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Botox For Migraines

Botox is the first and only Health Canada approved injection therapy for chronic migraine headaches. Scientific studies confirm that botox injections reduce both the frequency and severity of chronic migraines.

What is Botox?

Botox is a prescription-only medical product that contains tiny amounts of highly purified botulinum toxin protein. This protein is refined from the bacterium CLOSTRIDIUM BOTULINUM. When the purified bacteria is used in tiny doses, it temporarily reduces muscle contractions for approximately 3 months. Botox was first approved in Canada over 20 years ago, making it the first botulinum toxin type A product to be approved worldwide.

How does Botox work?

Botox is injected around pain fibres that are involved in headaches. The botox enters the nerve endings and blocks the release of chemicals involved in pain transmission. Botox prevents migraine headaches before they start.

Who uses Botox?

  • Botox injections are used to prevent headaches in adults 18 years of age and older:
  • Those who have headaches that occur more than 15 times a month.
  • Those who experience headaches lasting more than 4 hours or more on average.
  • Those who tried medications and either had side effects or the medication did not work.

Botox has been reported to prevent 8-9 headaches and migraine days a month.

What to expect from Botox treatment?

Your first Botox treatment will be approximately 20 minutes. The doctor uses a very small needle to inject small amounts of Botox into the shallow muscles under the skin. The injections are placed into 7 key areas around the head and neck. These injections may be repeated every 3 months to keep migraines at bay.

Patients acquire maximum effects by the second or third treatment. Patients have reported an increase in benefit with an increase in the number of treatments. One treatment will typically last 10-12 weeks. It has been reported by patients that after 2 treatments, headaches have reduced by approximately 50%.

Side Effects

The most common side effect from Botox is a sore neck. Ice packs are recommended to reduce this discomfort. Other temporary side effects include: drooping eye, dry mouth, sinusitis, muscle skeletal pain and headaches.