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April 25th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda TUESDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) — Botox is considered a
preventive medication for debilitating migraine headaches, but a new
review finds that it may only help people with chronic migraines or
chronic daily headaches. And, even then, the effect appears to only be
“small to modest.”
The review found that Botox (botulinum toxin A) was no help for people
with episodic migraines (fewer than 15 a month) or chronic tension-type
headaches.
“Our analyses suggest that botulinum toxin A may be associated with
improvement in the frequency of chronic migraine and chronic daily
headaches, but not with improvement in the frequency of episodic migraine,
chronic tension-type headaches or episodic tension-type headaches.
However, the association of botulinum toxin A with clinical benefit was
small,” wrote the authors of the review.
Still, the review’s lead author, Dr. Jeffrey Jackson, said, “If I was
having more than 15 migraines a month, I’d give Botox a try. It has few
side effects. And, if it helps, you can go 90 days without as many
headaches and without daily side effects.” Jackson is a professor of
medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Results of the review are published in the April 25 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
More than 40 percent of adults experience tension-type headaches at
some point in their lives, according to background information in the
article. Between 8 and 18 percent of adults have had migraines.
Treatment for these serious headaches fall into two general classes:
abortive or preventive. The abortive medications are faster-acting, and
can help stop a migraine or its symptoms while it’s occurring. Preventive
medications are taken to stop the headaches from occurring in the first
place.
Botox’s effect on migraines was discovered coincidentally when people
who were having Botox injections to lessen lines and wrinkles in their
foreheads noticed that their headaches were improved.
The current review examined 31 clinical trials. Twenty-seven were
comparisons of Botox to placebo, including 5,313 patients. The remaining
four studies were randomized clinical trials comparing Botox to
medications commonly used to treat serious headaches. The drugs included
amitriptyline (Elavil), prednisone, topiramate (Topamax) and valproate
(Depakote).
When the researchers looked at the placebo-controlled trials, they
found that Botox was associated with about two fewer headaches a month for
people with chronic migraines and those with chronic daily headache. There
was no statistically significant difference in people with episodic
migraines or chronic tension-type headaches who were treated with Botox
vs. placebo.
Botox wasn’t associated with a reduction in the frequency of chronic
migraines compared to topiramate or amitriptyline, or in the reduction of
frequency of chronic or episodic migraines compared to valproate,
according to the review. Botox did reduce headache severity more than
methylprednisone, according to one study included in the review.
Side effects from Botox included a drooping eyelid, muscle weakness,
neck pain, neck stiffness, skin tightness and a tingling, burning or numb
sensation on the skin.
“If done properly, there really aren’t substantial (side) effects from
the use of Botox,” explained Dr. Ezriel Kornel, a neurosurgeon at Northern
Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, N.Y. “But, over time the effect may
wear off. Some people can develop an immunity to Botox.”
Both Jackson and Kornel noted that there was a large placebo effect
seen in many of the studies. “It’s hard to know if most of the benefit was
from the drug or from the placebo effect,” said Jackson, who added, “but,
patients don’t care if it’s a placebo effect.”
Kornel said that the review showed that there is definitely some
benefit from Botox for those with chronic migraine and chronic daily
headache. “Chronic migraines are the hardest headaches to treat, and this
gives us one more treatment in our armamentarium. It’s a reasonable
alternative to the use of long-term daily medications that can have side
effects,” Kornel said.
He said there are also other treatments that can help these types of
headaches, and what’s most important for someone who has debilitating
headaches is to see a doctor who specializes in treating headaches. “A
headache specialist has the whole array of treatments at their disposal,”
he said.
More information
Learn more about migraine headaches and their treatment from the National Headache Foundation.
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