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Botox may be just what the doctor ordered for people that experience frequent headaches.
Botox was first used as treatment for headaches after people with chronic headaches received cosmetic injections and encountered improvement in the way they felt. A study was then conducted by a team at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee to determine the positive impact of Botox on headaches.
The study put the amount of headaches people experienced into categories, including episodic (less than 15 headaches per month) or chronic migraine (15 or more headaches per month). There were 27 randomized placebo-controlled trials that included more than 5,000 patients.
The results stated that slightly more than 1,000 patients with chronic daily headaches experienced fewer headaches after being treated with Botox. The same results applied for the 1,5000 patients that experience chronic migraines.
The downside, however, was that the Botox patients saw some side effects. There were cases of droopy eyelids, a prickly sensation, neck tightness, skin tightness, neck pain and muscle weakness. The placebo users didn’t experience any of these symptoms.
The results did definitively say that Botox was associated with about 2 fewer migraines per month for chronic migraine sufferers and the same number for people with chronic daily headaches. More research is necessary to determine other ways to treat people who suffer from severe headaches.
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