News on Migraines – London Migraine Clinic

September 19, 2012 By Chris Blatchley

Migraines – Painkillers make them worse

NICE – National Institute for Clinical Excellence – has published guidelines on how taking too many painkillers and Triptans can actually make migraines worse. This is because the treatments suppress the pain and don’t stop the migraines from happening.

It has been recognised for a long time that Triptans can cause this, so this leaves people with severe frequent migraines in a double bind. Treat your migraines and run the risk of making them worse, or suffer them without painkillers. However the best way is to have a treatment that stops the migraine from starting and this is where Botox treatment helps.

It is well established that Botox treatment can stop migraines completely in up to 50% and reduce them significantly in frequency and intensity for most of the rest (for less than 1 in 20 they do not work). NICE recognises that Botox can be used to treat migraines, and have issued guidelines on Botox treatments too

See also the press coverage on Painkillers and Botox for Migraines

January 4, 2012 By Chris Blatchley

Pam Cures Her Migraines

Pam had an operation by Professor Muehlberger to cure her migraines but first she was treated with Botox, as the operation will only be as successful as the Botox treatment. Dr Chris Blatchley of Capital Aesthetics works with Professor Muehlberger to give the Botox treatment before the surgery is performed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2079441/Cosmetic-surgery-Woman-banishes-migraines-having-frown-muscle-removed.html

November 5, 2010 By Chris Blatchley

How To Find A Good Practitioner

One of the challenges in getting the best from your Botox is to find somebody who really knows what they are doing but is at the same time affordable. How do you do that?

Well, the key is to find somebody you can trust.

Recommendation – If you have a friend who’s opinion you trust, and you can see that the doctor’s work looks good then you probably can’t say more than that.
Talk to the doctor – Will the doctor talk to you on the phone? Will he give you an initial consultation, a short one without charge? Or if you want a longer one, will the charge be offset against the cost of future treatment? When you speak to the doctor, does he explain the downsides of a particular treatment? Does he give alternative treatment plans?

The main point of all this is to feel confident in his abilities. Often people will come to me and start with something simple to build up trust first hand….

November 3, 2010 By Chris Blatchley

Stop Your Migraines With Botox

Migraine are aweful at the best of times, and for the worst sufferers this can mean several days a month in a darkened room. With Botox treatment, up to 90% can have marked improvement and 50% have no attacks at all!

Botox is very effective for some sufferers. It was noticed by accident that sufferers who were having Botox for their wrinkles found that their headaches disappeared. The research since then has changed the understanding of how migraines start and improvements in technique mean that anything up to 90% of sufferers will get improvement while 50% will have no attacks at all. The effect wears off when the Botox wears off but sufferers who have had little respite before are over the moon after treatment. Indeed recently Botox has been given the ok by the medical establishment.

Patient selection and injection technique are both very important, and Dr Chris Blatchley can usually here at Capital Aesthetics can usually forecast who the Botox is going to work for well.

For more information go to the Migraines section of our website.