I have been a reader of this site for over six years , but never posted anything because I felt to ill or had nothing but more stories of misery to add. I am an Rn , 25 yrs, had access to the "A" team of dr.'s did everything from acupuncture, chiropractors,( 9 years of various ones, and treatments), all the differnent preventative medications and abortives , holistic medicine, vitamins, bioidentical hormones,extensive psycho therapy and several extensive procedures with a pain specialist including radio frequency ablation. My life has been a roller coaster of 3 good months and 6 bad, I respond poorly to the meds, so I just have to ride the migraines out. For the past 2 years they were daily and I was basically bedridden. i have been working closely with pain specialist , who was also a colleague, I had greatly admired and respected. I was all set to begin the process to check in to John Hopkins and my pain dr. went to a conference and was reminded of a simple procedure that is old and easy and he had forgotten about it. It has actual been in use since the 1930's. It was easy, narcotic free, and I think will be relatively cheaper than the extensive other things I have had done. I just had to share this with so many of you that are suffering in case it would be of any benefit, IT WAS SUCCESSFUL AND I AM ON MY 10TH DAY PAIN FREE. The procedure is called a sphenopalatine ganglion block. It is an intranasal instillation of lidocaine into the sphenopalatine area, which is a huge plexus of nerves the largest to be found, outside of the brain. It must be done by a pain specialist, just google it and tons of info comes up. Not alot on how long it will last, we are just seeing how I do, but it is easy to repeat, some dr.s have patients that self administer at home, there is also a more permanent approach which involves ablating the area. I hope this can be of help to someone out there. I have missed so much of my life due to these headaches and the affects on families is so destructive. I am 46, I feel like I got my life back and now I am just waiting to see how long the relief lasts.Good luck to all. If I can assist anyone in anyway just email me. Good luck.
Hello tliancrain,
Wow, your story is amazing. After all you've gone through, I hope this lidocaine block continues to give you full pain relief for a good long time to come. Thank goodness your pain doc went to that conference! Sounds like this procedure could be of great interest to those living with intractable migraine pain.
I've often wondered if there are methods of treating migraine that have gotten overlooked or "lost" in the shuffle of time. I once came across a paper from the early 1970's that presented use of Inderal as a successful migraine abortive rather than preventive, a use that seems to have gone by the wayside now.
Again, congratulations on ten pain free days, and good luck for the days ahead! Please keep us posted on your progress.
Melanie
Thank-you Melanie. I am really lucky, my Dr. started out as an admired colleague and then I became a patient but I have a very close relationship with him and he just wouldn't give up. I have tried Inderal as a preventative but not as an abortive , very interesting. I will keep everyone posted. I feel all of this was worth it if I can help others out there, and I know I am a better nurse because of it. It is just day by day right now to see how long it lasts, I came across another study where same procedure I just had done, but it is done with cocaine and it was stating it had longer lasting results , and those patients were able to administer at home as well, just adding it to my collection of info! Thanks again