Nerve Blocking Procedure + Botox: Medical Injections

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue those counts.”— Winston Churchill

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Dear readers or whoever stumbled across this post,

As mentioned in a few posts, I have done a nerve-blocking procedure as a new method of attacking my migraines. It was a conversation I had multiple times with my doctor and my parents, but we decided to try it as the oral medication wasn’t showing any improvement.

Before I continue, I would like to emphasize that this is my experience heavily. I’m not a doctor, and all experiences are different per person. What I felt and my reaction to the injections afterwards were my feelings and reactions. It may work for you, or it may not; I’m just telling you my experience and if your choose to go through with this, then talk with your doctor and family members thoroughly.

So the nerve block procedure, from my understanding, was that they would inject a small dosage of a drug above where the pain nerves were around my head in the hopes that it would freeze the nerves and I would get a few hours of pain-free. This was supposed to break the constant cycle of my migraine pain since I’ve had these terrible migraines in my years; my nerves have become more sensitive and “on edge,” and the nerve block was supposed to freeze them and hopefully break the constant lousy headache.

That was the plan.

We all know nothing goes to plan.

The day I had the nerve block procedure, I also had a biology test. The biology test didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but I still passed with a good grade and did cry. My attitude towards school is another topic for another day. Anyway, I finished the test, had lunch with my mom and my sister, and then I was off to the nerve block.

I was so excited. That was my first mistake. I got my hopes up, and I was sorely disappointed.

I went in, signed the consent forms, and talked with my doctor one more time about what will be happening and how I would feel afterwards. Everything was going according to plan.

Because this is an injection procedure, I got thirty needles in my head. I had multiple in the back of my head, a few on each side, and two at the front of my head. They were all injected where my nerves lay below, and some places hurt more than others — because I was so tender there — but overall, it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t pleasant, but not as bad as I expected. When I was younger, I had a bad fear of needles, but as I grew up, I was okay with them — as long as I didn’t look as they injected me.

Now the point of the procedure was to numb my brain and numb the nerves. That part worked. My brain was numb, and my headaches were still very much present. I thought it needed time to work, so I went home, went to grab Mcdonald’s and see my sister at work and then went home to eat. I sat myself down in front of my laptop, pulled up an episode of “Manifest,” and ate my Mcdonald’s.

Halfway through the episode, I started feeling very sad. It was about two hours after the procedure, and although my head was numb, my headache was still there, and it wasn’t good. At that point, I knew it didn’t work. My hopes were crushed, and I cried. I didn’t know what else to do. I felt so hopeless and defeated, and I just cried.

An hour later, my parents came downstairs from their afternoon nap and found me crying at my desk. They came over and asked me what happened, and I broke even more — if that was even possible — and I told them that it didn’t work and that the oral medications weren’t working, and it seemed like nothing would ever work. I was losing hope and, frankly, slipping into a very depressing state. My parents tried to comfort me the best they could, but what can you say to someone in this situation?

What made everything worse was the three hours I spent crying my eyes out, it made my headache even worse, and if I had the tears and the effort, I would’ve cried even more about that.

That was how my nerve block injections went. My head was numb, so that part went right, but everything else didn’t. My headaches were the same afterwards, and it took me a week to get out of my sad state.

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Another injection I did to help with my migraines was botulinum toxin (Botox). Botox was first brought up around the same time as a nerve block; my doctor had been listing out the different injection methods I thought about, but this was lower on the list. I didn’t try botox until a year after my nerve block, which would’ve been three months since this was posted.

I didn’t let myself have high hopes for this one. I learned my lesson from the nerve block; I won’t let myself go through that again, so I told myself if it worked, it worked; if it didn’t, it didn’t, and there was nothing I could do about that.

The day I was initially supposed to get my first botox injections, there was a complication with the fax machine and the prescription store below my doctor’s office, and everything got mixed up. The order for the botox was never made from the pharmacy, and the prescription of the medication was never sent even though my doctor said it was sent after our last appointment — which would’ve been a month and a half before my first supposed appointment. It was just a mess.

We booked another appointment for the following Monday, and this time we made sure the medication was ordered, and everything would be ready by Monday.

We go again on Monday, and I get my medication and go to the office.

I don’t have many comments on botox because it was my first injection, and my doctor told me that patients don’t usually feel the effects until after their second or third injections.

I didn’t feel any different, headache-wise.

This time I was poked with a needle 33 times. I can’t remember the exact positions, but I had ten at the back of my head, four around each temple, three on my forehead near my eyebrows, two on each side of the top part of the forehead in the hairline, three on each shoulder muscle, and one behind each ear. I think the pain was more intense than the nerve block, but it still wasn’t bad.

Afterwards, I was just exhausted, my head hurt a bit more from irritation, but nothing changed pain-wise. The injection spots were a bit sore, and it broke to put pressure on my head, so sleeping was a bitch. But all in all, nothing got worse or better. I would have to get it again to tell if botox would work for me, and I’ll update you guys when that happens.

If you plan on doing any of these injections, talk it out with your healthcare provider, friends and family. Don’t decide on a whim.

Thank you for reading; I hope you have a fantastic day or night or whenever you’re reading this.

A. B💜

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The reason for the bow and arrow emojis is that I found this explanation of the bow and arrow and fell in love. One can take any symbol to mean whatever they want, so your meaning of a bow and arrow might differ from mine, and that’s okay. A bow and arrow help me keep my hope and determination in my future. An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it will launch you into something extraordinary. Just remember to focus and keep your aim.