I live in Rochester, New York, and my story is on occipital neuralgia. Before I had surgery with Dr. Williams, I was in 24/7 daily pain with a minimal level of probably about seven every day. One day, I started to have what I called reverse headaches. The pain started at the base of my skull, it traveled up the back right side of my head, and it felt like somebody was squeezing my head. That was on really good days. On bad days, the pain also came across my forehead and behind my right eye.
Sitting seemed to make the pain worse. Where I work, I deal with customers, so I had to get a stand-up desk where, instead of sitting with my customers and talking to them, I had to stand over them. At my kids' sports events, instead of sitting with other parents on the bleachers, I had to stand away from everybody.
That my primary doctor did was send me for an MRI of my brain to rule out tumors. But after that, it was six years of neurologists, neurosurgeons, pain management doctors, injections, Botox, physical therapy, and medicine. Nothing helped. Sometimes the symptoms were just temporarily masked.
Actors told me living a life pain-free was probably just not in the cards for me anymore. This went on for about six years until finally, after some research, I found Dr. Williams in Maryland. After my first visit with Dr. Williams, I knew that I made the right decision. Dr. Williams knew right away what I had. He listened to me, he acted like he cared, and he came up with a plan.
Dr. Williams is compassionate, knowledgeable. You can tell he truly cares about his patients. I am forever grateful to Dr. Williams. I can't thank him enough for what he did for me. I tell everybody all the time that Dr. Williams is my hero.
Paula