Overview
A headache is one of the most common pain conditions in the world and can be more complicated than most people realize. Headaches can be mild, but in many cases, can cause severe pain that impacts people’s life. It causes pain and discomfort in the head, scalp, or neck. It’s estimated that 7 in 10 people experience at least one episode of headache per year.
Headaches are considered hereditary, especially migraines, and run in families. In most cases, headaches can be treated with medications. In other cases, headache treatment consists of managing the patient’s stress.
Symptoms
The main symptom of a headache is a pain in the head or face. This can be throbbing, constant, sharp or dull. Different kinds of headaches can have different symptoms and need different headache treatments.
Types of Headache
The over 150 identified types of headache fall into two main categories:
PRIMARY
are those that aren’t due to another medical condition and include:
Cluster Headaches
Migraines
New Daily Persistent Headaches (NDPH)
Tension Headaches
SECONDARY
are those related to another medical condition, such as:
Disease of blood vessels in the brain
Head injury
High blood pressure (hypertension)
Infection
Medication overuse
Sinus congestion
Trauma
Tumor
BOTOX® for Chronic Migraine.
If you experience migraines more than 15 days a month, please call the Neuro Center. BOTOX® injections may help reduce your headache frequency.
BOTOX® is FDA-approved preventative therapy for chronic migraine. It can reduce the frequency of migraine, but it won’t stop your migrains once it’s begun.
Botox is injected into specific areas of your head and neck involved in your migraine pain. It works by blocking the release of certain chemicals involved in the transmission of pain. The effect of Botox lasts for about 3 months.
Botox is well-tolerated by most people and is considered very safe. There are some possible side effects that go away after a day or two including, redness, soreness, or swelling at the injection site, bruising, chills, fatigue, dry mouth, neck stiffness.
Patients who qualify to get Botox injections for migraines get several shots of Botox once every 12 weeks.
Here at the Neuro Center, we focus on identifying the symptoms of your headaches to determine the cause and recommend the appropriate headache treatment.