Doctors directed to inject patients every 12 weeks to dull future aches
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comFDA approves Botox for migraine headaches
Seeded on Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:03 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
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My doctor used Botox on me for migraines prior to this approval. It really worked.
A pretty generic article - and lacking a lot of information. There are different kinds of migraine headaches. The migraines I have do not and never have responded to advil or codeine, or changes in caffeine consumption or diet.
To you and MS 85: How DARE you say that people out and about running errands couldn't possibly be migraine sufferers!! I have had them since I was 12 years old. Some of mine make me feel miserable and sick all day even on prescription medication. Sometimes I vomit and have a hot poker sensation in my eye and temple. And when I take migraine medications like Zomig and Imitrex they improve. I once asked a doctor if those medications would work on other types of headaches and he said no. So I really do have REAL migraines, not pretend. But, guess what? I still have to grocery shop and take my kids back and forth to school, and do laundry, etc. etc. etc. Some of us don't have the luxury of laying around in dark rooms feeling sorry for ourselves! Not to mention, some people are just stronger than others and more pain tolerant. You are not some people. I am. Get off of your high horse...you don't own migraines and just because yours aren't defined here and you can't handle them doesn't mean others can't.
I am disgusted with this profit driven industry. They have made an obscene immoral amount of money on the suffering of millions that many of their drugs have contributed to their suffering. My cousin can buy from Canada for 63.00 for a six week supply here that would cost 450.00 per month. This is obscene. This is beyond corrupt. This is criminal and the criminal's in big business and Washington support and protect this kind of butchery of the sick. God may forgive them but I don't know that I will ever be able to forgive such brutality.
Only approved for sufferers who experience 15 or more days of migraines per month with an improvement of a 2 day reduction in the best of the 2 studies.........what a farce. That is little more than random chance.......and for the FDA to approve this based on the studies of the company itself is heresey..................
Like getting the fox to guard the chicken coop. Thanks, but no thanks. Once again the FDA reveals its obvious buy off to allow this to come to market.
These big pharmas have no conscience..............all they care about is money.
Yes, the improvement seems slight, but you cannot say that's "little more than random chance" without seeing the set up of the study, the precise numbers (other than there were about 650 patients receiving Botox and 650 with placebo injections), and the statistical methods used.
Significance must reach a statistical p-value of <.05 to sufficiently reduce the likelihood that the difference was due to chance.
Considering the risk of injecting Botox once every three months to possibly reduce migraine headaches by two days a month can only be determined by the patient's current quality of life, headache-free days, responsiveness to Botox, and price (with or without health insurance).
For some people, it may be well worthwhile to get the injections in exchange for about six additional migraine-free days per quarter. A lot can be accomplished in six healthy days compared to the disabling incapacity that migraines can cause.
If you haven't been plagued by severe, frequent migraines, then any possible Botox improvement might not seem worthwhile.
People in chronic, severe pain would do almost anything to relieve that pain even just for a few days. Without a break from their near-chronic migraines, patients can sink into a deep depression and suffer from constant anxiety about not being able to escape the pain or live anywhere close to a normal life.
I hope more and better new treatments for multiple types of migraine headaches arrive on the market soon.
As someone who has suffered from migraines since age 13, I can say from personal experience that Botox has been an effective treatment. I used to be pretty out of it for a few days each month, with headache pain and tension in the neck muscles and shoulders. The Botox injections cut down the severity and frequency of the migraines considerably -- to the point where I now only need to be treated two to three times a year.
However, it's critical to go to a doctor who knows what they're doing. Dilution and placement matters. I'm lucky that I'm a nurse, working for the doctor who developed the injection techniques for the cosmetic use of Botox, so I get expert care. Please don't dismiss this decision by the FDA as a "farce" since Botox has absolutely helped me and many others I know.
Botox for migraine is an effective therapy - I have suffered for 27 years, and no treatment worked (I qualified as severely disabled with my condition, though I never "drew disability" preferring to work as much as I could). My headaches were so severe that I lived 20 days a month with headache, and 5-8 were so crippling that the most potent pain killers on the market were required to knock them out (e.g. stuff that you would need in an amputation situation).
Botox is *the only* effective therapy I have had administered in 27 years of constant searching, and I have tried everything under the sun. I would see continued improved (e.g. cumulative) with each injection every three months to the point where I was living without a crippling headache after the first year of injections.
I'm now fighting with a new insurance company over injections, and I'm 2 1/2 months behind ... I've slipped right back to where I was 2 years ago. Botox for migraine is no farce, and anyone who would say that this is simply a money making scam is wrong.
