I was going to continue my rant about Migrainism but a good
friend sent me a link to this article in the DailyMail.co.uk stating that “Migraine Victims could get Botox on the NHS”! I’m a big fan of
the Daily Mail website. Fear not, I don’t adhere to its politics, just its
celebrity gossip. It’s a highly addictive website, in fact I plan to give it up
for Lent. Anyway, as usual, the Daily Mail headline is a slight exaggeration.
The National Migraine Centre sensibly posted the BBC version of the same news item which
has a far duller, if more accurate, headline: “Not enough evidence for Botox
Migraine Jab, says NICE”.
Anyway, on the very same day that this top news Botox story
broke out, I was happily leafing through my latest subscription copy of US
Weekly (which, by the way, was the best birthday present ever from the same
friend who sent me the Daily Mail link – we share the same taste in high-brow
publications) when I came across the following four page ad for Botox and
Migraine:
 |
| To see the full ad and comical photos of the red head on a picnic with her child, presumably migraine free, go to BotoxChronicMigraine.com |
There are two particularly interesting things about this
advert:
- The model is a MIDDLE AGED RED-HEAD. My Father thinks this is hysterical (as I have copper auburn locks and am now the wrong side of 30).
- It suggests the Yanks are miles ahead of the Brits getting this out in the market place. On the other pages there is even a coupon and a Blackberry app thing to take to your Doctor.
In August last year I was having a particularly bad run (and
as you can see from my TRIED & TESTED page I’d tried most other options),
so off I went to the recommended doctor with my Dad in tow. Now, my Dad is the
kind of man who believes a hearty lunch will set one up for the day, and we
happened to find a delightful French restaurant doing a great deal nearby. We
were even offered free champagne refills after an incident involving a fruit
fly; but I digress... Needless to say Dad and I arrived to meet the doctor in
high spirits. We liked him immediately. He wore a bow tie, which automatically
made him classy in my book. Much discussion about the merits of bow tie wearing
ensued. Dr Botox, as I shall now refer to him, was chatty, amiable and within
ten minutes of meeting me said “Well you are clearly a very intelligent young
woman”. The use of the word ‘young’ obviously had nothing whatsoever to do with
why I liked him.
In all seriousness, Dr Botox is a prestigious migraine
specialist leading the field in the use of Botox and migraine. He is, I
believe, involved in the trial mentioned in the articles above and explained to
me, in great detail, the research results thus far. Lots of graphs and numbers
were presented but at this point the champagne was kicking in. The main
problem, I think, is that it’s very hard to do a placebo with Botox. Even if
you’re injecting Saline you’re still putting needles into people's heads giving
them, in essence, a kind of acupuncture. And even the Saline itself has been
shown to help with migraine, no one quite knows why. However, the overall
research does show a reduction of days in pain for patients with chronic
migraine. Again, as with most migraine remedies, no one is quite sure how or
why it works. The simplest explanation is that it probably jams the pain
signals because it interferes with nerve activity, not that it paralyses all
the muscles in your head, as I had assumed.
To cut a long story short, I ended up having approximately
29 injections of Botox across my forehead, scalp and neck. And it bloody hurt.
I even made Dad hold my hand (and at one point I heard a yelp, and realized it
was coming from him.) But, I have paper thin, albino white red-head skin.
Research shows (and yes I will send it to you if you like), that redheads
really do have a lower threshold for pain. My raven-haired sister has had Botox
for a non-existent wrinkle in her forehead (I’m going to be in so much trouble
for sharing this) and she said it didn’t hurt at all, just pricked. Anyway, for
me it was a kind of wasp-sting pain, but not a lasting pain. And there was also
a bit of blood. I needed a sticking plaster. I felt pretty sick and dizzy,
which is not surprising after having 29 injections over the most sensitive bit
of your head, and I got a migraine later that night. Even my raven-haired
sister got a headache after her cosmetic Botox.
Did Botox help my
migraines?
It can take a few weeks for the Botox to start to work, so
initially I didn’t notice much difference, but my face and scalp started to
feel a bit weird and tingly quite quickly. I did notice a cosmetic
difference almost right away!
Below are two extremely hideous pictures I took on my phone
just before, and a couple of days after, the treatment. If I raise my eyebrows in
an “Oh my God I just won the lottery!” surprised fashion, you will see I get a
solid row of lines across my forehead in the ‘before’ picture. In the ‘after’
picture you can see that when I try to create the same expression, the lines in
the middle stop. As the Botox kicked in over time the lines totally disappeared!
A pleasant benefit!
BEFORE AFTER
Overall, I do think the Botox helped break the pain cycle I was in at the time. I had a pain free week where I was able to go away with my family and the first few migraines after that seemed to take longer to get started, if that makes sense, which gave me a better warning period. But then they returned as normal, so it’s hard to tell. You’re meant to have three rounds of Botox (as it wears off after approximately 12 weeks) in order to gauge its real efficacy but my health insurance wouldn’t pay for it. Baddies. And obviously the NHS hasn't quite realized the benefits Botox could have – but I'm sure it’ll get there. I would probably have paid for more out of my own pocket (or rather my Dad’s generous ones, if I’m honest) but I then discovered some other issues and am about to embark on various injections in my spine and I don’t want to confuse the two treatments. When this is over I may return to lovely Dr Botox and give it a full try; not just because I like the idea of having an immobile, wrinkle free forehead, or even because I really like the idea of not taking heavy-duty prescription drugs every day, but because it is so refreshing to meet a doctor who finally recognizes what an “intelligent young woman” I am!
BEFORE AFTER
Overall, I do think the Botox helped break the pain cycle I was in at the time. I had a pain free week where I was able to go away with my family and the first few migraines after that seemed to take longer to get started, if that makes sense, which gave me a better warning period. But then they returned as normal, so it’s hard to tell. You’re meant to have three rounds of Botox (as it wears off after approximately 12 weeks) in order to gauge its real efficacy but my health insurance wouldn’t pay for it. Baddies. And obviously the NHS hasn't quite realized the benefits Botox could have – but I'm sure it’ll get there. I would probably have paid for more out of my own pocket (or rather my Dad’s generous ones, if I’m honest) but I then discovered some other issues and am about to embark on various injections in my spine and I don’t want to confuse the two treatments. When this is over I may return to lovely Dr Botox and give it a full try; not just because I like the idea of having an immobile, wrinkle free forehead, or even because I really like the idea of not taking heavy-duty prescription drugs every day, but because it is so refreshing to meet a doctor who finally recognizes what an “intelligent young woman” I am!
Next time: Migrainist Part II and why PCT's are trying to stop patients using Zomig!
I love Doctors in bow ties. Bow ties are cool.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I find the lack of "OMG-eyebrow-wrinkles" a little bizarre. I mean, obviously go back and see if Botox'll help your migraines more, but it's nice to be able see expressions on people's faces.