CHARLESTON, SC NEWS - LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, SportsFrom wrinkle-relief to headache relief

From wrinkle-relief to headache relief

By Nicole Johnson  bio | email | twitter

MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (WCSC) -  A painful, disabling, recurrent headache. The CDC says millions of Americans suffer from migraine attacks each year, but doctors are now prescribing these patients with Botox injections for severe headache relief.

Nelsy Gray has been a chronic migraine sufferer for years, to the point where she had a headache every day or every other day, and she couldn't live a normal life.

"The slightest noise or light or sometimes smell just really knocks you out. You just feel sick. You really can't function. You can't think," Gray said.

She says she tried just about every treatment out on the market, but she couldn't find the relief she needed, until her neurologist suggested the injectable drug Botox.

Doctors say Botox is a toxin that's most commonly used to reduce muscle movement that leads to forehead wrinkles, but they also say there are studies that show it can be used to prevent migraine pain.

Neurologist Dr. Thomas Hughes says the pain prevention may be related to nerve endings below the scalp that sends signals to the brain.

"It probably alters the neurologic transmission from these nerves back to the brain which somehow reduces the migraine frequency. That's the current theory on how this works," Dr. Hughes said.

Dr. Hughes says unlike cosmetic Botox, where injections are mostly on the forehead or near the mouth, patients with the migraine syndrome will get injections in the forehead, sides of eyes, temples, and the lower scalp and neck.

"I don't have to take a medication that's either going to put me to sleep or not make me feel very well. I'm actually functioning really well," Gray said. "Takes it away for three months. You don't worry. You don't have a headache."

Dr. Hughes says Botox is safe, and he's used it on migraine patients since the early 90s, but right now it is not an FDA approved treatment. If you are a migraine sufferer, you should talk to your neurologist before trying the drug.

  If you'd like to try natural migraine relief, doctors say you should:

  -Get seven to eight hours of sleep

   -Reduce daily caffeine intake to one drink or fewer

   -Exercise three times a week

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