BOTOX SHOTS TO KILL MIGRAINE
BOTOX SHOTS TO KILL MIGRAINE
MUMBAI: There's a shot of relief for patients who suffer recurrent and intolerable migraines. In what is emerging as a good treatment option, Botox injections are now being used to provide pain relief to those with chronic headaches.
For many, like 20-year-old Gayatri Balasubramaniam from Chembur, the little-known treatment option brought loads of cheer.
"Her headaches were unbearable. She would cringe and cry in pain. There were days we had to wake up her physician at two in the morning, only so that he could give her a pain-relief injection,"recalls Gayatri's grandmother. In fact, the recurrent migraine became a stumbling block for the budding fashion designer.
With not much awareness, Gayatri was at first skeptical about trying out the new treatment. Botox or botulinum toxin now popularly associated with beauty treatments — widely used for ironing out wrinkles and frown lines — has huge benefits for treating neurological and movement disorders.
TOI had earlier highlighted how botox offers hope to patients of cerebral palsy, besides being widely used for dystonia, squints, sweaty armpits and palms.
Chronic migraines can now be added to that list. "Botox injections have two benefits to patients of chronic migraines.
They relax the muscles of the forehead, besides reducing the pain effect,"explains founder of Houston Headache Clinic and former president of the International Headache Society, Dr Ninan Mathew.
"We introduce botox treatment only when drugs fail to work and the pain impairs the normal functioning of patients,"says specialist in headache management at Jaslok Hospital Dr K Ravishankar.
There is a caveat. Patients need to be selected with care, as migraines — identified by throbbing pain at the temples — differ from individual to individual and can be triggered by different factors
such as irregular sleep, changing weather or stress.
Consultant neurologist at Hinduja Hospital Charulata Sankhla adds a word of caution. "While Botox has no side-effects, the shots should be given by a trained specialist,"she said.
