How long did it take for you to get YOUR migraine diagnosis?

February 10th, 2011 - Posted by Dr Marcus

How long did it take before you were told that your symptoms were caused by migraine? If you were anything like the sample of migraine patients reported in the February 2011 issue of the journal Headache, it probably took a long time.

Dr. Viticchi and colleagues from the Polytechnic University of Marche in Italy surveyed 250 consecutive patients who were newly diagnosed with migraine to find out how long they’d been suffering. They also tried to identify those factors that led to a longer delay in getting the right diagnosis.

What they found was not good news — it took over five years for more than half of the patients to get their migraine diagnosis. About one in three patients were diagnosed after one to five years and seventeen percent got their diagnosis in less than 12 months.

Those factors that resulted in a delay in diagnosis were a bit surprising:

Being a woman did NOT make it more likely that you’d get a migraine diagnosis earlier.
Having migraines begin when you were a younger age made it less likely that your migraines would be diagnosed.
Individuals with less education were also less likely to get diagnosed.

And did these patients not get diagnosed because they hadn’t seen the right type of doctor? Over two in five patients had already seen at least one specialist while they remained undiagnosed. Over half of the patients for whom the diagnosis was delayed by over five years had previously seen at least one specialist. And interestingly, getting testing done or not didn’t seem to make a difference in how long it took to get a migraine diagnosis.

What did these researchers conclude?

Patients and their doctors need to get better educated about migraines
Expensive and unnecessary diagnostic tests don’t improve the diagnosis of migraine or reduce patient symptoms

If you think you might be having migraines, use the tools available at this website to help characterize your symptoms and take the results to your doctor. Don’t wait years before getting your diagnosis.

Did you enjoy this article?

Read more just like it! Subscribe to the Migraine.com weekly and receive the latest migraine news and headlines, right in your inbox.

Discuss

Comment using either your Migraine.com or Facebook account. Please select the appropriate tab:

4 Responses to “How long did it take for you to get YOUR migraine diagnosis?”

Kaleesi says:

February 17, 2011 at 12:26 pm

In my case it took about 15 years and two emergency room visits before a medical professional suggested I see a neurologist. I barely knew what a neurologist was and certainly had no idea that this was the kind of specialist I should have been seeking out. Not in my wildest dreams had I considered migraines. My first debilitating headache was in my late teens/early twenties. In my late twenties they became bad enough and frequent enough I started seeking medical help. Mine felt as if they were in the sinuses so I thought they were sinus headaches of some kind. An internist put me on OTC Afrin nasal spray. HUGE mistake and a real PIA to ween off of, but had to be done so I could breath again. On two separate occasions, doctors sent me to have head xrays and in both cases my sinuses were shown to be clear and I was sent home w/o a diagnosis. During my second emergency room visit someone (and if I recall correctly, it was NOT a doctor, but was a nurse or technician) suggested that I see a neurologist, which I subsequently did and he was the one who diagnosed migraines. I was in my mid thirties by this time. Then began the usual array of preventative medication trials. I am now in my 60s and suffer chronic daily migraines.
Ellen says:

February 11, 2011 at 1:27 am

The only time I can say I’ve been lucky where Migraine attacks are concerned is with my diagnosis. Having nearly blinding aura made the task much easier and my diagnosis came fairly quickly. My kids’ diagnoses were easy as well because family history helped to lead us in the right direction from the beginning. I wish getting appropriate treatment were as easy as getting the diagnosis…
Diana Lee says:

February 10, 2011 at 12:35 pm

My story is pretty unique. I started having migraines when I was about six years old and it scared the crap out of my parents so they started taking me to doctors. Since none of the testing indicated anything else was wrong and we have a strong history of migraines in my family, I was diagnosed at that time.
mj71 says:

February 10, 2011 at 12:18 pm

the first doctor i went to about it said, “well, it COULD be migraine, but it’s probably allergy-related.” she prescribed 2 allergy medications, and then she gave me 2 sample doses of imitrex. when i went back and told her both seemed to work, the allergy meds seemed to get my allergies under control and the imitrex took care of the headaches, she said, “well, it was probably the allergies,” and did not prescribe the imitrex for me. nevermind that she’s the one who told me my symptoms sounded exactly like migraine symptoms.

it was 7 years later that another doctor finally took a realistic stance and treated me for my true disease, migraine. my brother and my mom get them, but my brother has isolated his primary trigger, which is great, so he almost never gets them anymore. my mom is still in denial and believes it’s sinus. she has yet to speak to a doctor about it, regardless of my encouragement. i hope to get her proper treatment, maybe with a beta blocker such as i’m on to prevent them altogether.