Is migraine surgery effective?
I've only recently heard about fighting migraines with occipital Radiofrequency Ablation and nerve decompression. What are some of your experiences? What's recovery like? Did it provide any relief?
I had RFA several years ago. It did some good for my pain temporarily, but since the treatment involved burning the nerves, it burns the scalp too. I suffered from a lot of scalp pain to the extent that it was painful to lie down. That wasn't a trade off that was worth it to me, so I wouldn't do it again if offered.
I had decompression of 2 nerves last December 2016. Recovery took many months as a matter of face that area is still sensitive to touch. Bottom line, it did nothing for my daily migraines.
I did the trial for the nerve stimulator surgery (also known these days as the Omega and Reed procedures) and it was not a success for me so we opted to not do the permanent surgery. But there have been some people who had somewhat positive results from it. You would really have to do the trial to know if it was an option for you or not though.
- Amanda Workman (migraine.com moderator and contributor)
Migraine surgery changed my life and I would totally recommend it. Rather than typing our my whole story, here's the link to it:
https://migraine.com/stories/story-awareness-month-story-hope/