BOTOX?

[Guest guest]

DIDN'T HELP ME, BUT MIGHT HELP OTHERS. Health The toxin that could Article By: Gruden Botox may not be only for wrinkles. Doctors say it could also help to control migraines and fibromyalgia. Botox® may be best known for its use to eliminate wrinkles – particularly on celebrity brows.

It's also a poison and in the same class of bacteria that cause botulism. But can it be used to control migraine headaches and other kinds of pain, such as fibromyalgia? The answer seems to be maybe yes. Botox® comes from botulinum toxin, a potent neurotoxin that works by blocking the release of the neurotransmitters that relay the "contract now" message from nerves to muscles. Migraine treatment – and cure?Botox® has been used off-label by plastic surgeons to help control migraines in patients for a few years. As strange as it sounds to approach a plastic surgeon for a headache, it was in fact patients who had the injections to address cosmetic issues who first reported that their headaches disappeared with the treatment. Subsequent studies showed that the treatment did indeed reduce migraines for some sufferers. Unfortunately the treatment is temporary, and not always effective. But further investigation has found that Botox® can be used to identify “trigger points” for migraines – specific muscles in the forehead, back of the head, or temple areas which compress or irritate nerves that may cause the migraine. Because Botox® paralyses the muscles, it can be used as a test to see if the particular patient's trigger point is in a specific place. If so, then surgery on the site may be effective. As Dr. Jeffery Janis, who is investigating the phenomenon at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, explains, “Many neurologists are using Botox® to treat migraines, but they are making the injections in a ‘headband-like' circle around the forehead, temple and skull… While patients may get temporary relief, after the Botox® wears off they will have to go back and get more injections or continue medications for migraines…. I will inject the Botox® into one trigger point at a time and leave

the others alone. The Botox® is used as a diagnostic test to determine what trigger point is causing the problem. If patients get a benefit from the Botox®, they likely will get a benefit from the surgery. If there's no benefit from the Botox®, then there won't be a benefit from the surgery.” Fibromyalgia and other painSufferers of chronic pain are also keeping an eye on whether Botox® treatment might be effective for other types of pain. Fibromyalgia sufferers in particular often experience pain in the neck and shoulder area, and Botox® may be used to contract those muscles and provide relief. But for now, Botox® is not an approved treatment for fibromyalgia. However the FDA in the United States has approved Botox® for the treatment of spasms of the eye (blepharospasm) , as well as the more serious neurological condition, hemifacial spasm. Other disorders

involving the involuntary contraction of the muscles, such as spasticity, have been effectively treated with Botox® in Canada since October 2001. Health Canada has also approved the use of Botox® for the treatment of excessive sweating in the armpit area. Further researchBotox® may even point the way to more potent pain relief. A 2003 article in the New Scientist examined the possibility of combining the botulinum toxin with a compound that would bind it to the nerves that sense pain – and only those nerves. If this new toxin deadened pain without affecting other sensations it might be used to provide relief without numbness. Preliminary results on mice seemed positive, but science is still a long way from a cure for pain. It's still quite something to consider that a source of food poisoning, combined with human vanity, might lead to a cure for pain and bring relief to many people suffering from a

variety of conditions. Copyright © 2007 - Fifty-Plus.Net International Inc.