Chronic Migraine Treatment

Chronic migraine is more than a frequent headache. Where attacks occur on fifteen or more days a month, they can disrupt work, sleep and family life for years at a time. Cosmedics offers an injectable preventive treatment for chronic migraine, carried out in the clinic by Dr Mukesh Lalloo.

How the treatment works

The treatment is a course of small injections into specific muscle sites across the head, neck and shoulders. It is preventive rather than a painkiller: the aim is to reduce how often attacks happen and how severe they are, not to treat an attack already underway.

A course typically gives relief for around twelve weeks, after which treatment can be repeated. Response varies between individuals, and some people do not respond. Dr Lalloo will usually want to assess the effect over more than one course before drawing conclusions.

This is a prescription treatment

The medicine used is available on prescription only. It cannot be requested or bought directly, and we cannot provide it on the basis of a web enquiry. It is prescribed and administered only after a consultation, and only where Dr Lalloo judges it clinically appropriate for you.

At that consultation he will go through your migraine history, how often attacks occur, what you have already tried, your general medical history and any medicines you take. If this treatment is not suitable for you, he will tell you, and will discuss what else may help.

What to expect

• A consultation and assessment before any treatment is offered
• The treatment itself takes around twenty minutes
• Multiple small injections are used, with a fine needle
• No general anaesthetic and no planned downtime
• Any effect builds over the following weeks rather than immediately

Risks and side effects

As with any injectable treatment there are risks, and these are discussed in full at your consultation before you decide. Reactions at the injection sites — tenderness, redness or bruising — are common and settle on their own. Neck pain and temporary muscle weakness near the injection sites are recognised side effects. Less common effects, and the circumstances in which this treatment should not be used, are covered at consultation.

This treatment is not suitable for everyone, and results differ from person to person. Nothing on this page is a diagnosis or a recommendation for your individual case.

Referrals and existing care

If you are already under the care of a GP or a neurologist for migraine, bring that information with you. This treatment is intended to sit alongside the rest of your care, not to replace it.