It is MUCH cheaper in Canada, and I would hope that the cost is lowered at some point so that the insurance companies stop fighting to cover this quite necessary procedure.
This Drug Companies have made an obscene immoral amount of money off the sick and dying. I am disgusted with this profit driven industry and how big business and Washington support and protect it. Maybe God can forgive the individuals who control this but I cannot not when I see Americans suffer and die because of bad drugs or people who can't get the drugs they need. I have a cousin who can get drugs from another country for 63.00 for a six week supply and here it costs 450.00 per month. This is beyond greedy it is criminal and the criminal's in Washington and Big Business need to be held accountable for this butchery of the sick.
As a chronic migraine sufferer (who has tried just about everything--from acupuncture to lamictal to snorting cayenne pepper) I would try botox, but only as an experiment and with the hope that it would give me more of an improvement than the modest improvement indicated by the research. There are risks and costs involved with botox (as with most or all pharmaceutical interventions), so I think I would keep looking for a different approach if it didn't make a significant difference. Although I can understand that 6 days a quarter without migraine might be worth it to some, I'm afraid that I might not really notice 6 out of nearly 100 unless I was religiously charting my migraines for months. I wonder if the severity of pain was effected....I don't think that was mentioned? I'll have to look that up, because a difference in severity would definitely increase my interest.
THAT WOULD BE FANTASTIC IF I WOULD HAVE NO MORE MIGRANE HEADACHES!!!!!!!!
I get 3 or more a week since 15 years od now I'm close to 55 and to be able to get rid of them OH MY GOSH
Indeed. I have had them since I was 8 years old, and the attacks continue to this day. I can't imagine these poor souls who have migraine attacks more than 15 days a month, my God...the severe pain.
Tried Botox for my migraines. Not only did it not work, I found out I was allergic to it. My nerves and muscles are stronger than the Botox, I could still scrunch up my forehead after the shots. Only thing it did was make my face puff up like someone allergic to shrimp. The only funny thing now is if a doctor ever asks if I'm allergic to anything, I can make the comment I'm allergic to poison. If that doctor doesn't laugh, then he's not someone I want to be treating with - no sense of humor.
The long and the short, I've had migraines for 30-plus years. THERE'S NO CURE. I've tried everything and seen every sort of doctor/practioner out there short of a witch doctor. Nothing works.
The people who tried this drug had "2 fewer headaches per month" and had to have had "15 or more headache days per month to be eligible" for the trial? That means they STILL experience at least 13 headaches per month! This doesn't seem like much of a cure to me....that is only a 12-13% reduction...not worth the possible side effects of a serious drug...I have migraines and would love a cure, but this isn't it.
I suspect this is a treatment for some kinds of headaches. If you have migraines, you've heard them, I'm sure - the people who are still going about their day, driving cars and doing their errands, yelling Oh my God, I have a migraine!
Exactly, I HATE that! Migraines are a serious neurological condition that some people just throw around like an average tension headache. Headache is only one symptom of a migraine, and people who fake that tend to forget it.
Botox is not and has never been touted as a cure for migraine headaches. It is simply one treatment among many. It's just that this one has finally been approved by the FDA to be used as a treatment for migraines. I have been on seizure medication that isn't approved for migraines but it works and that's what many doctors prescribe it for. Same thing. And if I can have 13 instead of 15 migraine headaches a month, then that's a wonderful thing. I've been suffering from migraines for 30+ years now. Still exploring new treatment options as there are always new things introduced.
It is about time--I have been having four to five migraines a week. Since , using Botox (which my insurance would not cover, even after looking at my records,) my migraines have decreased. Unfortunatly, my last treatment was early April. So, the headaches are increasing again. How to I get my insurance company to cover it!?
When I was in my teens, I used to get migraine headaches that would last for as long as two months at a time and sometimes when one would finally end, the next one would start in just a few days.
I had to cope with that as best I could which wasn't made any easier by my father's being convinced that my headaches were brought on by my having something to hide! (Oh, boy! I still wonder what he was thinking.).
Given all that, I would still not want to have taken botox had it existed at the time. No way would I consider introducing that toxin into my system, no matter what.
Thank heaven, the headaches finally petered out and ended altogether by my mid-twenties. (I'm now in my mid-sixties.)
I have tried every option for migraine care preventitive and abortive on the market I have spent thousands of dollars countless mris and ct scans daily regimens of pills from topomax to lumectal pain killers by the ton percocet dilaudid and oxycontin nothing trully works. I have been told I have two options left to try medical marijuana or botox treatment since neither is covered by insurance I think I am goin for the marijuana vs the poison thanks....
