List of surgeons who do Occipital/Peripheral Stimulators
I live on Long Island in NY. I was referred to one surgeon but turns out he does not accept my insurance. My insurance has no way to narrow down a search of providers who do this procedure (there's a search for neurosurgeons, but that doesn't mean they all do the stim surgery). I can't seem to find a list of surgeons who do this and contacting each neurosurgeon in my plan to ask if they do it seems pretty daunting. Thanks.
I went to Scottsdale AZ for a trial which was put in by Jonathan Carlson, MD with Arizona Pain. He works through the Migraine Treatment Centers which is based in Dallas. You should be able to search for it on the Internet. They do all the insurance work for you before the procedure.
Hi GSD,
Welcome to the discussion forum and thank you for your question.
In my opinion, before having any invasive surgery, I would exhaust every other avenue there is. I don't want you to think I don't understand your pain - I've been dealing with the for almost 20 years - I get it. But before having surgery I would:
Know my triggers (and triggers can change over time) Trigger identification and management- https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-management-essential-trigger-management/.
Get an accurate diagnosis- https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-management-essential-diagnosis-and-doctors/
See a "true" migraine and headache disorder expert. These doctors are different than neurologists as they are board certified in headache whereas all neurologists are not. You can find these doctors here; http://www.ucns.org/globals/axon/assets/10300.pdf.
Here is our information on migraine surgery that may be helpful;
https://migraine.com/blog/finding-the-right-migraine-surgeon/
https://migraine.com/blog/curious-about-migraine-surgery/
https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-choosing-surgical-nerve-decompression-candidates/.
Good luck
NancyHi GSD, In New York there is a center for this surgery on, 90 Park Avenue, Suite 1700. He is trained by Dr. Kenneth Reede, a migraine expert. If you would like to know more about this procedure and office locations check out this website. http://www.reedmigraine.com/ Just a tip though, make sure you are already seeing a neurologist. Procedures like this usually requires you to have been seeing a neurologist for a few years. They would then let you know if your migraines are severe enough for this type of procedure (usually a last effort option).
The most comprehensive list of doctors who do this procedure can be found in the facebook group for this topic.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/232392623486874/
If you send a request to join the group, the moderators have to okay your membership. Once you have joined, if you look in the group's files, there is a long list of doctors recommended by group members. It's a really great group with a huge wealth of information. It's the most informative and comprehensive source on the matter on the web at this moment so if you are researching this surgery, I would highly suggest you join.I personally have had great success with the stimulator I had put in 6+ years ago. This particular website seems to have a negative view of the surgery for some reason but there are a lot of us out there who have had overwhelming success with this treatment option. It's not a cure, just another tool like anything else, but between my stim and regular Botox injections, my pain has been reduced by at least 80%.
