Botox for migraine

Thank you for the information to the neurologist K+31 Petrovsky Gates Korolev Alexei Igorevich.

The researchers calculated that a large number of days of incapacity for work are actually caused by headaches. They took into account not only sick days, but also those days when a person sits at work and is absolutely not functional - in particular, during a migraine attack.

At the same time, the attitude to headaches in many people (especially those who do not suffer from it) is rather dismissive. Well, guess what, your head hurts.

However, headaches are indeed a serious problem. Especially if they are frequent. More than 8 days of migraine per month (and according to other sources, more than 5 days) and tension headaches more than 15 days per month suggest the presence of a "chronic headache".

Chronic pain requires the appointment of the so-called preventive treatment. Its task is to make attacks less frequent and weaker.

This is where the superhero of this text enters the stage - botulinum toxin! For chronic headaches, it has been used relatively recently, but has already taken its strong place in the arsenal of neurologists.

In 1992, plastic surgeon William Binder first drew attention to the reduction of headaches in migraine patients who were injected with botulinum toxin type A (BTA) to correct mimic wrinkles. This observation was the basis for a conceptually new direction in the use of botulinum toxin type A - the treatment of chronic pain, including headache.

Botox treatment was developed. It is believed that it acts in several directions at once: it relaxes the muscles of the muscles of the head, and also affects the central mechanisms of pain. This reduces the number of seizures and their strength, reduces the need for medication.

The course of therapy with botulinum toxin lasts an average of 1-2 years, with intervals of 12 weeks between treatments in accordance with the requirements of the international PREEMPT protocol. In this case, the scheme may change, depending on the condition of the patient and his feelings. During therapy, it is advisable to keep a "pain diary" in order to keep track of all changes.

If the injection protocol is followed, the procedure is safe, and the frequency of side effects is no more than 5% (most often it is a temporary asymmetry of the eyebrows, which disappears on its own after 2-3 weeks).

But it is quite possible to get a bonus effect: along with the treatment of a headache, the patient can at the same time get rid of wrinkles in the frontal region.

And in addition, I would like to say that botulinum therapy is used to treat various chronic pains, and not just headaches.

Fun fact. Botox is also believed to have potential in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. When depressed, a person frowns his eyebrows, wrinkles his forehead. They injected Botox - and it's already hard to frown! But you can’t frown and wrinkle your forehead - according to the "biofeedback" mechanism, you can’t really feel sad! But this is still inaccurate!