"F" botulism toxins! Wife used to get two per month. Started working with chiropractor, and now gets about two per year.
Who did the drug company pay off?
my wife got a heart attack from migrane meds 1.3 years ago. she got botox on her face last week.
Can you please tell me what migraine medicine your wife was taking when that happened?
Back around 2004 my neurologist tried using Botox on my migraines. He used it about 4 times (once a month) until my insurance company made him quit because it was $800 per visit and migraines were not in the accepted usage for Botox.
I now have a new neurologist and just had an MRI and EEG last week as the migraines now come everyday and vary in strength from about a 7 to 9.9 (at 10 I hit the Emergency Room). He has me taking Oxycotin (120 mg) every 6 hours and it sometimes eases the migraine but not always...hence the new MRI and EEG.
Migraines suck eggs big time. I've had them now since I was 31 and I'm now 53 and disabled due to migraines and Congestive Heart Failure.
Yeppp....way to go...Win-win strategy from Botox....Scare the sh*t out of American women on their aging and get them to develop migraine worrying about the anti-wrinkling therapy cost, and then charge them again for the migraine therapy...
I have migraines and even with Zomig I can get rebound migraines day after day. I won't try Botox(even people who use it for anti-aging have had horrible results). I was on hormone replacement therapy only to find out it did not help but may contribute to heart disease...then on an osteoporosis drug for brittle bones only to find out it can cause fractures and a rare(but frightening) side effect of necrosis of the mandible(when having teeth extractions)...when does the FDA and the drug companies stop experimenting with us and start helping us? And what's up with having to take more meds for the side effects of the drug that's 'supposed' to help you? Don't let me get started on 'psych' meds...and they can also stop using animals in their 'science' research. Sorry for going off the 'botox' subject into the other claims of cures(I use that loosely!), but it is maddening to hear your doctor say "I'm going to put you on a new drug"!!!
Forgot to mention that medicare and medical assistance thought zomig was to expensive and switched me to something that really didn't work...had to have doctor override them and now am given a small amount and need to decide if a migraine is pill-worthy!!
I've had migraines for years, 1 or 2 a week. I've tried ALOT of different medication with no success. I started Botox last month, and it has been a lifesaver. I had 2 migraines in the last month, but their intensity was kicked down, way down. a usual migraine will send me running for the zomig, and then its off to bed. With the migraines on the botox, its 2 alka-seltzers and lets go somewhere! I had nothing to lose, if it didn't work, life is still the same 1-2 migraines a week, if it did work great, and I didn't have to shell out any cash for treatments, being active duty military. I understand it's a different story if it turns into a $500-$1000 gamble. All i'm saying is consider it, don't dismiss this as a drug company finding a new market.
My boss suffers from migraines and I know how debilitating they can be. She has been to numerous doctors, on various meds with limited benefit. I can imagine that people who do suffer from them are desperate for relief. However, this is a highly toxic substance. Did they just have an article a few weeks ago on MSN about the long term unknown dangers of these injections?
This is great news. Working in a neurologist office for many years, we have fought with insurance companies time and time again trying to get this authorized for migraines. For many patients who suffer from this condition, this is a very effective method of treatment. It may be expensive, but it does help for at least 12 weeks and sometimes longer. Let's just hope the insurance companies comply with the new FDA approval and start paying up!!!
I've suffered from migraines, tension and sinus headaches. I cannot take most prescriptions meds due to my experiencing side effects. Those drugs I can take, generally aren't strong enough to make a dent in the pain. About 6 months ago, I tried Botox on a whim, thinking that it just might help - insurance didn't pay for this. It really helped! It didn't completely wipe out all of the headaches, but slowed the frequency and lessened the intensity. A few weeks ago, I noticed I was having more frequent and more intense headaches again. I know it's time to get another round of Botox. It definitely works for me!!!
I get about 2-4 migraines a week.
The only thing I have ever found that stops them is Immitrex.
I would give Botox a try due to the side effects from immitrex.
I've had migraines for many years but they started increasing in frequency this year, up to 10 - 15 a month. Imitrex, Frova, or Axert always relieved the headaches/nausea but they would return hours later or on awakening next morning. A few days after starting Topamax 25 mg at bedtime as a preventive, all migraines stopped and I have not had another one. (I also take Metroprolol 25 mg daily as a preventive but that alone did not have any effect.) For me the Topamax has been a miracle!!!