Is There Help for My Migraines?

If you suffer from migraines, we understand that you’re dealing with much more than just a headache. Migraine is a disease that affects about 39 million Americans and up to 1 billion people worldwide.

Our teams at Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute in Plainsboro and Manalapan Township, New Jersey, led by Dr. Ronak Patel, specialize in relieving your migraine pain. To understand the seriousness of migraine versus headache, let’s talk about their differences.

The difference between headaches and migraines

Headaches and migraines both cause discomfort, but they’re different.

Headaches

Headaches can range from mild to severe and usually occur on both sides of your head. You can also experience pain in your forehead, on your temples, and at the back of your neck. They most commonly develop due to stress, anxiety, or muscle strain.

There are varying types of headaches, including tension, cluster, sinus, thunderclap, and headaches caused by Chiari malformation.

Migraines

Migraines are more intense than headaches, causing symptoms that go beyond having pain in your head that include:

Nausea
Vomiting
Temporary vision loss
Pain behind one of your eyes or ears
Sensitivity to sound and/or light

Migraines also mostly only affect one side of your head. The pain can be so severe that it stops you from performing normal daily tasks.

Migraines usually have two categories that include migraine with aura and migraine without aura.

The word “aura” refers to what a person experiences before the onset of a migraine. Some auras might include seeing spots, having muscle weakness, experiencing confusion, or feeling the sensation of pins and needles in your fingers that slowly spread to your face.

Treatments for your migraines

At Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute, we provide several options of effective treatment, including:

Botox®

This method of treatment was FDA-approved for use for chronic migraine in 2010, with many patients experiencing success.

Chronic migraine involves having 15 or more days of headaches in a month, and 8 of those resulting in migraines for more than 3 months.

We inject Botox around the areas you have pain, blocking the release of chemicals that cause the transmission of pain and preventing the activation of pain signals in your brain. Botox can actually stop your migraine before it occurs after 2-3 treatments.

After one treatment, you can experience successful results for 10-12 weeks.

Medical marijuana

Dr. Patel is a certified medical marijuana doctor who has expertise and experience treating patients with migraine, using medical marijuana.

The natural compounds in marijuana go into your body and look for receptors. They then change how your receptors operate and calm down your pain signals. Marijuana has been shown to relieve migraine symptoms and also prevent them from starting.

During your consultation, Dr. Patel works with you to determine if medical marijuana is the right choice for you.

To find out more about getting relief for your migraines, call our office or book your appointment online today.