Goodbye Headaches!

By Megan Hayes, RN

My husband was in an awful car wreck almost a decade ago and suffered a traumatic brain injury, among many other things.  He is now 27 and the last ten years have left him with frequent headaches, neck pain, and jaw clenching. After watching him deal with this, and not wanting him to rely heavily on the mighty “vitamin I” (ibuprofen), we were ready to try something new.  As an experienced injector, I had treated patients for their headaches very successfully, and shared this with my husband.  I had to explain to him that my goal was not to freeze his face, but my sole purpose was to treat his headaches.  

In theory, a headache or migraine is caused by stress or tension in the musculature of the head and neck. The neuromodulator causes the muscles to relax, which in turn provides relief from headaches or migraines. 

He came to my office and I treated his frontalis, glabella, temporalis, masseters, and did a few trigger point injections throughout the sternocleidomastoid, splenius capitis and trapezius. Since I live with this patient, I had a front row seat to witness how this treatment worked for him. We gave the botulinum toxin a full two weeks to take effect, and then we paid very close attention to the frequency and strength of his headaches. After waiting and watching, my husband found that his headaches were GONE, and we were amazed and excited! He was also pretty thrilled about no longer having “11s” at rest. Two birds, one stone! 

Over time, the relief began to wear off, as it does when the botulinum toxin is metabolized, and my husband began to notice his headaches coming back slowly.  This was solid evidence to me that our neuromodulator treatment had worked to beat his headaches! And that it was time for another round of treatment! Depending on the patient, results may last up to 3 months. 

I love that I can provide my patients with their desired looks through cosmetic injections.  But, I must admit that I love even more being able to provide my patients that suffer from headaches and migraines with relief that is very effective, and fairly low maintenance.