botox injections for headache

[guineapig]

so, the pain management dr has suggested botox injections. seems that some migraine ha suffers have done well with it. cynical, suspicious, or the doc's just down right wrong, i mean, he needs revenue. the little reading i have done on it says that many injections are needed, not cheap. and likely follow up treatments. the only respect i would give this doctor's opinion is that he is suggesting something else.
any experiences? and negative side effects other than a loss of money?

[LauraL840]

Damn, they'd have to inject pretty darn deep to get the pain to go away .....

Think a bullet would work better, but the side effects are pretty rough. But honestly, that's not really funny is it?

I think he's after your $$$$$$$$
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and I bet you ARE starting to feel like a guinea pig huh?

What about hyperbaric oxygen? Drop you down a couple of atmospheres ... nothing like putting a little extra atmospheric pressure on the ole' dura and 100% O2 in the air for a cocktail. I think that's more likely to give relief and aid healing than botox ... except you might have to live at a DAN center.

[eman]

Wouter told me hyperbaric was not an option. He didn't say that it would not help. I read a journal of a fellow with a cranial leak that did not heal with hyperbaric. If I could get insurance to pay, I'd at least give it a shot. WHo knows... It sure heals the heck out of flesh.

eman

[LauraL840]

It's likely that hyperbaric won't help because the dural/meningeal/csf system is naturally/normally a closed system with a slightly increased pressure. If it's not 'currently' closed, then increasing the external pressure really isn't going to close it, just make the csf leak at a faster rate.....

Seriously, I was having a very cynical off night last night ... but seriously, I am having a very cynical and negative day today too...... DH's patch was a blow. I think they nicked his dura and that's dropped him back to about 7 months ago. Not a simple one step forward two steps back, but about 10 steps back.

I'll go into more details later about the whole scene ... need to spend time with him and have a VERY full weekend ahead for myself!

I hope the rest of you have a peaceful weekend. If anyone can shed some insight into 'coping' with this, either as a bystander or a leaker, I could use some help/support/encouragement. I know it's hard to be in pain all the time ... it's really been hard to watch someone I love be in pain all the time and I'm feeling pretty raw lately. :-(

Raw, weary wife, needs chapstick for her soul.....

[Tamaretta]

Funny you should mention botox because I just asked about that --my pedi neuro first stated that it wouldn't help, but then he was honest enough to say he wasn't sure if it would help because they don't really understand exactly WHY it improves migraines...he is sending Tay to the headache doc below instead. Our appt is on June 4 and I will let you know if she will treat Tay's headaches (which are kind of, sort of chronic daily headaches:rolleyes: ), what the treatment consists of, if Tay gets any relief, etc. etc. While we know this is not fixing the problem, Taylor is willing to try just about anything to improve her quality of life. Our pedi neuro also purchased a fighter pilot suit (aka G-suit) that we are working on for Taylor. My husband is looking at some work arounds, since it was designed to run off the hydraulic system of the plane.... Maybe, just maybe it will increase her head pressure enough that she will be able to sit up! (Even if she does resemble an extra in the movie "Top Gun!")

Memorial Hermann Medical Group Welcomes Pamela Blake M.D. and Headache Treatment Center of Northwest
Houston, Texas, December 8, 2006 – Pamela Blake, M.D., a board-certified neurologist and renowned headache treatment specialist, has founded Headache Treatment Center of Northwest as part of Memorial Hermann Medical Group.

Dr. Blake is one of the only physicians in the nation employing, in collaboration with a plastic surgeon, a novel, minimally invasive, outpatient surgical procedure to combat chronic daily headache. She and her colleagues in Washington pioneered the procedure to treat patients who did not respond to more conventional treatment for chronic daily headache. They performed 150 of these procedures, with 66 percent of patients reporting a greater than 50 percent reduction in pain. In Houston, Dr. Blake offers the procedure in collaboration with plastic surgeon Carlton Perry, M.D.