my Plitt of Moon Township was a textbook example of the wide-reaching havoc migraines can level over every element of life. She suffered her first migraine at the age of 18, though she didn’t know what it was at the time.

“It lasted 74 days! No one could pinpoint what was happening to me, so I went through a battery of tests including a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. Eventually—mercifully—what I now know was my first migraine went away,” she says.

Amy earned a writing degree from Geneva College in Beaver Falls and began her career as a copy editor and proofreader. She got married and started a family. And with her life taking full shape, the migraines returned in full force.

“It wasn’t the frequency that increased at first, but the severity. I might only get one or two a year, but they would be so bad that I would suffer a nose bleed,” she says. “The hardest part was that they went from putting me out of commission for a day or two to completely knocking me down for a week or two—sometimes longer.”

In 2018, Amy found Heather Moury, DO, AQH, who practices with St. Clair Medical Group Neurology. She quickly got to work on making things personal.

“We build your care around you at St. Clair,” Dr. Moury says. “And that starts with your overall health and lifestyle—the combination of factors from family history through exercise, sleep, and hydration that all play a critical role in how you feel and how your body reacts to stress. That gives us a baseline to come back to and evaluate further based on how you respond to personalized treatment protocols.”

Through years of trial and error with other neurologists, Amy had seen multiple specialists and received various workups including lumbar punctures and brain imaging. Though no underlying causes were found and no treatments appeared beneficial, Dr. Moury remained undeterred.

“Migraines are challenging, and for someone like Amy who struggled for so many years, frustration can easily set in,” she says. “I love the mystery of diagnosing migraines and understanding patients as a whole, because no two people are alike. It is rewarding to find a treatment plan for a patient that can make a huge difference in their quality of life.”

Gradually, Amy found growing levels of success through infusions, nerve blocks and Botox. But as her body built up a tolerance to treatment, the migraines returned intermittently. So in 2022, Dr. Moury introduced Amy to Eptinezumab, an intravenous (IV) infusion treatment for migraine prevention.

“I told Dr. Moury it was like liquid gold. I haven’t had a migraine since,” Amy says. “Because of St. Clair, I no longer have to accept living in pain. I’m just overjoyed to be out in the sun again.”

Amy is adamant about sharing her story so that others suffering from the same fear and regret of what they’ve been missing out can see light at the end of the tunnel—and not immediately squint at the onset of a migraine.

Are you struggling with headaches or migraines? Call 412.942.6300 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Heather Moury, a neurologist and headache specialist who practices with St. Clair Medical Group.