In my part of the country, there has been a gradual transition from remote learning to hybrid learning to full in-person learning, starting this spring. And as we all experience, there are significant stressors with all this change. Kids are happy to be back at school with their friends, teachers, feeling sort of ‘back to … Continue reading Back to school, bring on the stress; psychiatric comorbidities and headache
Children and teens with headache and migraine have been affected in a variety of ways by these pandemic times. Thinking back, there has been a difference between last spring and this fall and the effect on my patients, particularly in the school environment. I will refer back to specific chapters in my book ‘Getting ahead … Continue reading Pandemic reflections
The pandemic and its impact on life and work have consumed most of us during the past 6 months. So many choices and many not in our power to make. All vacations cancelled-no trip to Africa this June, no headache conference. Limited in-person interaction both at work and in life. Lack of control over most … Continue reading Managing headaches during the pandemic, part 2
Nothing could be more pressing on the minds of all of us than the Covid 19 pandemic. Our clinic has been closed to live visits since March 16. We are now doing all virtual visits for both new evaluations and follow up visits. There has been plenty of institutional IT support and direction in these … Continue reading Managing headaches during the pandemic
Stress and pain go hand and hand, feed off each other, triggering more pain and headaches. One way to help our patients with chronic pain and headaches is to encourage mind/body techniques, like mindfulness, meditation, relaxation, CBT, yoga, Reiki and other modalities. One way to help get it started is to have them actually download … Continue reading App review: WebMAP Mobile, for adolescents with chronic pain
Welcome to the New Year 2020! I have been missing-in-action for the past few months, just too much going on in life to be able to create any new posts. I am back and am committing to posting at least once per month from now on. I have been thinking a lot about resilience lately … Continue reading Resilience and the teen with headaches
It’s the tail end of the summer, and I have been spending a lot of time with my patients getting ready to go off to college for the first time. It is an exciting and scary time for them (and their parents). I have had a relationship with many of these kids for years, sometimes … Continue reading Going off to college with headaches!
It’s the very end of the school year, summer is fast approaching. What does that mean for pediatric headache providers? Hopefully there will be fewer distress calls. It also means numerous camp medication forms and 504 support letters for the fall. Importantly, there are less hectic days with more time to reflect on the general … Continue reading Headaches and summer
So it’s been a tough past month here in the headache program. And experience shows that this rough patch will continue for another month toward the end of the school year. This time of year triggers lots of stress for our patients, especially the high schoolers. Lots of stress = lots of headache = lots … Continue reading Self-Care and the Headache Provider
In this post, I will continue the conversation with Sarah Nelson, PhD, pain psychologist. Previously we talked about common psychological issues associated with headache, issues that affect coping and functioning for patients with chronic headache, dealing with resistance to accepting psychological help and barriers to care. What are the best screening measures to use in … Continue reading Psychology and headaches, part 2
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