Migraine Nerve Block

Headache & Migraine Treatment

At Rockport Physical Medicine, PA, we know that excruciating pain takes many forms, but it always stops your life in its tracks. If your pain is caused by migraines or chronic, severe headaches you deserve to get back on track with fast, effective relief. We provide a variety of pain management and rehabilitation services, including migraine nerve block care.

Treating Symptoms of Migraine Headaches

Migraines and severe headaches are serious conditions, not minor aggravations. They may prevent you from working, studying, spending time with family and friends, or even getting out of bed. Because the symptoms are so debilitating, it's hard to mistake a migraine headache for anything else. Some telltale symptoms of migraine headaches include:

Stabbing, localized pains
Throbbing, pulsing, or pounding pains
Loss of appetite
Distorted sense of taste and smell
Extreme light and noise sensitivity
Visual and auditory hallucinations
Nausea and vomiting
Dizziness

Once you've experienced the pain of a migraine or chronic, severe headache, you know the signs and dread the onset of another headache. You've probably tried sprays, over-the-counter medications, prescriptions, dietary changes, and other short-term solutions that don't erase your headache completely. You may have even considered invasive treatment options. Instead, consider a migraine nerve block.

How the Migraine Nerve Block Works

Migraine nerve block is a revolutionary way to treat migraine pain. Also called a sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) block, this treatment involves a direct injection of anesthesia into your nerves. We usually ask patients to lie on their backs for the treatment, and while the nerve block works on any nerve in your head, the nasal cavity is a common injection site.

Benefits of the SPG block include:

Performed with FDA-approved catheter devices (Allevio™, Tx360®, Sphenocath®)
Offers a non-invasive, non-surgical treatment option for severe headaches
Is covered by many major health insurance companies (contact your insurance provider for details about your specific policy)
Only takes about 30 minutes (as your bone and nerves absorb the anesthesia)
Involves very little risk of allergic reaction or infection
Minimal side effects include a bitter taste, light-headedness, and slight discomfort during the procedure

Your brain is your most important organ, and we don't want you to risk invasive surgical options when there's a much simpler, safer solution.

Treating Migraines with Botox

BOTOX® is the #1 prescribed branded Chronic Migraine treatment*

BOTOX® is a prescription medicine that is injected to prevent headaches in adults with chronic migraine who have 15 or more days each month with headache lasting 4 or more hours each day in people 18 years or older.

It is not known whether BOTOX® is safe and effective to prevent headaches in patients with migraine who have 14 or fewer headache days each month (episodic migraine).

Usually 4 Treatments Per Year†
Over 600,000 people living with Chronic Migraine have had over 4.2 million Botox treatments.§
Botox prevents, on average 8 to 9 headache days and migraine/probable migraine days a month (vs. 6 to 7 for placebo.
97% of current Botox users said they plan to keep using it.‡

*Data on File, October 2010—April 2020.

†Starts with 2 treatments 12 weeks apart, then 1 treatment every 12 weeks thereafter (or as recommended by your doctor).

‡2020 BOTOX® Chronic Migraine Patient Market Research BOTOX® Current Users (n=71).

§Since FDA approval in 2010.

Treating Other Conditions with Migraine Nerve Blocks

The results and safety statistics speak for themselves, but the benefits aren't limited to migraines. We also use SPG blocks to treat pain associated with:

Contact point headaches
Cluster headaches
Complex regional pain syndrome (CPRS)
Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ)
Paroxysmal hemicrania (CPH) or Sjaastad Syndrome
Herpes zoster (shingles)

We take pain very seriously at our pain management office. Our Team is trained to provide the SPG block and BOTOX treatments to patients with migraines and other painful, chronic conditions. Schedule your appointment today!