Botox® Therapy for Chronic Migraines: How It Works and What to Expect

Each day you wake up and wonder whether it will be derailed by a migraine. The toll that chronic migraines can take on your physical and mental wellness and your ability to function professionally and socially can be significant.

You’re not alone — the numbers surrounding migraines are nothing short of astounding — one billion people around the world suffer from migraines, including 37 million in the United States.

These numbers may provide a little comfort knowing you’re in good company, but they don’t help relieve your migraines, which is where we come in. The team here at Commonwealth Pain and Spine specializes in headaches and migraines, and we offer solutions designed to help you find relief and function again. A great example of this is Botox®, and we explore this treatment here.

How Botox works for migraines

Migraines are considered a neurological disorder, which makes them very tricky to treat. There’s no cure for migraines, but there are ways in which we can manage the problem to prevent them from ruling your life.

For example, many migraines are triggered by certain things, from exercise to food additives. Establishing a good trigger management plan is always a great step if you’re dealing with chronic migraines.

We’ve also had great success with Botox injections, designed for people who have 15 or more headache days a month that last for more than four hours. 

The Botox injections contain a neurotoxin that we believe interrupts the neurotransmission of pain signals between your muscles, nerves, and brain. As a result, Botox can prevent, on average, 8-9 headache days per month.

An analysis of the use of onabotulinumtoxinA (the active ingredient in Botox) found ample clinical evidence demonstrating that this treatment reduces monthly headache days and improves the quality of life.

Getting your Botox treatments

Before administering the injections, we apply a topical numbing ointment to keep you comfortable. Once you’re ready, we quickly inject several areas around your face and neck. The treatment takes us only minutes to perform, and you’re free to get on with your day afterward. You may feel some soreness at the site of the injections or develop minor bruising, but these side effects are short-lived.

In many cases, it takes 2-3 rounds of Botox injections before you realize results. Bear in mind that we administer the injections every 10-12 weeks, so you’ll need to be patient during this time. Rest assured, we can set you up with other medications to handle your head pain during this time.

Once the Botox treatments take hold and you’re enjoying more headache-free days each month, you simply come see us for Botox injections every three months or so to continue these great results.

If you want to determine whether Botox treatments are a good solution for your migraines, we invite you to make an appointment with one of our headache specialists at a location near you. We have offices in St. Matthews, Elizabethtown, Lexington, Crestview Hills, Owensboro, and London, Kentucky. Indiana offices are in Evansville, Vincennes, New Albany, Carrollton, and Jasper. We also serve patients in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio.