Every woman has their account of the uncomfortable effects of menstruation on their body and lifestyle. Some of them have experienced mood swings, cravings, and dysmenorrhea, while others suffer from bad cases of menstrual migraines. These put their daily activities to a halt due to the throbbing head pain, nausea, and vomiting. Aside from its cosmetic use, Botox is also one of the preferred preventative medications considered for hormone migraine treatment.
So does Botox help menstrual migraines? Yes, menstrual migraine is one of the conditions that Botox can treat as prophylaxis. Botox is also safe for women in and out of pregnancy as it only blocks the pain signals or neurotransmitters from the brain by temporarily relaxing your muscles where these signals might reach the neurotransmitters. But Botox is more recommended for chronic migraine, so you should consult your doctor first.
Can Botox Help with Menstrual Migraines?
Botox can help with menstrual migraines as a preventative therapy, but it’s more recommended for chronic migraine than for this condition. Chronic migraine is a condition involving 15 headaches in a month, and 8 of them are migraine attacks. It’s best to consult your doctor and try other medications first before having a Botox injection for your migraine attack.
Menstrual migraine is a type of migraine headache triggered by hormonal changes or a drop in hormone levels, specifically estrogen levels. These migraine attacks happen before or during your menstrual period, around 2 days before, and until 3 days during your flow. Undergoing hormone therapy for menopause and birth control pills can also be a cause of your migraine pain.
Some hormone migraine symptoms are throbbing headache, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, light and sound sensitivity, and more. You may also experience other types of headaches during your period, like tension headaches.
How Can Botox Relieve Menstrual Migraines
Botox is also a headache medicine for your hormone migraine episodes, marked by severe headache, nausea, and other symptoms. Many patients with other types of headache pain also rely on this migraine prevention treatment. These conditions involve:
- tension headaches
- sinus headaches
- cluster headaches
- chronic migraine
- vestibular migraine
As a menstrual migraine treatment, Botox temporarily relaxes the muscles, so nerve endings won’t receive pain signals or neurotransmitters from the brain. To fully understand how your injections of botulinum toxin can help relieve your migraine symptoms, you should first know why you experience menstrual migraines, how Botox prevents it, treatment areas, and how many units you’ll receive.
Why You Experience Menstrual Migraines
There are different types of headaches, other than menstrual migraines, like tension headache, cluster headache, vestibular migraine, and more. These migraine attacks are caused by different things, like stress, caffeine, or high blood pressure. But with menstrual migraine, your migraine headache is triggered by low estrogen levels, which women may experience when they are nearing or starting their cycle.
Other causes of menstrual migraine are:
- birth control pills
- hormone replacement therapy
- menopause
- perimenopause
- pregnancy
- menstruation
If you take these medications and you’ve experienced a migraine symptom or two, you should consult your doctor to consider changing your medications. You should also visit a headache center you trust to examine your migraine episodes.
How Many Units of Botox You’ll Receive
A patient with a menstrual migraine headache may receive more units or doses of Botox compared to when they’re just having Botox cosmetics for wrinkles. Headache disorder specialists will give you 31 shots of Botox, with each injection containing 5 units. This means that you’ll be receiving 155 units of Botox, administered every 3 months, though this may still vary depending on your condition.
Where You’ll Receive Injections
As mentioned, your Botox treatment blocks off pain signals from reaching your nerve endings as it relaxes your muscles, providing migraine prevention. Headache disorder medication using Botox involves multiple injections, unlike when you’re having the toxin for reducing the appearance of your lines and wrinkles. You’ll be receiving 31 injections of 5 units of Botox into different muscle groups responsible for head pain.
The Botox treatment areas of a migraine sufferer involve:
- temples
- forehead
- the upper bridge above the nose
- neck
- back of the head
- shoulders
- upper back
Your doctor will use sharp and fine needles for every Botox injection to reduce your discomfort — it might not be painful as reported by many patients, but you can expect to feel a slight burning sensation as the toxin is administered into your muscles.
Side Effects You Can Expect After Botox
Botox is a safe procedure approved by the FDA, but like any other headache disorder medication, a patient may still expect several side effects. This is because your body reacts to the toxins injected into your muscles. Common adverse effects are usually mild, resolving on their own within a day or two.
Some of the common side effects are:
- bruising at the injection site
- pain and soreness at the injection site
- chills
- dry mouth
- fatigue
- neck stiffness
- neck pain
Your doctor will instruct you on how to handle these side effects. There are also long-term side effects from your Botox injection for menstrual migraine treatment, like droopy eyebrows and muscle weakness. These reactions may last for several weeks.
There are also risks of serious side effects and complications from your migraine prevention therapy with Botox, like:
- corneal ulceration
- allergic reaction
- swallowing and breathing problems
- blurry vision
- swelling of the tongue or throat
Once you notice these effects, you should seek immediate medical attention or call your headache specialist. They should rule out life-threatening complications, like botulism or an illness due to poisoning.
Other Treatments to Consider for Your Menstrual Migraines
As mentioned, Botox is more recommended for chronic migraine sufferers than those with head pain triggered by hormone levels. Patients with chronic migraine experience headache pain for 15 days a month.
If you experience migraine episodes before or during your period, you should consult your doctor. They might recommend the following:
- NSAIDs
- contraceptives
- triptans
- non-invasive nerve stimulation therapy
- anti-seizure medications
- medication for high blood pressure
- magnesium
Your doctor will recommend the best treatment that will work for you. The most suitable solution will depend on how your body becomes more receptive to it, so it’s necessary to have close coordination with your specialist.
Schedule a Consultation at Ethos Spa for Your Botox Treatment
Botox might have come from a type of poison, but it offers positive results if used with utmost care and expertise – patients experiencing excruciating migraine pain will have another chance to improve their quality of life. If you should ever seek Botox treatment for whatever purpose, ensure to choose a specialist you trust.
For Botox cosmetics to reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles, Ethos Spa has been one of the trusted medical spas in New Jersey. We offer patients a tailor-fit Botox treatment plan to prioritize their safety and aesthetic aspiration, conducted by board-certified Botox specialists. You can book a consultation with us to learn more by leaving a call or filling out a form on our website.
