Treatment at Apex Headache Clinic has been life changing
Treatment at Apex Headache Clinic has been life changing
46-year-old administrator Catherine McGivern from Belfast had been suffering with migraines for 29 years which was having a massive impact on her life. After trying everything, with no relief she visited Apex Headache Clinic in the hope of getting to the source of the problem. Here, she shares how the clinic’s unique regime of specialist manual physiotherapy treatment for migraines and headaches, called The Nelson Headache Approach™, treated her migraines, meaning that she could finally start to enjoy life again.
Catherine, when did your migraines begin?
When I was 17 years old, I had a head injury, not a severe one but I had concussion. This increased my headaches and migraines and between the ages of 17 and 21 I began to suffer with them more frequently. It wasn’t until I was 21 years old that I started getting migraines every couple of weeks and then they started to get worse. I also feel that my migraines can be hormonal.
How did the migraines affect your life?
I couldn’t do anything or make plans as I didn’t know when I was going to get a migraine. I have missed so many events from friend’s weddings to birthday parties due to having migraines. In the build up to a social event I would get slightly stressed wanting to be ok and then when it comes around, I would be hit by a migraine. It did impact on my life a lot including my work life. I have been very lucky with jobs I have had over the years and my employers have always been very understanding. I would feel guilty when I was sick with migraines and would want to be working.
What led you to Apex Headache Clinic?
Friends of mine had seen Apex Headache Clinic advertised and told me about it and most recently it was my mum who said to me what about trying this. Before I booked the initial appointment, I read the reviews and thought that I should give it a go.
How has your life changed since having treatment?
When I first started treatment with my specialist physiotherapist, I was seeing them twice a week and I thought I was cured as I didn’t have a migraine during this time. For a long time I didn’t have any migraines. We then began spacing out the treatment to see how I got on, going a bit longer between sessions. The migraines did begin to creep back in a little bit but the thing that I found really life changing was that I had been taking medication which I did not like taking. For years, this medication had worked really well but in the last 5 years it had stopped working for me and sometimes I had to take more doses to get relief from my migraines. A really big thing for me was that the medication began to work well every time which meant I didn’t have to take as much which was excellent. My specialist physiotherapist explained to me that this is because I am desensitized because of the work she has been doing on my neck. I do still get migraines, but they are much more manageable since having treatment.
What advice would you offer someone suffering from headaches?
I have a few friends who suffer with headaches and migraines and I have told them about yourselves. I had tried everything; acupuncture, botox, reflexology, yoga, meditation, physiotherapy elsewhere and all kinds of medication which didn’t work. The first thing that has made me feel better is having treatment at Apex Headache Clinic. It has been life changing for me and I think it is definitely something anyone who has headaches or migraines should try.
To book an appointment at Apex Headache Clinic, call 028 9048 4153. No GP referral is necessary.