Torri, a dynamic patient advocate and TikTok influencer (@torrisunshine), candidly shares her recent experience with a migraine diagnosis, the frustration of seeking answers, and the relief of finding a supportive team at Neura Health to guide her through this new journey.

‍

Torri's first encounter with migraine: A terrifying ordeal

‍

Torri's ordeal began with a sudden, intense neurological episode, an unfamiliar experience for someone who had never encountered headache disorders before. "I've had a neurological event...that prompted my whole journey with neurology and finding a neurologist," she recalls.

‍

This journey was fraught with challenges, particularly the difficulty in finding specialists who truly understood the complexities of migraine disease. "They were nice and helpful, but they didn't really have the knowledge to really help with migraine," Torri candidly states.

‍

Torri vividly describes her first migraine attack, a terrifying experience that unfolded over several days and culminated in a frightening episode of neurological symptoms. "My left arm started going numb...I lose control of my motor skills," she recounts, adding that her husband, a nurse, initially feared she was having a stroke.

‍

A turning point: Discovering Neura Health's patient-centric approach

‍

Torri's experience with traditional healthcare left her feeling frustrated and unheard. It wasn't until she discovered Neura Health, a telehealth platform specializing in headache medicine, that her journey took a positive turn. "At Neura, you're able to really take the time with the doctor...Someone's going to really deep dive and listen to everything that you're saying," she shares, highlighting the stark contrast with her previous experiences.

‍

Neura Health's patient-first approach, personalized treatment plans, and user-friendly app for tracking migraine attacks resonated deeply with Torri.

‍

She found the streamlined communication and appointment scheduling through Medmo particularly helpful, eliminating the bureaucratic hurdles that often plague traditional healthcare.

‍

Thanks to Neura Health's comprehensive care, Torri's migraine attacks significantly decreased from a near-daily occurrence to just once or twice a month. "It's been life-changing," she exclaims, "It feels good to have relief from this. You know, I feel like I have my life back."

‍

Reclaiming life from migraine

‍

Torri's experience underscores the importance of finding healthcare providers who genuinely listen and prioritize the patient's well-being.

‍

"If you go in person somewhere, in my experience, you're just not gonna get that kind of experience or treatment," she cautions, emphasizing the unique value proposition of Neura Health.

‍

For those on a similar journey, Torri's message is clear: don't lose hope. There are effective management options available, and finding the right support can make all the difference.

‍

At Neura Health, we understand the unique challenges of living with migraine. Our team of specialists is dedicated to providing personalized care, from accurate diagnosis to comprehensive treatment plans and ongoing support.

‍

As she triumphantly declares, "I feel a lot better now...I feel confident that I have a team of people at Neura with this whole situation."

‍

Watch her full video:

‍

‍

Transcription: 

So I had a neurological event. I never had a migraine attack before that. So that prompted my whole journey with neurology and finding a neurologist. And that is a difficult journey in itself, is just getting in with a basic neurologist, let alone trying to find someone who specializes in migraine. And the basic neurologist, they were nice and helpful, but they didn't really have the knowledge to really help with migraine in particular.

‍

They were just very generalized. And that was very difficult and frustrating to not really have answers or relief. My first migraine attack actually happened over the course of a couple days and then turned into kind of a big event. I was home and I didn't even know what it was because I'd never really had migraines before this. I was feeling this  big throbbing migraine. I didn't know it was migraine though at the time. At the top of my head from when I would go from sitting to standing and it would last about 30 seconds and then go away. So I brushed it off because I'm not someone who's like, oh my gosh, something's wrong with me.

‍

I'm like, ah, whatever. It'll be okay. So it was happening and then I'm like, okay, that's fine, I'm sure it'll go away. And then it just kept happening over the course of a couple days. Then I went to brunch about three days after this was happening. It was a very loud place, like lots going on. I was like, wow, it's so loud in here.

‍

And then all of a sudden I was talking to my friend next to me. We had just sat down, I'd taken one sip of my mimosa. I was talking with my hands and I noticed that as I was talking that my hands weren't matching when my brain was telling it to move. And that was the weirdest feeling I have ever encountered in my entire life.

‍

I was like, what is happening? I didn't even know that could happen. Or, in hindsight, that is a migraine symptom. There's so many symptoms of migraine that people don't realize are actual migraine symptoms. That I think should be more widely known so people know what to look for. And then my left arm started going numb.

‍

My husband was there with me, who is also a nurse. He used to work on a certified stroke unit. So, migraine and strokes can lots of times mimic each other, which was what was happening actually in this exact case. And him sitting next to me, he was like, Uh, this looks like a stroke. Let's go outside. We get up to go outside.

‍

I run into the table and then my friend comes out to bring me some avocado toast. She's like, maybe you just need to eat something. So I go to eat something, it falls on me. I lose control of my motor skills, which is another migraine symptom that people don't really know about. And then my husband is like, what is this?

