Monday, June 24, 2013

Using Botox To Treat Migraines

By Cali Marinaw


There has been many new uses for botulinum toxin injections in recent years in the cosmetic medicine industry. There are clinics that offer effective treatments for cosmetic reasons and also for muscle spasticity disorders as well. Migraines are one of the newer conditions that botox has been used to treat.

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

The origins of using this treatment for migraines

Paralyzation occurs in the muscles due to botox injections, and because of this, the muscles stay in a relaxed position as they don't receive the nerve signals. Clostridium botulinum is a bacterium contained in these injections, and that is the cause of the effect. Its primary use is to relax the muscles around the eyes and other parts of the body, helping restore muscle tone and improving overall function.

Botox for migraine treatments

The release of the neuro-chemical serotonin is the main way for migraines to be mediated. This is not affected by botox, however, patients notice a decrease in pain from migraines after having the treatments.

This is still being researched and the reasons for the correlation are not clear at this time, but people are still pleased with the results they receive for their migraine issues. 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:

First, that it blocks the nerves from transmitting pain signals.

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

The research is still preliminary, but at this point, it seems that patients are finding that their headaches are less painful and frequent, and they are happier in general.

When a patient reports migraine headaches that happen for over 15 days a month, and do not receive relief from other types of treatment are sometimes recommended to have botox injections. There is another condition that migraine sufferers sometimes are face with at times called analgesic overuse headaches, which are caused by the overuse of painkiller medication.

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.

What risks are there?

There have been rare reports of allergic reactions or neck pain from botox scalp injections.

Summary

The uses of botox are still growing and its application in migraine is novel. 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.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment