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Fall Newsletter 2019
Orange County Migraine & Headache Center
“New Beginnings”
Why the title of “New Beginnings” for this newsletter? Several reasons are behind this title. First, Dr. Hutchinson became a grandmother on Sunday, November 17th when her daughter brought Evelyn Rose into this world. Secondly, this is truly a time of “new beginnings” for many of you with migraine and cluster headache. New advances for prevention of migraine including the anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies (Aimovig, Ajovy, and Emgality) have brought improved quality of life to many of you. These medications are a positive step for those who have previously failed or been intolerant of non-specific preventives including the anti-depressants, anti-hypertensives, and anti-epileptics. In addition, Emgality has received the approval for prevention of episodic cluster, which although far less common than migraine, is so disabling is often referred to as the “suicide” headache.
Look for new treatments coming to market for the acute treatment of migraine. These include the Nerivio device (discussed in the last newsletter), Tosymra (the new nasal mist of Sumatriptan), and new oral medications including Reyvow and oral gepants. These new acute migraine treatments will be especially good for those of you who have not found triptans effective, have poorly tolerated them or cannot take due to contraindications such as cardiac or vascular disease. The triptans cause some vasoconstriction after taking whereas the new Reyvow and the emerging oral gepants do not cause vasoconstriction. We encourage you to set up an appointment in early 2020 to review your current acute and preventive treatment plan so we can help you live your life as free of migraine & cluster headache as possible.
As the new year approaches it is a great time to evaluate and fine-tune our practice. Here are a few practice changes and some reminders regarding office procedures and policies!
We first want to make all our patients aware that our procedure fees for Nerve Blocks and Injections have been reviewed and pricing adjustments have been implemented. This may impact a small percentage of you so please ask about the cost of your procedure at the time of scheduling. We want to avoid any surprises when you check-out. For specifics, please call our office.
Secondly – We want to remind everyone about the proper use of the after-hours phone calling and email messaging.
We are available after hours for urgent issues that you feel cannot wait until we are back in the office. The after-hours # is 949-514-4429. Note that this line is for voice messages only. Please do not text any requests to this number. Text messages will not be read and will be deleted. In addition, do not call the after-hours line for refills. Refills are only handled during regular office hours and can take up to 3 business days to respond to.
Emails sent to our office at info@ocmigraine.org are screened and forwarded to the appropriate physician. Emails take up to 5 business days to respond to. If you have an urgent issue, please call the office instead of sending an email. Dr. Hutchinson and Dr. Molly need to prioritize taking care of patients on their schedule that day and may not have time to read emails as timely as you may want. Please understand, as you will also be given the priority when you come in for a visit.
The Holiday Season has arrived. Please enjoy time with your loved ones.
Happy Holidays to all,
Dr. Susan Hutchinson
Dr. Molly Rossknecht
Aurora, Bailey, and Norma