Howdy!

[funnelcakeagogo]

Migrainous status since 8/26/2017. On second round of Botox and a boatload of pills, but relief is rare. Just trying to stay functional at this point.

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Botox didn't work for me. I was very relieved when they decided to stop it as it made me ill. I am now on blood pressure tablets even though I have never had high blood pressure. There seems to be a bit of improvement so far.

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I did Botox for about four years and eventually moved to the higher dosage. For probably five days after each set of injections, I'd get "achy" headaches. Migraines still occurred, not every day as previously, but still enough to be considered chronic during certain seasons (fall is always the worst for me) or during strong weather patterns (tornado alley here). I finally quit Botox when my entire work group was laid off and I lost my job and insurance. Obama care plans were expensive (premiums of over $1000/month for lowest bronze level plan) and deductibles were out of reach ($13,700). Then the Botox treatment cost went up to $1600/quarter after the insurance company specified a specific pharmacy for the drug and it was more expensive. At that point, I just had to quit. It was all out of pocket, after all. It was frightening to quit. Unfortunately or fortunately, however you look at it, I am neither particularly worse nor better since quitting. I still have strong weeks-in-a-row day-in-day-out with migraine every so often. Does that prove that botox was ineffective? Not necessarily... at first, Botox appeared to break the chronic cycle I was in. I've found if I can take enough meds to get myself to be capable of exercising regularly, it's actually a similar result. Sometimes, even walking can nearly make me sick, so it's taken me many months to get up to exercising regularly. Then I went on vacation/family visits and daily migraines came roaring back for more than a month. They are still daily but manageable with meds and I'm working back up to daily exercise. I am still looking for another more effective solution (currently looking at SPG block, but can't find a nearby IR Doctor to perform procedures). I so hope that Botox will work perfectly for you.

[babs1234]

I believe the Gammacore device has just hit the USA. Don’t know the cost there but in the UK I can get it on the NHS. If you can, well worth trying

[Clydelle]

Hi Babs1234,

How did you get the Gammacore device on the NHS? I asked my GP about it and she didn't make any suggestions at all. Did you have to go through a special migraine clinic? I'm very interested in this machine as it might offer some relief. Have you had any success with it? Sorry for all of these questions but I would really value your feedback. Many thanks!!

Best wishes,

Clydelle