Health News
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- All About Caffeine
By Dr. Madelyn FernstromCaffeine is one of the most widely consumed compounds in the world. Nature?s original stimulant, caffeine is found in coffee beans, tea leaves, and cola nuts. Because caffeine boosts mental focus and alertness, it was an important...
- Staying Cool In The Summer
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- Easing Pain Requires Science And Art
Once considered nothing more than a symptom of a larger problem, pain today is acknowledged to be the so-called fifth vital sign. Doctors now believe pain is not only an indicator of a patient's health, but also a real impediment to full recovery....
- Treatment Of Tumors At The Berman Brain & Spine Institute
by James E. Conway, M.D. Director, Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery, and Director, Skull Base Neurosurgery, Sandra and Malcolm Berman Brain & Spine Institute Department of Neurosurgery, Sinai Hospital The recent deaths of columnist Robert Novak and Senator...
Health News
UK headache clinic among top 20, and affiliated orofacial pain program is only one in Midwest or South; they give relief
Headache sufferers often struggle with finding the right treatment, and some even find themselves on medications that don't work and become completely unable to function. One of those found relief at the headache clinic at the University of Kentucky.
Tonya Morgan, a 30-year-old chemist, got a debilitating migraine headache that wouldn't go away in 2011. Before she connected with the UK clinic, she had seen many doctors and was taking as many as 30 different types of medicine a day to no avail, and had been given a recommendation from the Cleveland Clinic after an 11-week evaluation, for "extremely risky brain surgery," says a UK news release. "I was so sensitive to noise that I could lie in my bed and hear my mother down the hall eating potato chips. Going to a restaurant, driving, going to church -- all of those became unbearable. I was miserable," Morgan said.
Her doctor is Dr. Siddharth Kapoor, director of the Headache Clinic at the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute at UK HealthCare. He and Dr. Jonathan Smith are part of the headache program at UK that is considered among the top 20 accredited programs in the country, according to the release. It uses a multidisciplinary approach; UK HealthCare's orofacial pain program, which complements the services of the headache clinic, is one of just 12 accredited programs nationally, and the only one in the entire Midwest and South.
Kapoor's strategy, says the release, includes spending enough time with the patient to find out as much as he can about their headaches and finding the most effective way to get rid of them. "Headache is an extremely complex neurological process, and there usually isn't a quick fix for pain relief," Kapoor said. "Unless you spend a lot of time with each patient, listening to their problems and asking a lot of questions, it's nearly impossible to find the right way to help them."
Kapoor tried several different treatments on Morgan before they found the most effective: radio-frequency ablation, during which a high-frequency electric current was targeted at specific nerves in the brain, destroying the tissue responsible for her headaches. She is now headache free and has resumed a "normal life," the release says.
Headaches and other chronic pain affect more than 36 million Americans, and many of them don't seek help -- or see doctors who aren't completely aware of the full range of pain management, according to the release. Smith said there are many myths surrounding headache causes, such as foods or changes in blood vessels in the brain, and the UK clinic can "attack headache on many fronts."
Tonya Morgan, a 30-year-old chemist, got a debilitating migraine headache that wouldn't go away in 2011. Before she connected with the UK clinic, she had seen many doctors and was taking as many as 30 different types of medicine a day to no avail, and had been given a recommendation from the Cleveland Clinic after an 11-week evaluation, for "extremely risky brain surgery," says a UK news release. "I was so sensitive to noise that I could lie in my bed and hear my mother down the hall eating potato chips. Going to a restaurant, driving, going to church -- all of those became unbearable. I was miserable," Morgan said.
Her doctor is Dr. Siddharth Kapoor, director of the Headache Clinic at the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute at UK HealthCare. He and Dr. Jonathan Smith are part of the headache program at UK that is considered among the top 20 accredited programs in the country, according to the release. It uses a multidisciplinary approach; UK HealthCare's orofacial pain program, which complements the services of the headache clinic, is one of just 12 accredited programs nationally, and the only one in the entire Midwest and South.
Kapoor's strategy, says the release, includes spending enough time with the patient to find out as much as he can about their headaches and finding the most effective way to get rid of them. "Headache is an extremely complex neurological process, and there usually isn't a quick fix for pain relief," Kapoor said. "Unless you spend a lot of time with each patient, listening to their problems and asking a lot of questions, it's nearly impossible to find the right way to help them."
Kapoor tried several different treatments on Morgan before they found the most effective: radio-frequency ablation, during which a high-frequency electric current was targeted at specific nerves in the brain, destroying the tissue responsible for her headaches. She is now headache free and has resumed a "normal life," the release says.
Headaches and other chronic pain affect more than 36 million Americans, and many of them don't seek help -- or see doctors who aren't completely aware of the full range of pain management, according to the release. Smith said there are many myths surrounding headache causes, such as foods or changes in blood vessels in the brain, and the UK clinic can "attack headache on many fronts."
- Pikeville Medical Center Agrees To Pay $36,000 To Settle Claim That It Improperly Billed Medicare
Pikeville Medical Center has agreed to pay more than $36,000, but does not have to admit any wrongdoing, to settle a lawsuit that accused it of improperly billing Medicare. The suit was brought by Dr. Michael Fletcher, director of the pain management...
- All About Caffeine
By Dr. Madelyn FernstromCaffeine is one of the most widely consumed compounds in the world. Nature?s original stimulant, caffeine is found in coffee beans, tea leaves, and cola nuts. Because caffeine boosts mental focus and alertness, it was an important...
- Staying Cool In The Summer
As Baltimore residents stagger through another week of high temperatures, health experts once again are stressing the importance of staying hydrated. Chandresh Shelat, M.D., Sinai ER-7, spoke with WJZ-TV last week about the heat. "Your blood pressure...
- Easing Pain Requires Science And Art
Once considered nothing more than a symptom of a larger problem, pain today is acknowledged to be the so-called fifth vital sign. Doctors now believe pain is not only an indicator of a patient's health, but also a real impediment to full recovery....
- Treatment Of Tumors At The Berman Brain & Spine Institute
by James E. Conway, M.D. Director, Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery, and Director, Skull Base Neurosurgery, Sandra and Malcolm Berman Brain & Spine Institute Department of Neurosurgery, Sinai Hospital The recent deaths of columnist Robert Novak and Senator...