Categories: Lifestyle

Botox Can Help Your Migraines

Botox is no longer just utilized for filling in lines on your face. Now, the injection is getting used for not only cosmetic reasons but health reasons as well.

Botox has been used to treat hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) for a while now, but more recently people have been using it to help subside the aches and pains of their headaches and migraines.

IMAGE: PEXELS

It’s a good idea to find out about the cost of Botox treatments, considering that back in 2010 Botox was FDA approved for use on people who suffer from chronic migraine, and the prices of the injection for cosmetic and medical purposes differ – especially due to health subsidies.

According to WebMD, it is suggested to use Botox for your migraines and headaches if you suffer from them 15 or more days out of the month. Dr. Andrew Blumenfeld, director of The Headache Center of Southern California, confirms that this procedure is more effective the more frequently someone suffers from headaches.

Botox is effective in reducing pain from headaches and migraines as it can block the neurotransmitters from triggering the nerve endings in your head and neck that, when triggered, directs pain signals to your brain.

The Botox chronic migraine website suggests that on average the treatment can prevent 8 to 9 days of probable migraines and headaches a month. One treatment will last for roughly 10-12 weeks.

The American Migraine Foundation suggests that your first appointment should only take about 20 minutes. Your neck will likely be sore after the procedure, but that can be alleviated by a simple ice pack.

The way it works is that a specialist will provide injections into seven central neck and head muscle areas, amounting to 31 injections in total. This is repeated every 12 weeks.

Thirty-one injections may seem like a lot, but they get balanced between sites around the head and neck that are proven to be effective. It’s also important to note that these injections are subtle and administered by a fine needle and are inserted just beneath the skin into shallow muscles.

Regarding cost, the recommended dosage of Botox for migraines is around 155 units, which ranges between $300 to $600 depending on where you go. Fortunately, because this is an FDA approved procedure, the treatment is covered by a variety of health plans including Medicare and Medicaid in the U.S.

Before your insurance company covers Botox to treat your migraines, they will need to confirm that the procedure is necessary. To confirm this, you will need to have undergone two other treatments that were ineffective.

Common preventative treatments that are prescribed to help chronic migraine pain include:

Antidepressants
Blood pressure medication
Anti-seizure medication

It is refreshing to know that the injection once best known to be purely cosmetic, has such a wide variety of advantages that are specifically medical and can help reduce pain. It is exciting to note what other medical benefits to Botox that may be discovered and approved in years to come.

If you are interested in even more lifestyle-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.