NHF InSights

Living with migraine or headache disorders for years means your treatment, your coverage and your daily life keep changing. Staying engaged with your care, and knowing when to revisit it, can help you keep finding what works.

In Episode 4 of the NHF Insights Patient Series, Managing Your Diagnosis, headache specialist Dr. Jaclyn Duvall talks with award-winning writer/producer and former marketing executive for the CBS Television Network and NHF board member Michael Pollack, who has lived with migraine since high school. They cover how his treatment changed over the decades, why a medication that doesn't work is not a personal failure, how a headache diary helped him spot triggers and talk with his neurologist, and what happened when coverage for a treatment that works was taken away.

This episode is part of NHF Insights, a podcast series from the National Headache Foundation with companion episodes for patients and healthcare providers.

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Talk with your healthcare provider about your symptoms and treatment.

Asking a patient whether everything is fine rarely shows the full burden of migraine and headache disorders. Measuring whether treatment is working helps you adjust care before patients give up on it.

In Episode 4 of the NHF Insights Healthcare Provider Series, Managing Headache Diagnosis, NHF board president Dr. Hope O'Brien talks with headache specialist Dr. Jaclyn Duvall. They cover realistic goals for acute and preventive treatment, quick validated tools such as MIDAS and the Migraine Treatment Optimization Questionnaire, the 2024 American Headache Society position statement on CGRP-targeting therapies, what to do when a preventive stops working, when to refer to a headache specialist, and how accurate documentation helps prior authorizations go through.

This episode is part of NHF Insights, a podcast series from the National Headache Foundation with companion episodes for patients and healthcare providers.

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not replace clinical judgment.

Starting a new treatment can bring hope, questions and sometimes frustration. Knowing what to expect can help you stay with it while you and your provider find what works.

In Episode 3 of the NHF Insights Patient Series, Starting Treatment, headache specialist Dr. Jaclyn Duvall talks with Navy veteran and patient advocate Cheryl McJoy, who lives with chronic migraine following a traumatic brain injury. They cover what came after a diagnosis that took 17 years, why some treatments take months to show results, how keeping notes helped her find triggers, why to ask about over-the-counter medicines and supplements, and how to keep advocating for yourself when a treatment doesn't work.

You can hear the other side of the conversation with Dr. Merle Diamond and Dr. Hope O'Brien on how providers can start treatment earlier and keep patients engaged: https://youtu.be/325L5mdvyO0

This episode is part of NHF Insights, a podcast series from the National Headache Foundation with companion episodes for patients and healthcare providers.

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Talk with your healthcare provider about your symptoms and treatment

For many people with migraine and headache disorders, the first conversation about treatment can happen in an emergency department or a short primary care visit. What happens next can shape years of care.

In Episode 3 of the NHF Insights Healthcare Provider Series, Starting Treatment, headache specialist and NHF board president Dr. Hope O'Brien talks with Dr. Merle Diamond of the Diamond Headache Clinic. They cover where emergency and primary care providers can step in earlier, three screening questions that point to migraine, how to talk with patients who are hesitant about prescription medicine, building a plan around headache frequency, when to switch or add treatments, and how to keep patients engaged when a treatment doesn't work or is hard to access.

Hear the other side of the conversation: Navy veteran and patient advocate Cheryl McJoy on her own treatment journey: https://youtu.be/yFa4F3MJDa8

This episode is part of NHF Insights, a podcast series from the National Headache Foundation with companion episodes for patients and healthcare providers.

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not replace clinical judgment.

In Episode 2 of the NHF Insights Patient Series, Symptoms and Diagnosis, headache specialist Dr. Jaclyn Duvall talks with author and patient advocate Ashley Hattle, who lives with cluster headache and migraine. They cover how to describe your symptoms so a provider can act on them, why to keep a headache diary can be an important tool, what to bring to your first appointment, and why being believed matters.

In Episode 2 of the NHF Insights™ Healthcare Provider Series, Symptoms and Diagnosis, Dr. Hope O'Brien talks with Dr. Tanesha Kemble, DNP, FNP-BC, a family nurse practitioner. They cover what to ask when a patient says they have head pain, the ID Migraine screener, SNOOP red flags, when to order an MRI, types of migraine aura, GI symptoms and abdominal migraine. They also discuss how important it is be to talk with your patients about their diagnosis.

If migraine or headache attacks are disrupting your work, family or daily life, it's time to see a healthcare provider. Headache disorders like migraine are real neurological diseases, and a diagnosis opens the door to treatment.

In our new season of NHF Insights, we are featuring real people, real stories, and expert guidance on migraine and headache disorders, from patients and providers side by side.

Kicking off the patient series, host Dr. Jaclyn Duvall, a board-certified neurologist and headache specialist, talks with patient advocate Qasim. He had attacks from second grade but wasn't diagnosed with migraine disease until his 30s, and later with chronic migraine and hemiplegic migraine.

Migraine disease is underdiagnosed in primary care. Yet primary care is often where patients with headache disorders go first.

In our new season of NHF Insights, we are featuring real people, real stories, and expert guidance on migraine and headache disorders, from patients and providers side by side.

Kicking off the healthcare provider series, host Dr. Hope O'Brien, NHF board president and headache specialist, talks with Dr. Vince Martin, a primary care physician certified in headache medicine, and former NHF board president.

In this episode of NHF Insights™, host Katy Oakley speaks with three recipients of the AbbVie Migraine Career Catalyst Award about how living with migraine has shaped their careers, goals, and perspectives on work. The conversation explores workplace challenges, accommodations, entrepreneurship, mental health, and building a more sustainable future while living with migraine.

Host Katy Oakley is joined by sleep medicine specialist Audrey Wells, MD, and headache specialist Lauren Natbony, MD, to discuss how poor sleep and untreated sleep disorders may worsen migraine attacks, contribute to chronic migraine, and impact daily functioning and quality of life.