How Many Botox Injections For Migraines

Botox treatment you ll get several shots of botox around your head and neck once every 12 weeks to dull or prevent migraine headaches.

How many botox injections for migraines. For chronic migraine pain multiple botox injections may need to be administered before the effects are felt. Some patients report that their side effects vary each time they have it done. The recommended dose for treating chronic migraine is 155 units administered intramuscularly using a sterile 30 gauge 0 5 inch needle as 0 1 ml 5 units injections per each site. Each treatment typically involves 31 injections in seven key areas of the head and neck.

It can take up to six months to see the maximum benefit from botox. You need to at least get the 31 injection 155 unit protocol on two occasions three months apart to decide if botox will work for you. Botox injections may help relieve contracture or twitching of muscles around the eye. Pain relieving effects last for approximately two to six months but may not occur immediately.

If you experience migraines more than 15 days a month botox injections may help reduce headache frequency. However some doctors will take this into consideration and will not stick to the standard protocol. Injections are given by a healthcare provider in your doctor s office using very fine needles. The typical botox dose to treat migraines 1 is around 155 units injected into 31 sites which means that 45 units of the 200 ml vial will be discarded.

The most common side effect from the botox shots is a sore neck and we recommend using an ice pack to reduce the discomfort. To give botox for migraine a fair trial you ll need to undergo the injections 2 3 times over a 6 9 month period. Thereafter that s just 4x a year or as recommended by your doctor botox prevents on average 8 to 9 headache days and migraine probable migraine days a month vs 6 to 7 for placebo. Botox injections for migraines may be repeated every two to six months.

The botox procedure to treat migraine headaches takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. Before the injections your provider will ask if you have any muscle tenderness. Injections should be divided across 7 specific head neck muscle areas as specified in the diagrams and table 2 below. It takes some time to re train the muscles to relax apparently.

Botox injections can also help reduce urinary incontinence caused by an overactive bladder. I had the first injection and had really kind of overthought everything.