Headaches come in a variety of types, each with a varying cause, symptom, and degree of pain. Most are common and short-lived, however there is one type of headache that can debilitate and alter your life.
Migraine headache. If you’ve ever had one, the mere mention of the word can make you cringe.
Migraines are typically isolated to one side and may be accompanied by intense throbbing, aura of lights, flashing, light/sound sensitivity, or nausea. There are multiple triggers that may illicit a migraine and even genetics may play a part. Some migraines come and go quickly while others might last for days. Some may respond to over-the-counter medication while others require more robust treatment.
Migraines are more common than you might think. They affect more than 4 million people a day in the US and 85% of sufferers are women. Over 90% of migraine sufferers are unable to function normally during an episode.
Which brings us to the hazard of medication overuse with long-term sufferers. There is an alternative and more successful treatment for relief that may surprise you. Botox (Onabotulinumtoxin A). Botox is an FDA approved intervention for Chronic Migraine and been in use for over 10 years for migraine headaches. It is also effective in relieving spasticity (muscle contraction) and cervical dystonia (painful spastic twisting of the head).
The treatment is performed in our office and takes approximately 30 minutes. A small dose of Botox is injected into specific nerve endings to block pain signals to the brain. The most common side effect is a temporary sore neck at the injection sites which may be alleviated with icing. More than one treatment may be necessary to optimally alleviate pain.
Chronic pain is not normal and you don’t have to accept it as a way of life. If you experience incapacitating pain from migraine headaches that keep you from doing what you love, give us a call for an evaluation to discuss if you are a candidate for this treatment.
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