Migraine Headaches

By Heather

I have suffered from Migraine headaches most of my life, which has had a major effect on day to day living. Most of the medications over the years have not helped for any relief and some have even made them worse. About 5 years ago my mom sent me some information on how Botox has helped relieve migraines for many sufferers. I asked my Neurologist about this and he didn’t think I was to that point, not that I was getting any relief from anything we tried over the previous 30 years. So after suffering a few more years I finally consulted a different Neurologist, Who had been giving Migraine patients Botox for 10 years with much success. Well sounded good to me and when do we start??

For the last year and a half I have been getting Botox injections every 12 weeks.

This is the Botox fresh from the pharmacy. About $2000.00 worth.

The Botox is injected into muscles on my forehead, temples, back of the neck and back of the head.

First thing they do is ground me to a machine that the needle is attached to, which makes noise when inserted into the muscle.

Once I am grounded we start in the forehead.

There are 8 injections over the entire brow area.

Then he moves to the temple area

And the back of the head and neck

The whole process from start to finish takes about 20 minutes. I do need to arrive about 20 minutes early so they can order the Botox. They will not order it until I  arrive otherwise it goes to waste and it is not cheap. It takes a couple of days for it to absorb in completely and it lasts 12 weeks. I do have to say that the first treatment didn’t help at all, and debated doing it again, but he did say it may take a couple before I get the full affect.

I am so glad I did continue, my headaches were gone! When I first started this we did it every 13 weeks but that last week I started to have headaches again so that’s why we are at 12 weeks.

I couldn’t believe the difference! I went from having a headache every day, where just the severity of them varied, to having no headache at all.

One last note, with the HIPPA Laws in place today, having someone take my own picture for me having this done is not allowed without all the proper forms filled out in advance. My Doctor, however, said he just wouldn’t notice my niece with the camera.

By Heather