Botox for Migraines

Debbie Hernandez,

I am SO glad that you're having good results!!!!! As a horse person myself, I am very jealous that you're getting the opportunity to enjoy yours, while I am relegated to looking at mine through my tinted house windows.

I am assuming that you are getting Botox, and as such, your injections aren't epidural, but actually just into the muscles under the skin. Very tiny injections. If you're getting all 31, it sounds like a good chance that you're getting the right protocol that was FDA approved and seems to be most helpful for most patients.

It's interesting that you talk about your seventh treatment too, because although specialists say that a full trial is at least 3 cycles, with time, specialists have noticed that patients are seeing cumulative results through the seventh and eighth cycles - something you have just proven, much to my (and I'm sure your) delight!!!!!

I have received decreased severity, but not frequency. Not yet anyway. I've had four cycles and am holding out much hope that by the time I get to eight or nine, I might see even more improvement. Right now I am still debilitated, but better. When you live like you and I have, even the tiniest improvement is worth following up with!

Congratulations on finding something that is helpful, and again thank you for sharing it with our audience!

~Ellen

My doctor was pressuring me to try Botox but my rhuematologist told me not to use it. The doctor and his PA recommended it every visit. I the lidocaine therapy and my rheumatologist ok'd that. Unfortunately it didnt work.
I was considering having it anyway. So I started reading the info ad in neurology now magazine. There were several other diseases and or disorders listed that indicated I should not use it.
The point I am trying to get to is, what if I hadnt read that info? Did my doctor not listen to me about my medical historty or even read my chart I could possibly be injured. I don't want to scare but I do encourage people to trust that their doctors knows all there is to know. Research treatments before taking them. I was not seeing a run of the mill doctor but a very taleted neurologist who is a member of the headache society( cant recall the name of the headache foundation) i was driving 7 hours one way to see him. I guess the next time I see him I will ask him about it. Doctors have so much to remember that we have to research too.

I just read what I wrote, it came out kinda incoherent. I meant the doc reccomeneded the liocaine and I did it. And I also meant that even the best doctors dont know all there is to know about drug interactions, so we have to be co-active in our care. They have to see so many people a day we have to help them.

Hi, I totally agree that it is important to be certain that you do not have any indications that would cause Botox to be dangerous for you. I am about to get my 3rd Botox course for migraines, and I have numerous medical conditions. So, I, too, have taken responsibility for doing my own research to check the safety of this treatment for my migraines even though I have some very talented, well-respected doctors whom I trust with my life! I am trilled to know that Botox has a cumulative effect because my 2nd treatment was no where near as effective as my first. I would give it a 75% effectiveness grade, whereas the first was 100%. The 2nd could easily be due to a total knee replacement and lots of narcotics in my system mucking up my brain chemistry. However, I'm praying this time will be better. Although I'm on Medicare with fabulous secondary RX insurance, my co-pay is $385 this time, and was $500 last time because I was in the gap. But what can you do? I've "lost" 12 days of the past 20 due to the severity of my migraines the past couple weeks. Ugh!