BOTOX or Botulinum A
It may seem a little ironic that the only way for your body to feel better is to be injected with poison but be that as it may there is a reason that Botulinium A is increasingly becoming the elixir of the moment. Whilst the media is quick to criticise any celebrities who opts for botox to smooth out their furrowed brows, this is one case where vanity it seem must be applauded as it was by coincidence that women who cosmetically had botox done noticed a reduction in the frequency of their migraines.
Botox consists of 16 injections, 10 to the forehead and 6 up the neck, they should be injected in a symmetrical pattern. First time round I bruised like a peach and felt like I been punched in the face and the injection sites bled a lot. For the following fortnight I had a very stiff neck though this is not uncommon and fades. The first lot of botox injections is only 20% effective, so don't be disheartened if you fiind that you don't seem any dramatic change in your headache pattern.
Set 2 for me was when the magic happened. I had this after 3 months of having the first set and what followed was 7 months of perfect clarity. My background headache or what I call cloudy head, that feeling I get when I don't have any particular pain but just can't clear my head went away and I had no headaches for 7 months!! I thought I was cured :)
Then a MASSIVE migraine sent me spiralling into headache chaos again and I haven't been able to get back to normality again since....
Things you should know/consider:
botox is a localised treatment rather than a systemic drug and hence does not come with the shopping list of side effects we are used to we the usual migraine preventative drugs - hooray!
some have experienced slight droopiness of the eyelids but this has been mild and is not permanent
apparently it is injected slightly deeper into the tissue than cosmetic treatments
Please make sure that you get it done somewhere reputable! I know this sounds like common sense but I phoned up one clinic and enquired if there botox injection included injections in the neck and after being placed on hold for a minute was told "we'll give it a go"!!
