My mother tells a story about me when I was 9 and had a headache so bad I would not stop crying and would not leave my room. I don’t remember that, but I know that I have had severe headaches as long as I can remember. As a child, I took so much aspirin…
Read Full ArticleThoroughness in surgical technique can make the difference in a successful nerve decompression operation. (Why the tree photo? Read on….) Earlier this week we saw a woman with over 20 years of headache pain from occipital neuralgia who had been operated on previously by another surgeon. She reports that her surgery was unsuccessful. The surgeon…
Read Full ArticleJohn Oliver does a great piece on the overuse of opioid pain killers- an epidemic that is causing incredible morbidity and mortality in the United States. Patients with chronic headaches are often prescribed these pain killers when nothing else works, and opioid addiction can become a major problem for headache patients. The potential for surgery…
Read Full ArticleWe are so fortunate to now have better medications and great surgical options for the treatment of migraine headaches. We have com a long way! This article talks about the surgeon Aulcasis in the 10th century who used to make incisions in the temples and put garlic inside them to cure his migraine patients. I’m…
Read Full ArticleBotox is being increasingly used for off-label treatments, particularly in the treatment of migraine headaches and occipital neuralgia like we do at Migraine Surgery Specialty Center. This is a nice little video from the Plastic Surgery Channel that discusses some off-label uses of Botox.But what does “off label” mean? When something like Botox is “approved” by…
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