Apex Headache Clinic has completely changed my life

For 64-year-old practicing artist, Mary Booth from County Antrim, battling migraines for over 30 years had greatly affected her life. She came to Apex Headache Clinic desperately seeking a cure. Here, she shares how the clinic’s unique regime of specialist physiotherapy treatment, called The Nelson Headache Approach™, cleared her migraines, meaning she could finally get her life back on track.

Mary, when did your migraines begin?

Around my late twenties, I had my very first migraine. I can remember that I had just washed my horse, and as I was walking it down the lane, my head suddenly started to bang. The pain was absolutely horrendous, so much so that I was convinced I had a brain tumour.

Over the years they would come and go but in 2006, when I returned to Northern Ireland after living in France, I suddenly began suffering two migraines a day. On one occasion, the pain was so severe that in desperation, I started banging my head off a wall in the hope of easing the pain. Another time, I was visiting friends when a migraine struck. It was the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life and I ended up in hospital because of it.

How did the pain affect your life?

It’s very hard to put into words the impact that living with debilitating migraines had. When a migraine struck, the only way I could cope would be to take myself off to bed and wait for it to lift. I’ve visited GPs over the years and have been prescribed various pain killers, which while they helped ease the pain, didn’t cure my migraines. I was living in constant fear of a migraine developing which often led to me cancelling events. It was just awful and I honestly thought that they were something I was going to have to live with for the rest of my life.

What led you to Apex Headache Clinic?

I was attending a medical appointment privately and the nurse who was taking my history, was intrigued by my migraines. She recommended Apex Headache Clinic and told me about the great things that the clinic does to cure headaches and migraines, even in long term sufferers. I was desperate to find even a little relief, so I had no hesitation in booking an appointment.

My specialist physiotherapist, Michelle diagnosed my headaches as stemming from my neck. During my youth, I fell off a horse and hit my neck off the back of a kerb. It has been stiff over the years but I never attributed this as the cause of my migraines. As my mother suffered from them too, I put it down to genetics.

Since the first appointment, I have never had another migraine. They have threatened from time-to-time but have never ever materialised to anything more. Furthermore, the incidence of these ‘threats’ began decreasing with a few more appointments. Nowadays, I attend once monthly for a maintenance appointment with Michelle.

How has Apex Headache Clinic changed your life?

My life has completely changed. If you told me a few years ago that I’d be migraine-free, I wouldn’t have believed you. It is now that I have found relief from them that I realise just how much I was living in fear of getting a migraine, often putting things off, just in case one developed. I am still cautious of things that could trigger them but as time passes, my confidence is growing. Michelle was just wonderful and I am so grateful to her for changing my life.

Finally, what advice would you offer someone suffering from headaches?

Absolutely do not hesitate to give Apex Headache Clinic a try. This should be your first port of call. I’ve told so many people about the place and they too have found relief.

To book an appointment at Apex Headache Clinic, call 028 9048 4153. No GP referral is necessary.