Nevada Headache Institute
Procedures
We have available to patients a broad range of diagnostic and treatment options. Some include:
Botulinum Toxin (BoTox)
- In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Botulinum Toxin for the treatment of chronic migraine – which is migraine 15 days or more per month with headaches lasting four hours a day or longer.
- Depending upon insurance requirements, patients may need to meet specific criteria to be able to receive this therapy.
- Botulinum Toxin is given at intervals of about 12 weeks as multiple injections around the head and neck.
- This takes just a few minutes to do and is done in the office.
- Studies show that this treatment can help significantly decrease migraine for some people and the results can last up to 3 months.
Greater Occipital Nerve Injection
- A greater occipital nerve injection involves an injection of a steroid and an anesthetic (numbing) medication around a nerve that is located on the back of the head, just above the neck area.
- There are two greater occipital nerves, one on the right and one on the left. Depending upon your headache condition, your doctor may inject one or both.
- This procedure is performed as a short-term relief measure in patients with difficult to treat or very disabling headache.
- This is performed in our office and is a safe and simple procedure.
- Patients may notice an immediate but temporary benefit from the local anesthetic. The pain may return after the local anesthetic wears off and there may be some soreness at the injection site. It may takes 3 to 5 days for a longer lasting effect to occur.
- Many patients receive weeks to months of headache improvement.
Trigger Point Injections
- Trigger points are painful areas of muscle, that when touched, can cause pain. Sometimes, these muscles do not relax and form knots under the skin. Trigger points may irritate nerves around them.
- A small injection of anesthetic medication is place into the region. With the injection, the trigger point is inactived and pain can be alleviated.
- Injections take a just a few minutes and several sites can be injected during one visit. This can be combined with greater occipital nerve injections safely.
