Maryville patients get outpatient headache treatment at the Headache Express clinic in St. Louis, Missouri: image-guided nerve blocks, and intravenous therapy for a migraine that will not break. Anything that needs hospital-based care is coordinated through Anderson Hospital in Maryville.
Maryville is where Dr. Padda holds hospital privileges, which makes it a slightly different relationship from the rest of the Illinois side.
Hospital privileges, and what they actually mean for you
Dr. Padda is on staff at Anderson Hospital in Maryville with full privileges — covering pain management, addiction medicine, surgery and anesthesiology, rather than being siloed into one of them. He is a physician working inside your own region’s hospital system, not solely an out-of-state name on a referral.
In practice that matters for continuity. Where a headache problem sits alongside something requiring hospital-based care, the coordination is not starting from scratch across a state line.
Getting to the clinic itself
Outpatient headache treatment happens at the Woodson Road clinic in St. Louis, Missouri, next to Lambert Airport — I-255 to I-270 and west across the river. Ground-floor entrance, on-site parking and a full-size elevator; the details are on the contact page.
Where an anesthesiology background changes the work
Headache Express is run by an anesthesiologist rather than by a purely medical headache service, and the difference shows up in the procedural side. Every injection is placed under ultrasound or fluoroscopy rather than by surface landmarks, which is what makes a block that does not work into information rather than a possible miss — see ultrasound and fluoroscopic guidance.
It also shows in what is available for an attack that will not break: intravenous therapy in a chair rather than a bed, without sedation, with most people here between one and two hours.
What do you do when a migraine won’t go away?
An attack that has run for more than seventy-two hours is a different problem from a bad migraine day. The usual oral options have already failed by definition, absorption is unreliable once vomiting has started, and each further day makes the next one more likely.
Intravenous therapy addresses that directly — rehydration plus agents that do not depend on a working gut, given in one visit. Intravenous migraine therapy covers what is given and what to expect, and when a migraine will not break covers when it is the right call.
Being on a hospital medical staff matters here in a specific way: it means the threshold for escalating something that is not settling is a clinical judgment rather than a referral into an unfamiliar system.
Why are headache nerve blocks done with imaging?
A nerve block placed by surface landmarks is an educated estimate. The nerves involved in headache are small, they vary between people, and they sit close to structures you would rather not inject.
This is the part where an anesthesiology background changes the work rather than just the credential. Placing needles accurately under imaging is the daily business of that specialty, and it converts a block from something that might have reached the target into something that demonstrably did.
That matters most when the block is diagnostic. A negative result only means something if you know the drug reached the nerve. Why image guidance matters and how it is used here cover the detail.
Why do headaches continue after a head injury?
Post-traumatic headache is common, under-recognized, and frequently attributed to stress once the acute injury is behind the patient. It can look like migraine, like cervicogenic headache, or like occipital neuralgia, and it often involves more than one of them at once because the same event injured several structures.
The neck is the part most often left out. A blow to the head decelerates the neck as well, and the upper cervical joints are a common source of headache afterward even when imaging of the head is entirely normal.
Can the top of the neck cause headaches?
The atlanto-axial joint — the top two vertebrae, responsible for most of the rotation in your neck — refers pain to the back and side of the head in a recognizable pattern, and it is rarely assessed outside of clinics that treat headache specifically.
Where it is implicated, an image-guided injection into that joint answers the question and treats it at once. The atlanto-axial injection covers how it is done, and it is a good example of why the imaging is not optional: it is not a joint anyone should be approaching by feel.
What the hospital staff appointment does and does not mean
It means credentials verified by a hospital in your own state, and a straightforward route if something needs escalating. It does not mean your appointment happens at Anderson Hospital — the clinic is on Woodson Road in Missouri, and that is where the procedure suite and imaging are.
We are explicit about that because the two get conflated in patients’ minds, and showing up at the wrong building for an appointment is a genuinely wasted morning.
If you were seen at Anderson first
Bring or request the record. An emergency evaluation for a severe headache usually includes the examination and any imaging that was done, and knowing what was already excluded keeps us from repeating it.
It also establishes the timeline. A headache documented on a specific date with specific features is a much stronger starting point than a recollection of roughly when it began.
Just south, headache treatment for Collinsville sets out why migraine, tension, neck and jaw headaches are told apart before anything else.
Common questions
Do I need a referral from Anderson Hospital?
No. You can contact the clinic directly regardless of where you are usually seen — get in touch.
Are treatments given at Anderson Hospital?
Outpatient headache care is provided at the Woodson Road clinic in St. Louis. The hospital privileges matter for coordination and for care that genuinely needs a hospital setting.
What if my headache turns out not to be the main problem?
That happens, and it is a reason the assessment is broad rather than narrow. Where something else is driving it, we will say so and point you to the right place — see headache red flags for the signs that need urgent attention.
What is IV therapy for a migraine that won’t break?
It is used when an attack has run for more than seventy-two hours, the usual oral options have already failed, and vomiting makes pills unreliable. Intravenous therapy gives rehydration plus medicines that do not depend on a working gut, in a single visit. It is given in a chair rather than a bed, without sedation, at the Woodson Road clinic in St. Louis.
How long does IV migraine treatment take?
Most people are here between one and two hours. The therapy is given in a chair rather than a hospital bed, and without sedation. It combines rehydration with medicines that do not rely on the gut, so it still works once vomiting has started. It is outpatient care at the Woodson Road clinic in St. Louis, not at Anderson Hospital.
What kind of doctor runs Headache Express?
An anesthesiologist, rather than a purely medical headache service. That background shows in the procedures: every injection is placed under ultrasound or fluoroscopy instead of by surface landmarks, so a block that does not work becomes useful information rather than a possible miss. The same physician holds full privileges at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, covering pain management, addiction medicine, surgery and anesthesiology.
Should I bring records from an emergency visit for my headache?
Yes. An emergency evaluation for a severe headache usually includes an examination and any imaging that was done, and knowing what was already ruled out keeps us from repeating it. The record also fixes the timeline: a headache documented on a specific date with specific features is a much stronger starting point than a memory of roughly when it began.