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About Dr. Foster
Last updated: 11/10/2009
Carol A. Foster, MD, a West Virginia native and a 1985 graduate of Marshall University School of Medicine, has returned home to West Virginia and Marshall University. As Chief of the Headache Division in the Department of Neuroscience at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, her plan is to establish a premier headache clinic and research center to serve those suffering with all types of headaches.
A migraine sufferer herself, Dr. Foster chose neurology as a specialty, and in 1989 completed her neurology residency at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. She completed a headache clerkship at the Princess Margaret Migraine Clinic in London, England. She established the Valley Neurological Headache and Research Center in Phoenix, where she spent twenty years helping those with chronic headaches control their disease by guiding them through a comprehensive headache treatment program.
"A headache, like a cough or bleeding, may be a symptom of a disease. Many of us want our headaches to just go away, but often, they will not. In fact, every headache you have makes it easier for your brain to have the next one," Dr. Foster says.
Dr. Foster has cultivated a passion to better inform and teach patients, healthcare professionals and the general public that there is more to treating headaches than taking a pill. The Marshall University Neuroscience Department is now offering those with headaches and Tri-State area physicians an opportunity to learn more about headache disorders and the multiple factors that play a role in the disease progression of migraine and other headache types. The Headache Division offers a comprehensive evaluation for the headache sufferer to determine the cause and possible complicating illnesses that contribute to chronic headaches. This comprehensive evaluation and treatment program includes appropriate medical management, augmented by aggressive behavioral treatment options.
"Many medications used to stop a headache may actually cause you to have more headaches. This is known as medication overuse headache or rebound headache," says Dr. Foster. "In addition, many of the foods you are eating and how you are eating are making it easier to have a headache. Once again you have to treat the disease, not the symptom. You will not get better until you stop treating the symptom and start treating the disease."
If you think that Dr. Foster can help you or a loved one who suffers from headaches, please contact the headache triage nurse at the Neuroscience Department at 304-691-1787.