they can take, and some prefer to just come for one treatment, once every few months and then be fine.

That encompasses all the services that I offer in my clinic. They would include:

• The CGRP monoclonal antibodies, as well as;
• Gepants, which is the latest treatment on the market, as well as;
• Botox, and
• nerve-block treatment.

There's a variety of options for each individual patient, and it's through a discussion we can decide the right treatment for the right patient.

If you're concerned about general headaches, you can arrange a consultation with Dr Ghadiri-Sani via her Top Doctors profile.