‍

It's a watch. I couldn't in my brain recall what that was. And so he was like, okay, we're going to the hospital right now. So we went to the hospital, and immediately what they will do is stroke code you in an instance like that. I was in the hospital for two days, they ran all of the tests, and I was so sensitive to light and everything kept coming back normal, that my neurologist, she finally just deemed it a complex migraine and sent me home.

‍

After I got home, continued to have migraine attacks, like they would come in waves. This was my very first experience with migraine, period. It was a whole learning of the brain fog and all that, and it was so scary. I had no idea that these kind of symptoms could even happen from something like a migraine, because lots of times people just like to scoff at headaches, migraines, but it's actually a neurological issue. Boston is supposed to have the best medical doctors, right? In the country. I have found up here in Boston, they're so specialized in their specific fields, it's like they can't see outside themselves to look at it as a whole picture. I was feeling, one of the symptoms was being dizzy, so they sent me to someone who like, specializes in that.

‍

And he's like, oh, no, I just know about your ear. I don't know. He couldn't look at the headaches and all of that playing into it. Whereas Neura Health, getting an appointment and seeing a specialist, he's able to look at it like, full picture and really find some answers and some resolution and treatment.

‍

And here it's kind of like they're, they just can't see outside themselves holistically. Any in person doctor , you're just not going to get that kind of experience or treatment that way. You're going to first of all get probably the runaround, probably some pushback, probably some hoops to jump in. I need this document.

‍

I need you to call this phone number. I need you to turn in this form. All of that kind of stuff, whenever it comes to making any kind of adjustments or doing anything medically, but that's just not the case with Neura. It's just simple and streamlined. They're quick to respond. They're quick to take action. At Neura, you're able to really take the time with the doctor, and I feel comfortable enough to ask all the questions.

‍

You're not rushed out the door. Someone's going to really deep dive and listen to everything that you're saying, taking into account all of your symptoms, and not just put a bandaid on it and really wants to help you find answers and get down to your root cause to treat you. Lots of times going to the doctor, it's like the experience of, okay, I'm sure this is what they tell everyone with these couple of symptoms.

‍

It has to be more nuanced than that, right? These are certain different little things. Everyone's not the same. And at Neura, that really rings true and you can feel that and see that in every appointment that you have with them. Neura uses MedMo to schedule their appointments, and they are super on it. I'm telling you, as soon as they were like, okay, MedMo's gonna sign you up for this MRI, because  my neurologist ordered an MRI for my neck, because we're trying to figure out some things.

‍

And they emailed me right away, and they were like, okay, what about this, this, this? And I was like, Wow! Okay, you guys got it! So I thought that was so cool, how on it that they were. And amazing that they even exist. I thought I was going to have to do the legwork on it. At a normal doctor's appointment that you go in to go see, it's like, okay, we want you to do this scan of some sort.

‍

It's like, okay, well then, when is that going to be? Who do I need to call? Now how many hoops do I have to jump through? How do I get this approved through my insurance and all the things? And it's just not like that. It's streamlined. It's simple, and it's way less of a headache. No pun intended. Any neurologist appointment that I've had, other than Neura, has been a very short, sweet appointment that I was left feeling like, okay, so that was it?

‍

I feel like I got nothing out of it. I got very little information, no answers. And then the next appointment is in  six months from now or three months from now. It's like, how is that even possible with everything I have going on? How do they feel comfortable even doing that? And it blew my mind that going to an appointment with Dr. Berk, he let me ask every single question and how long they were. I was like, oh shoot, does he have enough time for this? I was like, am I taking up so much of his time? But he never made me feel like that. I was just like, this isn't normal. So that I'm able to take up so much of this doctor's time and he's really explaining everything to me and you're almost  taken aback because that's just not the norm you experience with seeing a regular neurologist if you go in person somewhere, in my experience. Now, I don't cry every time I have a weird symptom. I'm like, okay, I get it. This is just a part of a migraine symptom. When I get my left arm numbness, that used to make me cry. Now, I just know it's part of the migraine symptoms. And I feel confident that I have a team of people at Neura with this whole situation.

‍

So, I feel a lot better now. What I love most about the app, is tracking my symptoms. I just think that it's so cool to be able to see how many headache days that you have and to see  what types of headaches and where they are in your head and to be able to look back on and have all of that information is so helpful.

‍

Get that notification every week that says check in with your weekly symptoms this week. If I have a bad week I'm really good about, oh this is what happened to me, but if it's a good week I'm not so good about it's funny how that works. But yeah, I think that's super helpful. I feel so much better about my treatment plan, and also I will say my migraines have gotten so much better.

‍

I was having migraines most days out of the month, and now I probably have a migraine once or twice a month. So it's been life changing. It feels good to have relief from this, I feel like I have my life back.

‍