Botox As A Migraine Treatment

By Cali Marinaw


In recent times, the uses for botulinum toxin treatments has increased significantly. Not only do clinics offer patients options to enhance their appearance using botox, there are other disorders that are treatable this way as well, including muscle spasticity. In the recent past, its use has now been extended to treating migraines.

Below, we will be going over how botox treatments have been used as of late to for this reason.

Background behind this idea

Botox injections work by paralyzing the nerves and blocking the flow of nerve signals, thus relaxing the muscles. A bacterium called Clostridium botulinum causes this result. Eye muscles can be relaxed this way, as well as muscles in other areas, of a patient's body, which can help rebuild muscle tone and restore function to higher levels.

Botox for migraine treatments

Migraine is primarily mediated by the release of the neuro-chemical serotonin. This is not affected by botox, however, patients notice a decrease in pain from migraines after having the treatments.

People are looking forward to the new research that is being done that seems to show that migraines can be reduced using these treatments. The recommendations from the studies is to inject the botox into the scalp at around 31 -39 different points in patients. There are a number of theories that have been postulated:

Number one would be that pain signals in nerves are blocked by these injections.

After that, the muscles in the scalp are relaxed, which in turn, causes the brain to have a lower blood pressure.

Patients are reporting less headaches, and less severe when they occur, although the research to document this is still ongoing at this time.

If other treatment methods are not effective for a patient and they have at least 15 days a month of migraines, this is when botox injections are typically suggested by a medical professional. A condition called 'analgesic overuse headache', which is headache due to overuse of painkillers, also needs to be ruled out.

If they treatments make it so that less than 15 days a month are headache free, or if they have at least 2 cycles of botox without seeing any relief, then this may not be the right treatment for that particular patient.

Any risks?

Botox injections into the scalp may cause neck pain and allergic reactions, but these are rare.

Summary

Botox injections are still relatively new when it comes to treatment for migraines, but it is gaining in popularity. Research is still being conducted and the results so far have been promising, making it a treatment that is currently approved in managing chronic migraine.




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