Caring Medical
& Rehabilitation Services
715 Lake Street, Suite 600
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
708.848.7789 Phone
708.848.7763 Fax

Botox for Headaches

Modern medicine has resorted to injecting a known toxin into the muscles of the face/neck/head to help patients get rid of headaches. Their headaches may diminish but the paralysis caused by the botulism toxin weakens the muscles.

One fact I can say for certain is that chronic headaches are not a botulism (botox) deficiency. The botulinum toxin is very expensive, and provides only temporary results.

At best the toxin paralyzes the muscles for about three months, so the person gets some symptomatic relief for that period, but then will require continued botox injections to help maintain the pain relief.

Chronic muscular headaches are not due to the muscles being too tight. If this was the case all one would have to do is get massage or do some stretching of the muscles of the neck and the headaches would be cured. Very seldom does massage therapy cure someone of chronic headaches. In contrast, Prolotherapy often cures people of chronic headaches. Why is this the case?

Chronic muscular headaches, myofascial pain syndrome of the neck and head, and fibromyalgia of the head and neck all have as part of their conditions chronic muscle spasms. Why do muscles spasm ? They spasm because either they were injured or they are trying to stabilize the joints that they move.

The body desires stability. When the underlying neck ligaments are stretched or weakened, the overlying muscles go into spasm. When these ligaments are strengthened by Prolotherapy, the chronic muscle spasms stop because the muscles no longer have to stabilize the underlying joints. Hopefully, in the future people will understand that instead of asking for poison (Botox) for their headaches they will ask for Prolo.

Arachnoiditis
Arachnoiditis is an inflammation occurring in the spinal cord. While it can occur as a result from infection, including tubercular meningitis, it is usually caused by spinal trauma: surgery, injury, and spinal anesthesia. A myelogram, a diagnostic procedure performed in patients prior to spinal surgery may also produce the symptoms. It occurs when scarring, from surgery or trauma, compresses and squeezes nerves in the back. Further surgery is usually not effective because more scarring develops and there are great risks in exposing the inflamed spinal area to another operation. (Paraphrased from National Institutes of Health literature.)

What is the prognosis of the medical community? (The quotations that follow are from information provided to the public by the National Institutes of Health) "There is no cure for arachnoiditis. For the majority of patients, arachnoiditis is a disabling disease causing intractable pain and neurological deficits. As the disease progresses, some symptoms may increase and become permanent. Few people with this disorder are able to continue working. In some cases, progressive paraplegia may occur." Arachnoiditis is a persistent, sometimes permanent burning and stinging pain radiating in the back and legs. It is typically unresponsive to pain medications and muscle relaxants and can lead to disability and/or eventual paralysis. Can Prolotherapy help? We have seen and treated many patients who have received marked and significant pain relief of their symptoms following Prolotherapy. Arachnoiditis treatment may take longer to achieve the best results in some than others. The amount of surgical procedures and the accompanying high levels of scarring may make a difference in the required number of Prolotherapy treatments.