I’ve finally got my life back, thanks to Apex Headache Clinic
For 25-year-old Annie Quinn, life was a struggle. She battled with daily headaches throughout her teenage years, and as a student at university, which had a severe impact on her life. Today, she shares how finding Apex Headache Clinic gave her hope, and how she is finally enjoying life again.
Annie, tell us how your headaches began?
As a child, I was a go-getter. I was adventurous, which often led to me falling off climbing frames at the park and tumbling over. These falls over the years, were followed by a car accident as a child. My headaches began at the age of 13. Initially, they started to occur once a week, which was manageable, but over time they became more severe and much more frequent. Gradually, they started to come on daily, and the pain was crippling.
How did the pain affect your life?
The headaches had a massive impact on my life. Studying for both my GSCEs and A-Levels was a huge struggle. My life involved living on pain killers, which were having little to no effect. They would take the edge off the pain, just enough so that I could get to school, but they soon wore off, leaving me to face the severe pain. The headaches, along with the medication to ease them, meant that I was also dizzy as well. The result of this made concentrating in class virtually impossible. My attendance at school suffered greatly and I had no social life, because the pain was so bad that often I couldn’t leave my home.
What led you to Apex Headache Clinic?
Having tried all angles in search of a cure for my headaches, I saw a Consultant Neurologist in Belfast, who recommended that I go to Apex Headache Clinic for treatment. To be honest, at the time I couldn’t understand how physio could help my severe headaches as I had no neck pain. On my first appointment at Apex Headache Clinic, my specialist physiotherapist diagnosed my headaches as being triggered from my neck, and they were confident that it was very likely that the falls and the car accident which I’d experienced as a child had jarred my neck, and this was the source of my headaches starting. After just two treatments, I began to feel the difference in my headaches, and I couldn’t believe it. My headaches gradually reduced from being all day, every day, to just two to three per week. And then, with a few more sessions, they reduced to just one per week. My headaches are now down to one a month and I attend the clinic just once a month for a maintenance treatment. I honestly find it unbelievable that my headaches have virtually gone, having suffered with them for so many years!
How has Apex Headache Clinic changed your life?
I can’t believe the difference the treatment has made to my life. To go from suffering never-ending, crippling headaches and not being able to leave my home, to having just the odd one, is incredible, and something I could never have imagined. I feel like I have been given so much of my time back and it has made a massive difference to my progress in studying for my degree. I have freedom now, which is something I never felt I had before. I can socialise with family and friends, without fearing that a headache will ruin it.
What advice would you offer someone suffering from headaches?
I would definitely advise going to Apex Headache Clinic in Belfast. I have already recommended the clinic to lots of people. I am so pleased to have found a cure for my headaches and the Apex team are amazing.
To book an appointment at Apex Headache Clinic, call 028 9048 4153. No GP referral is necessary.