no dice..Botox proved no help

Yes, I did. I've had one round of Botox so far. Doc wants me to do a second round, but I don't think I will. It did not help at all. : (

Sorry it hasn't helped you. Lots of luck on the next route you take!

I am so sorry Botox didn't help.

Actually I wanted to try it once even though my Doctor did not think it was a good idea.

I looked into it and found that my insurance was not willing to pay because they consider Botox used for Migraine to be a experimental procedure.

My medical debt is so high now, I certainly cannot afford to pay for it myself.

I know some people do have some success with it.

Cindy

I had one round of Botox a year or so ago. It did nothing. My dr. said that a second round would be of no use as the first had no afffect.

i am beginning to think that, perhaps, the people for whom botox works didn't really have migraines in the first place. maybe they had plain old garden variety headaches, and they were severe enough that everyone called them migraines??

i paid for one round of it about 12 years ago, (and now it's STILL experimental?). it did something for me, which was this: it made my eyelids droop for 6 months. that's one of the known side effects. lovely, when one is in the 6th decade of life, and trying not to look antique, right?

yes, i suppose people will be mad at me for saying this, but my reasoning is that botox works on the superficial muscles of the face. those of us with intractable migraine know that there's something amiss in our brain, not our face. for what it's worth, dianne

that's certainly something to think about. And here I was thinking perhaps mine weren't migraine becausse botox didn't work. perhaps it is just the opposite.

Although Botox is now approved for chronic migraine (> 15/month), that doesn't mean it was shown to help every migraine patient. The stats are wildly varying...some show it no better than placebo, and some show it the best treatment ever. Its so different for every patient. One of my theories is that doctor technique has a lot to play into it. I have read of a few folks not getting relief until the 2nd or 3rd successive treatment (3 months apart), so if you truly wanted to try again (and your doctor was game), there is still some chance.

I also got no relief. After the first round like that I wanted to give it another 1-2 times, but since when I went in after 3 months and I still had some visible effect from the 1st round, he wouldn't inject my head, only my neck. I tried anyways. No help.

If you got eyelid droop thats all doctor error. They did it was too close to the eye. With proper technique, the side effect chance is much lower than any common preventative. My only issues was that my eyebrows would barely move. It did take away my frown lines (I call them my pain lines).

In short, insurance companies should have to cover it for migraine now that its FDA approved (they can't call it experimental). I don't even have migraine (just another chronic headache condition) and my doctor put migraine and got it pre authorized for me...yet apparently a year later the doctor and insurance are still fighting about it? I think its worth a try but isn't all that much more likely to help than anything else. Everyone is so different. If you do go for it, look for someone who has had a lot of training and does the injections on several patients a week (at least). Although I didn't get results, I was happy with my doctor choice. Best wishes.

In England the NHS is looking for more evidence of it's efficacy.
It seems it is quite hit and miss, and they are not convinced.

This is a blow for those that find it helpful. I am told it is about £500 a go.

Interesting thought Dianne. There is some difference which thus far is not identified.
But it does seem it fails to help more than it helps.

Hopefully one day soon, something will be of use to us all.

I tried Botox last summer. My doctor assured me that it wouldn't make me worse, but it started me on a 6-8 weeks cycle of daily migraines that was completely hideous. By the time the effects wore off, I was in rebound from all the meds I had to take to survive that period. It was a nightmare for me. My doctor was really surprised when I reported back what happened. He then told me he had one patient that got worse because it irritated the muscles in her neck. He theorized that is what happened to me.

On top of the daily migraines from Botox, I didn't like the other side effects of the Botox. I had a lot of itching and burning in my face and neck for about a day or so after getting the shots. I also had pain that slowly traveled from my neck to my shoulder to my elbows down to my wrists, shifting to a new location every day. After about a week, when the pain had worked it's way down to my wrists, it went away, but it was freaky and painful. I also had the stiff, unnatural forehead and I think it caused me to break out more on my forehead. I had very noticeable weakness in my neck for a few months after the shots. It was difficult to hold my head up sometimes for example sitting in bed and reading or sitting on the couch. I ended up always having to support my neck with pillows or something else and lean against the wall or couch where I used to be able to just sit and be fine. I'm not sure that my neck has completely gone back to normal strengthwise and I got the shots in June 2011.

I also got a severe migraine the next day after receiving the shots. I did some reading online and found out that migraine the day after was common, but it usually went away in a day or two. Some people seemed to get relief from their migraines immediately, some after a week or two, but I gave up hoping for improvements in the migraines and to just go back to my baseline level of 3-4 a week at that time. I had to wait for the Botox effect to completely wear off to get relief from the daily migraines.

I guess for me it was worth trying because no other preventatives work, but I was relieved in a way that trying Botox was such a disaster for my migraine frequency so I didn't have to consider doing it again and dealing with the other disturbing side effects. Just be aware if something goes wrong for you with the Botox (I read about some really strange side effects), you have to wait for the Botox to wear off which takes 6-8 weeks.

I got my insurance company to pay for it, other than about $75, so at least I didn't have to pay that much to be hideously tortured for two months.

Well, my neuro talked me into getting another round of Botox. The first round proved no help whatsoever. But, he tells me that it sometimes takes three treatments to see any results. I'm getting it done today. Fingers crossed...

Will keep my fingers crossed for you! I have probably the opposite issue with the insurance company/doc combo.......the insurance company has approved it for me to try but can't find a neuro who thinks it would help my migraines though my dermatologist is willing to do it free of charge because he gets some free doses each month!

"i am beginning to think that, perhaps, the people for whom botox works didn't really have migraines in the first place. maybe they had plain old garden variety headaches, and they were severe enough that everyone called them migraines?? "

I don't think that's true at all. I have migraine with aura, so I think we can safely assume it's migraine. Botox worked AMAZINGLY for me the first time I got it. Sadly, it lost all effectiveness the second and third tries. After that happened, I pretty much gave up on neurologists.

Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors.

My latest specialist asked me to try it but I am not doing it. I am not one to turn down something that may help. But I know 3 people in my personal life who tried botox for migraines and it didn't help any of them. Not only that, it seemed to make things worse for one person (large increase in frequency of headaches). Beyond that, that other major factor is cost. It's extremely expensive and I just can't afford a treatment like that that may not do a thing for me. I couldn't even afford one round of treatments never mind multiple rounds.

Jwar and Michelle, I wonder if you ccould tell me how many injections did you have each time and where exactly were you injected,

Here in UK we will soon have an oppotrunity to have free Botox injections for M thorugh NHS and my neuro already told mem that I will be able to have it done, if I want it.

I know that much of the success (or failure) of the Botox injection for M depends largely on the skill of the surgeon and how much practice they have in doing it, as well as injecting it in the right places since many Dr injected it just to try it out, without having much prior clinical experince.

I have not decided as yet if I want it done, or not, but I might give it a chance so I want as much information about it as possible before I make up my mind.

I have sent some links with more information on Botox, when posting my own thread on Botox issues on the same page here.

Had Botox also, did not help migraines at all, and made my cervical dystonia worse. Nver had pain on the right side of my neck, now since Botox I do Greg