How Many Botox Injections For Migraines
If you experience migraines more than 15 days a month botox injections may help reduce headache frequency.
How many botox injections for migraines. The botox procedure to treat migraine headaches takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. However some doctors will take this into consideration and will not stick to the standard protocol. To give botox for migraine a fair trial you ll need to undergo the injections 2 3 times over a 6 9 month period. Each treatment typically involves 31 injections in seven key areas of the head and neck.
Botox treatment you ll get several shots of botox around your head and neck once every 12 weeks to dull or prevent migraine headaches. 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. For chronic migraine pain multiple botox injections may need to be administered before the effects are felt. 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.
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. It takes some time to re train the muscles to relax apparently. Botox injections may help relieve contracture or twitching of muscles around the eye. It can take up to six months to see the maximum benefit from botox.
I had the first injection and had really kind of overthought everything. Botox injections for migraines may be repeated every two to six months. Below is a diagram of the 31 injection sites. Injections should be divided across 7 specific head neck muscle areas as specified in the diagrams and table 2 below.
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. You may need 30 to 40 shots in all and you ll get an equal. Hear from people like you. Pain relieving effects last for approximately two to six months but may not occur immediately.
Before the injections your provider will ask if you have any muscle tenderness. The most common side effect from the botox shots is a sore neck and we recommend using an ice pack to reduce the discomfort.