Australian Spends $1 Million to Diagnose 15-Year Headache
An Australian woman spent $1 million to identify the cause of a headache that persisted for 15 years.
Translated by Qiyas from القبس — Original source
After nearly 15 years of migraine attacks, Australian Stephanie Benedetti says her life changed following jaw surgery, after she spent, by her estimate, more than $1 million on consultations, tests, treatments, and travel in search of an explanation for her suffering. Benedetti, who spends most of her time on the Thai island of Phuket, told Newsweek in an interview that she consulted more than 20 doctors and underwent six brain MRI scans without reaching a clear explanation for her symptoms. The migraine attacks struck her weekly or every other week, lasting between two and four days, forcing her to stay in bed and disrupting aspects of her personal and social life. Her suffering was not limited to headaches; she also spoke of facial swelling, jaw and neck pain, and gastrointestinal problems. Over the years of her search, she moved between different medical specialties, tried various medications and treatments, but the attacks persisted, while costs for care and travel to clinics in various countries accumulated. In 2025, Benedetti turned to dental and jaw imaging with three-dimensional computed tomography. Although the initial assessment showed no problem warranting concern, she sought a second opinion from a dental clinic in Melbourne, Australia. According to her account, the clinic identified bone changes at the sites of old wisdom tooth extractions in the lower jaw and recommended surgery to investigate them. She underwent the first procedure in February 2026, followed by a second intervention later, and said the team treated areas described as sites of chronic infection. Benedetti insists that the migraine attacks stopped after the first surgery, and that she went about nine months without a new attack until the interview was published, an improvement she described as having restored her life after years of pain. However, her experience does not prove that jaw changes caused the headaches, or that surgery is a treatment for them. She acknowledged that she lacks a definitive scientific explanation for the improvement, and that the clinic did not guarantee the disappearance of her headaches; her story remains a personal account of improvement following surgery, not evidence of a generalizable treatment.
