continuously face. I am hopeful that post-pandemic life may compel the distillation of American ideals and the restructuring of systems of power that have abandoned our communities at their most vulnerable. As we emerge into a
Latinx (predominantly Catholic) and African (predominantly of strong faith backgrounds) community members defer this decision to religious leaders because of historical mistrust of medicine in American underserved communities. Just
SGEM: DID YOU KNOW?
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Headache: Not Just Migraine
brave new world of our own devising, may we always remember la familia.
as we began to see hope on the horizon with the release of vaccines distrust has Dr. Shafer is an assistant been leaders claiming Byinitial Soumitri Barua and Alyson McGregor, MD, onfueled behalfby of religiousDifferentiating possible strokes from stroke is only The stages of mandatory professormimics of emergency “mark of one the knows how to identify symptoms SAEM’sare Sexwhere and Gender Interest Group the vaccines are “anti-Christ”, possible when quarantine I first noted despair medicine physician and devil” or unethical. All untrue assertions by and social disconnect brewing in my from red herrings. medical toxicology at Baylor A seemingly simple headache may mask a more trusted sources in immigrant communities. community. People were glued to their College of Medicine. sinister process such as ischemic stroke, especially communityMigraine and stroke have some overlapping Well-informed and health televisions and struggling to decipher in women. While women have a higher leaders lifetimecommitted risk presentations that warrant keeping both on the list of to evidence have large a barrage of information. They were of primary headache syndromes like migraines and differential diagnoses at initial evaluation. Forisexample, roles in rebuilding trust while showing Dr. Bicette an assistant severely isolated, especially young adults empathy to address misinformation for the tension headaches, chronic headache syndromes put a hemiplegic migraine, a rare type of migraine, involves professor of emergency and recent immigrants who had not yet sake ofevents, public health weakness on one side of the body (face, at higherorrisk for major cardiovascular arm, and/or leg) medicine at Baylor College built people family structures robust support including ischemic stroke, myocardial and and can resolve spontaneously before presenting at an of Medicine and a medical systems. Without such networks in place, infarction, Duty Calls cardiovascular deaths. A study found emergency department. Resolved weakness stay-at-home orders disease-related became challenging, director in themay Bayloralso St. Luke's As physicians, our voices have to be that women with migraine with aura had double the be a sign of transient ischemic attack, and persistent and those with relatives abroad were healthcare system. @DrRichiMD louder than the megaphones of those prevalence an ischemic women weakness would warrant a stroke workup. forced to weatherrate the of pandemic alone.stroke than who are spreading misinformation or
without a migraine disorder; however, adisinformation. similar Dr. Turner isand an education Women are more likely to have a migraine report In the best of times, mental health It is our duty to ensure association was not found in male participants. administration often receives little attention in immigrant people make informed longer decisions rooted and have a higher and headaches lifetime risk offellow an at communities. When compounded with evidence. to seek to compared to womenBaylor College of Medicine. It is important to have a low thresholdinto evaluateIt is imperative ischemic event without migraines the pandemic, healthavulnerabilities understand the communities weinserve for stroke,mental even when patient presents with a nonor men general. Women also haveanisha.turner@bcm.edu a higher lifetime werespecific exacerbated. New immigrants tend — underserved and immigrant alike —Emergency to @DestinedDocshould neurologic complaint such as headache. A risk of stroke. medicine physicians to have limited support, better equitablecontinue care which be prior diagnosis of ainsufficient migraine health syndromeprovide does not mean to will be aware that headache can be an important care the access and cultural barriers that the beginning steps to address the health patient is having another episode. On the contrary, sign of stroke, especially for women. limit a them from developing disparities that have long plagued medical migraine that “feelsmental like thehealth other ones” could mean ABOUT THEfrom AUTHORS coping skills. As a result, many suffered communities with distrust and fear a woman is in the early hours of a stroke. As in acute Soumitri Barua is an MS4 at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown from unrecognized health issues ranging our patients coronary syndrome, women with underlying ischemic University. from depression to panic attacks and . symptoms stroke are more likely to have nontraditional major psychotic breaks. Dr. McGregor is an associate professor of emergency medicine, The Warren such as pain (including headache), change in level of
Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Mass vaccination is or nearly reach consciousness, evenwithin non-neurologic symptoms. to help mitigate this crisis, yet health providers must now find empathetic SGEM "Did You is a recurring SAEM Pulse submission designed to represent concise facts that demonstrate how patient sex and gender effect ways to tackle a Know?" new challenge: emergency care. We welcome submissions. Please send contributions to the coeditors Lauren Walter and Alyson J. McGregor at sgem@lifespan.org. vaccine hesitancy. I have witnessed
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