Skip to main content

Discounted Botox for Migraine Pain Relief

Therapeutic Origins and Purposes of Botox

Most people think of Botox as a cosmetic vanity procedure to hide wrinkles.  But cosmetic uses came long after it was invented for therapeutic purposes.  In the 1970s, botulinum toxin (Botox) was used to weaken muscles that cause crossed eyes, as an alternative to surgery.  After positive outcomes, it started being used to prevent muscle spasms for people with other neuromuscular conditions.  In 2002, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a variation known as BOTOX ® Cosmetic for cosmetic use, almost 30 years after it started being used therapeutically.  In 2010, Onabotulinum toxin A (Botox) gained formal approval from the FDA to treat chronic migraine headaches. 

I share this history because it is important to understand that Botox is a legitimate medical treatment for many serious problems.  Botox is a big help with my chronic migraine pain as it partially numbs the areas where headaches are at their worst for months at a time.

Note: I do not receive compensation for discussing Botox nor have a relationship with the manufacturer beyond that of an ordinary patient and consumer.

What Botox Treatment is Like

Every 12 weeks I see a neurology specialist who gives me 30-40 injections in my forehead, scalp, neck and back using very small needles.  The procedure takes about 20 minutes, and the injections happen at a brisk poke, pause, poke, pause pace.  Each quick poke stings a little, and a few of the shots sting a lot, but the tiny needles hurt less than you might expect and the procedure is less traumatic than it sounds.  While I cannot say it is a fun time, I find it less bothersome than an allergy scratch test or invasive dentistry.

How Botox Helps Me Manage Migraines

About 10 days or so after my first injections, the chronic headache faded very slightly and I noticed that it became more difficult to wiggle my eyebrows or ears, as if someone rubbed a numbing cream into my forehead and scalp.  By my third such treatment (36 weeks later) this numbing sensation increased to the point where the migraine pain was lessened enough to matter.  Since this treatment is only blocking the sensory nerves that transmit the pain, the overall migraine complex is not “cured”, but the pain portion of the symptoms is better.  Nausea, light and sound sensitivity are still present, but the pain went from soul crushingly horrific to just pretty bad.  A side benefit of the process was that I also gained some of the cosmetic wrinkle removing benefits, though not as much as someone doing a cosmetic procedure since my shots were placed in pain centers instead of precisely targeting wrinkle muscles.

Costs of Botox for Migraines

Each treatment costs me between $1,200 and $2,300 with insurance, as the serum is expensive and there are charges for the medical facility and the specialist.  For some reason, the total cost of treatment seems to vary each time even though the quantity of serum stays the same.  When using Botox for pain, you must have it administered from a specialist as they use more serum and target different places than a cosmetic professional is allowed.  Injecting into the wrong place could weaken a muscle needed to support your head or open your eyes, so the necessary expertise costs more.  While a cosmetic specialist could perhaps take the edge off headaches concentrated in your forehead, they deliver only about half a dozen injections and cannot touch places where true migraines tend to reside.  

My health insurance of course tried to deny this treatment, but I won the appeals process by using documentation from my medical provider and by telling the review board that they could either pay for Botox every 12 weeks, or pay a similar cost every 4 weeks for emergency intravenous migraine cocktails at the hospital.

Botox Savings Program

The manufacturer has a discount program that covers the first $1,000 of the patient portion of each treatment for one year.  While the terms and conditions may have changed by the time you read this, this link has the details:
https://www.botoxsavingsprogram.com/

Logistics and Ease of Access

Since Botox is expensive and potentially dangerous, there is an intricate process to get it.  The vendor must ship it to the doctor shortly before the procedure, the insurance must tell the doctor they will cover it, the doctor must acknowledge receipt, the patient must authorize the specialty pharmacy to ship it…  Any snag in the process causes the treatment to be postponed at the last-minute adding weeks without pain relief.  I solved this by getting the insurance company to pre-authorize a full year’s worth of treatments, then booking a year’s worth of appointments with my provider and then notifying the specialty pharmacy of these arrangements.  This let them automatically ship the medication before each treatment without the frantic multi-party coordination and approvals.

 For More Information

© 2023 All rights reserved. This blog reflects the personal experience and opinions of a long COVID and CFS survivor and is not qualified medical advice. Consult a doctor for your situation.


Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

I invite on-topic, helpful comments from readers with free Google accounts. I am especially interested in comments that share useful tips for fighting long-COVID, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Pain and Migraines. Off-topic comments, comments that name other sites or products without including much relevant textual explanation, and comments disparaging any person or group will be deleted. As I am trying to keep this a positive place, I may also delete comments in a despairing tone that focus only on symptom misery rather than helpful ways to combat it. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and helpful tips!

Popular posts from this blog

Neuro Diet for Brain and Nerves

Dietary Advice I Received from a Long COVID Program As with many conditions, eating the appropriate foods can help with symptoms of chronic fatigue, brain fog and neurological strain.  Interestingly, when I started the post-COVID rehabilitation program, they put me on a diet that was extremely high in lean animal protein which runs somewhat counter to the modern fads of plant-based everything.  But many of their other suggestions seem similar to aspects of the Mediterranean Diet, The Harvard “Healthy Eating Plate” and other mainstream health diets.  Here are some of their suggestions to me, which were adapted from a pamphlet called “ Healthy Brain, Healthy Nerves ” by Doctor Jinny Tavee, a neurologist specializing in neuromuscular disorders and integrative holistic medicine. They Asked Me to Eat: wild caught fish: 3-5 servings per week, prepared without much fat (e.g. avoid deep frying, butter poaching, etc.) brightly colored fruits and vegetables: 5-6 servings per day green Tea nuts o
Post a Comment
Read more

Recognizing Symptoms of Brain Fatigue Can Help

My last article discussed how to use pacing and energy budgets to improve performance and reduce symptoms.  However, I did a poor job of listing common signs of brain fatigue and how to recognize when a rest and cognition break might help so I decided to remedy that with this post.  Many of the warning signs are counterintuitive, so without a list it can be challenging to recognize when a symptom might be caused my mental fatigue and thus when a mental break is needed. Below is a list I copied nearly verbatim from a handout from a long-COVID recovery program from a highly respected research hospital.  It is not copyrighted nor proprietary, so I am free to share it here: Common Signs of Brain Fatigue Cognitive Symptoms of Brain Fatigue Difficulty concentrating Forgetfulness Slow speech Headache Word-finding difficulties Emotional Symptoms of Brain Fatigue Irritability Nervousness Withdrawal Physical Symptoms of Brain Fatigue Loss of appetite Low energy Nausea Balance Instability Nu
Post a Comment
Read more

Free Nurtec ODT for Migraine Headache Relief

Long COVID and Migraines A common post-viral long-COVID problem is persistent migraine headaches.   Although they do not seem to affect the majority of post-COVID patients, they commonly plague those who had a history of migraines before their infections.   For those not familiar with migraines, they can be excruciating, and tend to come with nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, and various other symptoms.   Imagine the worst hangover of your life, where everything is too bright and too loud, your head feels like it is being crushed in a vice and you want to vomit.   That is pretty much me every day, year after year. What is Nurtec ODT and How Does it Help with Migraines? But the good news is that after trying just about every common migraine remedy without much relief, my specialist prescribed me Nurtec ODT.   Nurtec ODT comes in little white tabs that you place under your tongue and let melt/dissolve to be absorbed directly into your bloodstream.   It is commonly prescri
Post a Comment
Read more