Hi All,

My name is Amy, and I am here because of my husband. He developed a headache on Sept 1, 1997, and has had one every day since. He has had every kind of drug, injections except Botox which he is having on Monday.
His neurologist doen't think that the Botox will work work but all the medications that my husband has been on has pretty much destroyed his stomach and don't work anyway. My husband has taken himself off the fentynal 50 patch, he is now at 12 mcg and will be done with them completly by Saturday. The fentynal patches helped some and made it so he could work, but they stopped working and he was developing a rash under the patches.

Something that we did find that helped some along with being on the patch was working with a Chiro that does NUCCA adjustments.

NUCCA stands for National Upper Cervicial Care Association.
The whole NUCCA process is very different then most Chiro adjustments.
The Chiro that first worked with my husband, had a couple of diaginostic (sp??) moves and then did X-Ray that looked at the neck in ways that had not been done in all the previous tests, MDI, CT, X-Rays.
For those of you who have developed headaches after a whiplash injury, and especially if none of the more conventional treatments have worked, you may find some help with a NUCCA doctor.

Has anyone else had the Botox injections, and if so how long did it take for it to take effect, any side effects at the injection sites, and how lond did they last between injections?

Thank you for have a site where hopefully someone can shed some light on a miserable and life changing problem.

Amy

I was in car accident Oct 2008 and have been digging my way to some relief I can live with. I just joined this forum, which my husband found researching some of my conditions, including occipital neuralgia, cervical dystonia, chronic daily headaches, post-traumatic migraines, post-concussive syndrome. I have been on many meds and started Botox injection therapy July 2009. I get injections every 3 months (they don't do them before every 3 months because you might become tolerant and the medication wouldn't be as effective, not to mention that your insurance won't pay for it sooner than that). Before I started with the Botox, you get a diagnostic test to see if Botox will be effective. Sorry to say the diagnostic tests are extremely painful, especially depending on where your sites are. The dr. basically uses a machine like a scanner that locates where the muscles are in constant spasm, overlapping one another -- and marks the spot. This is where the injection will go when you actually have Botox treatment. The treatments aren't bad -- sometimes painful if done in a sensitive area (like the occipitals in my head). You will be told that relief should come within 10 days to 2 weeks. I'm always at the 2 weeks after Botox for any relief.

Sad news is that my Botox starts wearing off about a month before my next injection. So that means that 4 weeks before and 2 weeks after for the Botox to work -- I have 6 crappy weeks and that's when my pain medication increases dramatically. I moan in my sleep, can't put my head on a pillow, need to hold my head in sheer pain.

I'll also mention side effects. After the first shots, within a few days I could not lift my arms up. The muscles were all put to sleep. It wore off after about 3 weeks. Side effects on second shots also -- couldn't bend my head down. I couldn't support my head moving. Brushing teeth or looking down was difficult, but the relief I got from the pain was worth it. That also wore off after a few weeks. After each injection therapy, the nurse would call me to see how I made out, what side effects, was it helping, etc. And then they adjusted the medication for the next round 3 months away.

Although Botox has helped tremendously, I still have pain when it's working -- but that pain is so much more manageable than those 6 weeks when it's not.

I'm seeing a chiropractor tomorrow -- just for consult -- and will ask about NUCCA treatment.

Good luck.