Just been to see my Dr for a medication review.

She asked me if I would like to be referred to the eye clinic who have been using Botox to stop headaches. The possibility is that I go before my next episode is due and have a course of treatment which might mean a one off treatment as a preventative.

I have read up a little and see that it is being used in place of imitrex but the reports are about migraine not CH.

Told her I would try anything so a referral has been made.

Anyone tried this or know anything about it?

ET. x

Not much in the medical literature. This is the latest review I found.
=================

J Neurol. 2004 Feb;251 Suppl 1:I19-30.
Botulinum toxin in the treatment of rare head and neck pain syndromes: a systematic review of the literature.

Sycha T, Kranz G, Auff E, Schnider P.

Department of Neurology, Division of Neurological Rehabilitation, University of Vienna, Austria.

[90% of this abstract has been deleted because of the technical data ref. methods of study and data analysis. --Bob Johnson]

REVIEWERS' CONCLUSIONS: There is convincing evidence for the effectiveness of BoNT in the treatment of pain associated with cervical dystonia. Due to the frequent adverse effects predominantly observed with higher doses, the trade off in risk and benefit should be carefully considered in each case. For all other rare head and neck pain syndromes we found no RCTs [randomized controlled trials covering] (cluster headache, chronic paroxysmal hemicrania, trigeminal neuralgia) and only a few small sized trials (cervicogenic headache, chronic neck pain, temporomandibular disorders). We were therefore unable to draw any definite conclusions.

Publication Types:
Review

PMID: 14991339 [PubMed]

My neuro tried Botox on me.  He told me that the first treatment probably wouldn't do anything and that I would need a second treatment about 3-4 months down the road before I saw any possitive effects.  Then every 3-4 months there after if it worked.

I have both chronic ch and migraines.  It did nothing for my ch but did everything for my migraines.  I was having 8-15 migraines a month and they all stopped.  It was wonderful.  I eventually had a hysterectomy and that stopped all my migraines dead in their tracts.  It appears they were hormonally triggered migraines.  So now I don't do botox at all.

Ellick wrote on Jun 13^th, 2008 at 10:25am:

... know anything about it?

All I had read was that botox prevents the release of acetylcholine, the substance muscles use to talk to each other and so helps them to relax.  It will decrease the spasm, which can be very painful but is usually secondary to whatever else is going on.  Words a few years back from Grace Ford MD, Cohn Pain Management Center in Bethpage, NY.
 

Quote:

J Headache Pain. 2007 Sep;8(4):236-41. Epub 2007 Sep 24. Botulinum toxin type-A therapy in cluster headache: an open study. Sostak P, Krause P, Förderreuther S, Reinisch V, Straube A. Department of Neurology, Klinikum Groshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany. Petra.Sostak@med.uni-muenchen.de The objective of this open single-centre study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of botulinum toxin type-A (BTX-A) as add-on in the prophylactic treatment of cluster headache (CH). Twelve male patients with episodic (n=3) or chronic (n=9) CH, unresponsive to common prophylactic medications, were treated with a cumulative dose of 50 International Units (IU) BTX-A according to a standardised injection scheme into the ipsilateral pericranial muscles. One patient with chronic CH experienced a total cessation of attacks and in 2 patients attack intensity and frequency improved. In another patient with chronic CH typical attacks were not influenced, but an ipsilateral continuous occipital headache significantly improved. Patients with episodic CH did not benefit from BTX-A treatment. Tolerability was excellent. These findings provide evidence that BTX-A may be beneficial as an add-on prophylactic therapy for a limited number of patients with chronic CH. Source: START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

The results don't seem to be very promising.

Have you considered suboccipital injection of steroids yet?

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pf wishes,
Friedrich

I tried it , it was payed for by my insurance , they injected me in my farhead , and all around my head and halfway down my back, it didn't work at all, they do say it works for migrans but I have cronic clusters,I have had other things done to me, that are earreversital, atleast botox wears off!

Hi ET,

I'm a patient at the Swedish Pain and Headache Center in Seattle. Last year they sent me an invite to participate in a study of Botox for the treatment of headache. I knew, from this site, that it is not considered an effective treatment, but hey, if they were paying, I would be game.

Based on my responses to a survery, they disqualified me because I had "CH" not migraine (which is what they were really studying). Well, they could have just read my chart, but guess they just grabbed the list of patients and sent out the solicitation.

Haven't heard any results yet.

Regards,

Jon