SEVA PAIN INSTITUTE

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Friday - Sunday: Closed

MIGRAINES & HEADACHES

Over 45 million Americans suffer from chronic headaches. If you’re one of them, and recurring headaches or migraines disrupt your life, contact Gurpreet Dhaliwal, MD, at SEVA Pain Institute in Tracy, California. He offers customized treatments to both relieve your pain and heal the condition causing your headaches and migraines. Call SEVA Pain Institute or schedule a consultation online today.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the difference between a headache and a migraine?

While migraines cause headaches, not all headaches are migraines. Migraines are a collection of neurological symptoms that are often severe and debilitating. Migraines tend to cause localized pain on one side of your head and a combination of other symptoms, including:

  • Sensitivity to light, sound, and smell
  • Seeing halos, auras, or flashes of light
  • Blurred vision
  • Nausea

Headaches develop in your forehead, temples, and neck, and can also cause facial pain. For example, inflammation in your nasal cavities can cause a sinus headache and pain around your eyes, cheeks, and nose.

What causes headaches and migraines?

Headaches and migraines have different causes. Headaches can often be attributed to lifestyle factors, such as dehydration, stress, alcohol, sleep disruption, and certain foods. Muscle strain, infection, hormones, and medication are also common culprits.

Migraines typically have neurological causes. For example, when you have a migraine attack, the chemical activity in your brain changes and your serotonin levels drop. Medical researchers believe this could trigger your trigeminal nerve into releasing neuropeptides which cause pain in the membrane of your brain.

How are headaches and migraines treated?

At SEVA Pain Institute, Dr. Dhaliwal offers highly customized treatments for headaches and migraines. He begins your treatment with a detailed consultation and exam. In addition to learning about your symptoms, he also asks about your lifestyle and overall health.

Once he understands your condition, Dr. Dhaliwal provides personalized treatment plans, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological options designed to relieve your pain and restore your health. For example, he may recommend radiofrequency ablation, nerve blocks, or spinal cord stimulation therapy to resolve your headaches and migraines. He also offers biofeedback, acupuncture, exercise, and counseling.

In cases where therapeutic nerve blocks fail to provide long-lasting pain relief, radiofrequency ablation techniques (cryoablation or thermal) may be used. These use either radiofrequency energy to heat the nerve sending the pain messages or cold temperatures to freeze the nerve and shut it off.

Spinal cord stimulation uses a mild electrical current to stimulate and block the nerve sending the pain messages. It’s also minimally invasive and is used when other treatment methods haven’t been effective.

You don’t have to live with the pain and disruption of chronic headaches or migraines. Call SEVA Pain Institute or schedule an appointment online to get expert, customized treatments to ease your discomfort.