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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2005 >> Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
        
(Message started by: clarence on Feb 13^th, 2005, 11:44pm)

Title: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by clarence on Feb 13^th, 2005, 11:44pm

On a couple of cosmetic dermatology websites (the sites of the people doing the procedures, not research sites), there are claims that Botox help Migraines by injecting the Botox into acupuncture spots. Anyone heard of this, and what do you think for Clusters?

Just wondering?

Casey

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by sandie99 on Feb 14^th, 2005, 1:51am

Casey,
the last time I visited my neuro, he said that botox has been used as a treatment for CH in America for a long time. I can't recall how useful it had been, though... I know that it's not used here in Finland and my neuro wasn't that keen about it anyway.

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by nani on Feb 14^th, 2005, 2:41pm

My sister had it done for CH and it didn't help at all. She looks great on that side of her face! Just kidding. I think this has come up before and I don't recall anyone saying it worked for them.

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by Kris_in_SJ on Feb 14^th, 2005, 7:51pm

I would probably only try it if my insurance agreed to pay for it and I came out looking 15 years younger.

Kris

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by debmcd on Feb 14^th, 2005, 8:34pm

When I told my dermo surgeon about husband's CH, he mentioned Botox. said he's read studies it is supposed to help.

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by Karla on Feb 14^th, 2005, 9:01pm

It helps my migraines go away. It does not do anything for my cluster headaches.

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by toolong on Feb 20^th, 2005, 4:00pm

Doctor said I was a prime candidate for Botox,insurance said no way..I appealed and lost.Out of pocket would have cost me $1500.00,with no guarantees. >:(David

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by don on Feb 24^th, 2005, 7:43am

Virtually useless for CH.

But you can have succulent full figured lips as you pace in agony.

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by Kirk Huff on Feb 24^th, 2005, 6:05pm

I've been in to see my Nuro constantly lately (13 week cycle that has been HELL) although all I keep getting is the damn nurse practitioner & she keeps pushing Botox. Two years ago I had a temporary trigeminal nerve block procedure and it did nothing for me so I told her I had NO interest in the Botox, especially being that insurance will not cover it. Finally the other day, she slipped & said that the Botox has been working great with all the migraine patients. I looked at her straight in the face & asked her to look at my chart. DO NOT let them peddle their inexperience of Cluster Headaches on you- especially at such a HIGH cost. There is NO PROOF that it works for CH's. Best of luck to you all. PF days & nights. As for me- I finally getting some relief, in addition to my regular dose of verapamil, depakote, O2 & Imitrex Injections- I'm now on Ambient, kolonopin, Topamax. The last three are all new for me & I only take them at night. I HATE the way they make me feel! But the CH's started getting better after about 5 days and I've been PF for 3 days now but who knows I was going on 14 weeks as it was, maybe it was just time for the demon to leave. All I know is the longer I'm PF the sooner I can get these new drugs out of my system!

kirk-

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by E-Double on Feb 24^th, 2005, 6:08pm

Mine just pushed it today.....

Still clueless even after 10 months...(me and him [smiley=huh.gif])

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by haubels on Mar 1^st, 2005, 1:37pm

LET'S MAKE THIS SHORT AND SWEET. I WAS A CHRONIC (2-3 CH'S A DAY) SUFFER FOR 3 TO 6 MTHS. A YEAR. AFTER BOTOX I'M NOW HAVING CH'S ABOUT 2 TO 3 A WEEK.

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by colson on Mar 2^nd, 2005, 1:19pm

My boyfriend is a chronic and has been fortunate enough to be a guinea pig for a plastic surgeon who has had excellent results on migraine patients, but was curious about cluster. It took a while to figure out how many units, and where to inject them, but we have seen an improvement. The drawback (besides a ridiculous cost, just for the drug itself) is that the headaches sometimes don't ease up for a few weeks after the injections, and start creeping back in before the 3 months is up. Still, we have seen enough help from it to continue to scrape, scrounge and save the money to continue the shots....

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by Karla on Mar 2^nd, 2005, 10:40pm

on 03/01/05 at 13:37:44, haubels wrote:

LET'S MAKE THIS SHORT AND SWEET. I WAS A CHRONIC (2-3 CH'S A DAY) SUFFER FOR 3 TO 6 MTHS. A YEAR. AFTER BOTOX I'M NOW HAVING CH'S ABOUT 2 TO 3 A WEEK.

The definition of chronic is based on how many months you have ch not how many a day. You must have cluster headaches 11 out of 12 months inorder to be chronic.

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by pathat on Mar 7^th, 2005, 9:50am

my husband has ch for 21 yrs and been thru hell. he 1st tried botox 4 yrs ago and it had a complete remission of ch for 2 yrs 3 mos . he was a chronic sufferer and was having 8 ch/day. oxygen stopped working. when they came back he received botox again with relief for 1.5 yrs. he usually tries to abort the ch with predisone 1st, cause if you're in a bad cycle it may be worse at 1st. right now he's back in a bad cycle and we are trying to get botox approved w our new insurance. it costs $1400 if no insurance. the botox web site helps w approval for reimbursement. good luck. pat

Title: Re: Anybody heard of Botox as a treatment?
Post by Tom K on Mar 7^th, 2005, 12:10pm

My new neuro, Robbins Headache Clinic in Illinois, has been using this for different headaches. I haven't had it yet, but last cycle I was thinking about it. It is used as a nerve block at the point where the ocipital and trigemenial nerves meet. It is only about 1 to 2 mg of botox. They said that they have seen 60% positive results with sufferers having up to 8 months of remission. I had 2 trigger point injections and for me, they worked but I was ready to pull the trigger on the botox if the 2nd one didn't. Your milage may vary...

Dr Robbins was a speaker at one of the first conventions, if I remember correctly. He is a great neuro and takes what we say seriously.

T