First Do No Harm

As noted earlier, the headache patient must understand that a proper and accurate diagnosis must be made before entertaining any thoughts of integrative therapies. All serious, emergent, and urgent causes of pain must be excluded by a traditional medical physician before nontraditional approaches are tried. The fundamental healing axiom of "first do no harm" must be a guiding principle whenever an integrative medical provider encounters a patient. Consultations with such providers should be open and honest on both sides. Should the provider or patient withhold clinical information, any attempts of moving forward are fruitless. The provider should make no false promises, and no contracts should be signed or gimmicks offered. If a patient is presented with such a scenario, he or she should not continue seeing that provider.

The patient may need to try differing approaches to their problem. If a particular integrative approach fails, this does not mean that others will have the same outcome. Patience, prudence, and due diligence are needed as one explores these developing approaches.