Do you suffer from painful and debilitating migraines? Have you given up on all the pharmaceutical treatments? Have you tried Botox for migraines? Botox migraine treatments enable anyone suffering from chronic migraines and headaches to enjoy safe and effective preventative care.
Migraines are common yet intensive headaches that can significantly affect a person’s ability to function and enjoy everyday life. Migraines are characterized by sharp pain, generally on one side of the head. They can also be accompanied by weakness and a sense of paralysis.
Frequency and Time of Appearance
Migraine attacks can last for several hours, up to several days. The World Health Organization defines a migraine as an extremely limiting chronic condition. Over 20 percent of women and 10 percent of men suffer from migraines.
The reasons people experience migraines aren’t fully understood. The condition is described as a genetic disorder, but migraines are also influenced by environmental conditions. For many years, the medical world believed that migraines were linked to vascular activity in the brain. Today, it’s considered a neurological disease. The attacks appear when certain areas of the cerebral cortex experience a decrease in activity; the body responds by increasing blood supply to the area. This is accompanied by an increase in potassium and glutamic acid, followed by a decrease in blood supply and activity in the area, leading to an inflammatory response that causes the head to throb.
We’ve all heard of Botox treatments. They are used in a variety of medical and cosmetic applications. In the 1970s, physicians began to use Botox to treat crossed eyes and later, sweating, wrinkles, orthopedic conditions, and other use cases. With time, more botulinum toxin applications and benefits were discovered. Today, it’s also used to effectively treat chronic migraines.
Treating Migraines
Before Botox was proven to effectively prevent migraines, people suffering from this condition tried various other treatments to prevent and relieve their pain. Their pain and suffering drove them to try anything and everything: folk remedies, lifestyle changes, and even psychiatric drugs. Each treatment led to some (limited) success, but also came with short- and long-term side effects.
Some of these treatments expand the blood vessels in the brain, while others block receptors. One treatment even includes medications intended for epilepsy patients. These treatments come with concerning side effects, such as the development of a tolerance for medication, arrhythmias, depression, sleep disturbances, impotence, reduced ability to focus, decreases in blood pressure, and others. What’s more, the various treatments and medications outlined above are not always able to help those alleviate their suffering, leading many people to “learn to live” with migraines. That said, doing so inherently leads to a lowered quality of life that’s filled with periods of lengthy and intolerable pain.
Enter Botox. Botox injections are able to successfully help many people who suffer from chronic migraines. Many people who suffer from the side effects of migraines and/or their treatments, as well as those who did not experience relief from other recognized treatments, acknowledge Botox as an effective solution.
Discovering the Effectiveness of Botox for Migraines
We all are familiar with the use of Botox in aesthetic medicine. Botox treatments are commonly administered at our clinic. We use them to erase wrinkles, as well as in other aesthetic treatments. But how did the medical world discover that Botox worked to prevent migraines?
19th-century German doctor Justinus Kerner was the first to understand Botox’s potential. While he didn’t think of using Botox to prevent migraines, he did understand the substance’s vast medical potential, thanks to its effects on neurotransmitters. It took a few more decades for scientists to isolate the toxin and run clinical trials.
In 1989, over 100 years later, Botox was approved by the FDA and began to be used across medical fields, including for cosmetic purposes. In 2000, a physician named William Winder reported that patients who underwent cosmetic Botox procedures on their faces experienced relief from chronic headaches. This spurred interest in Botox’s use to treat and even prevent migraines. The initial hypothesis was that headache relief was an indirect effect of the reduced muscle tension caused by the injections. Studies were formulated on the subject, leading to the discovery that Botox delays the release of neurotransmitters linked to pain. In 2010 and after clinical trials had proven the hypothesis to be correct, the head of the FDA approved Botox injections as a preventative treatment for chronic migraines.
Botox Treatments for Migraines – What You Need to Know
After Botox was first proven effective at treating migraines, many clinical trials were run, resulting in the same conclusion. Today, Botox is considered a simple, common, and accepted procedure. Millions of people around the world enjoy the results of this effective solution, often after years of suffering from migraine pain, as well as from the side effects of its pharmaceutical treatments.
To treat migraines, Botox is injected into the sides of the head, the forehead, the scalp, and the back of the neck; these were the regions proven to be most effective at preventing headaches. By injecting Botox into those areas, we can help delay the release of peripheral neurotransmitters impacting the body’s pain-sensing system – those neurotransmitters that cause patients to feel migraine pain.
Botox injections can be used to treat migraines, after a thorough diagnosis process is completed. This, to characterize the pain and its frequency, and determine the precise injection sites and doses, for each individual patient. Botox migraine treatments are suitable for people who suffer from frequent migraines or headaches. They are not suitable for people who suffer from transient headaches. Patients who suffer from migraines that radiate to other areas of the body can benefit from injections to those areas as well.
Patients report feeling results and relief as soon as after their first Botox treatment. For more significant relief, patients usually undergo Botox treatments every three to four months.
Many patients who get Botox to treat migraines report significant positive changes in their migraine experiences. They enjoy a better quality of life and suffer from fewer limitations. Those who previously suffered from lengthy migraine attacks that adversely impacted their ability to work, maintain social relationships, and remain active, are able to resume full, active lifestyles.
What are the Side Effects of Botox Treatments for Migraines?
Botox is considered safe to use, as evidenced by decades of clinical studies. That said, any type of Botox treatment can lead patients to experience some side effects. In most cases, these side effects go away on their own within a few hours or days, without any need for medical intervention. This, unlike some of the harsh side effects experienced by those who undergo other migraine treatments, such as psychiatric medications.
Side effects can include local swelling and redness at the injection sites, muscle stiffness and weakness, itchiness, and neck pain. These side effects only appear at the treated areas.
Do you suffer from migraines? Botox injections for migraines could be the right course of treatment for you. These treatments can reduce the severity of pain you experience, as well as the frequency of migraine attacks – even altogether – significantly improving your quality of life. We invite you to join us for a FREE consultation at PRPclinic. We are experienced in Botox injections and other treatments that are based on advanced studies and technologies.
If you suffer from migraines, know that you’re not alone! Many celebrities have already shared their migraine stories.
You may be interested in other treatments our clinic provides: lip fillers, Botox for faces, and PRP. Want to learn more? Call us at: 058-4664664