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June is Nationwide Migraine and Headache Consciousness Month.Medically reviewed by Dr. Rashmi B. Halker Singh
You’ve heard of Botox as a beauty process — however do you know that Botox can be used as a remedy for a number of medical situations, together with migraine illness?
We needed to be taught extra about how Botox can assist with this debilitating illness, so we reached out to Dr. Rashmi B. Halker Singh, a headache neurologist and member of HealthyWomen’s Girls’s Well being Advisory Council who additionally has firsthand expertise with migraine, to see what she has to say.
What’s migraine illness?
Migraine is a neurological, genetic illness that has a fancy group of signs, together with head ache, gentle and sound sensitivity, nausea, and bother concentrating. Migraine impacts about a billion individuals worldwide — together with one in 5 girls. Although it’s a standard situation, its signs are sometimes underrecognized. Whereas many are accustomed to migraine as a sort of headache, a migraine assault really has 4 phases: prodrome, aura, headache and postdrome.
To assist consider whether or not recurrent headache assaults may very well be migraine, Halker Singh recommends utilizing the mnemonic “PIN.”
- P: Photophobia, the medical time period for gentle sensitivity
- I: Impairment, which means you don’t really feel such as you’re working in your regular cognitive degree
- N: Nausea
If recurrent complications are accompanied by two out of the three signs outlined by “PIN,” there’s a superb probability that you just’re experiencing migraine complications — versus different varieties of headache, like rigidity complications or sinus complications.
What’s Botox and the way can it deal with power migraine?
Botox is a model of botulinum neurotoxin that has been comprised of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Though it’s most well-known for its wrinkle-diminishing talents, Botox therapies may also assist lazy eye, extreme sweating (hyperhidrosis), bladder dysfunction and muscle contractions in addition to power migraine.
Botox has been formally permitted, and controlled, by the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) as a remedy for migraine since 2010. Specialists nonetheless aren’t precisely positive how Botox helps stop migraine assaults, however the present understanding is that Botox probably helps with migraine by stopping ache transmission.
Botox could be very profitable at stopping migraine assaults. In actual fact, sufferers report that after two botox therapies, their variety of headache days reduces by 50%. A examine within the Journal of Headache and Ache discovered that after the third remedy, individuals with power migraine reported diminished headache depth and frequency of headache remedy taken as effectively.
“In medical trials, on common, sufferers expertise 40 hours much less of migraine assaults per thirty days with [Botox], however in my very own private medical apply, I’ve seen responses differ considerably,” Halker Singh stated. She defined that, in individuals who discover Botox useful, responses vary from full reduction to fewer migraine assaults.
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Who can obtain Botox for migraine?
Botox is a preventive remedy particularly for power migraine, which impacts 3%-5% of the U.S. inhabitants. To be able to be recognized with power migraine, headache assaults should meet migraine standards. As well as, you should expertise any kind of headache 15 days a month, and for not less than eight of these days, your headache assault should both meet migraine standards or be prevented by remedy earlier than it will get to that time. Lastly, this sample have to be secure for not less than three months.
Should you assume you might be a candidate for a power migraine prognosis — and Botox remedy — Halker Singh recommends utilizing a headache diary. “Generally when individuals are available in to see me within the clinic, they’re actually curious about discovering remedy and typically what they prioritize is their worst assaults,” Halker Singh defined. “What’s actually useful and essential to know is what’s occurring on these different days. So a headache diary might be actually useful to make clear as a result of if they’ve any type of headache on different days, they could have power migraine,” she stated.
As a result of the FDA has permitted botox remedy for power migraine assaults, most insurance coverage firms will cowl these therapies, however every insurance coverage firm is completely different. Some require you to undergo a course of known as step remedy first, which can embody attempting different medicines earlier than approving Botox. It’s essential to inform your HCP about all of the therapies you’ve tried to allow them to make an knowledgeable determination about the very best subsequent steps for you.
How are Botox therapies given?
Botox therapies for remedy of migraine include 31 injections, concentrating on seven key muscle teams within the head and neck. Although this may occasionally look like loads of pictures, appointments solely final round 20 minutes, and the skinny needles make the process extra snug, too. Therapies are administered each 12 weeks.
Do you have to attempt Botox in your migraine illness?
Botox is taken into account a superb remedy for power migraine as a result of it’s FDA-approved and customarily well-tolerated. Should you’re contemplating utilizing Botox to deal with your migraine illness, you should definitely speak to your HCP about any potential unwanted side effects.
The underside line is that Botox might be an efficient remedy for power migraine and has been discovered to enhance sufferers’ high quality of life. Should you reside with power migraine, verify together with your healthcare supplier to search out out if Botox is an choice for you.
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