Living with chronic migraines often means living your life in misery. Anyone who has not suffered with chronic migraines can never really understand how it affects your quality of life.
Self-Administered Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks may be the answer you have been searching for.
Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks are often done by Neurologists and Headache Specialists for treating migraines and other severe headaches. SPG Blocks have been called “The Miracle Block” and were featured in the book “Miracles on Park Avenue”
The most common method is the use of a Sphenocath device, an Allevio device or the TX360 device. All three of these methods are high tech “Squirt Guns” that deliver an anesthetic dose on the mucosa overlying the Sphenopalatine Ganglion. These can sometimes offer almost instant relief but they are usually done two weeks apart and do not eliminate the migraines.
The most successful approach for many patients is to utilize Self -Administered SPG Blocks, initially twice a day. Self-Administered blocks are best done with a cotton-tipped nasal catheter that delivers a continual release of anesthetic, most commonly lidocaine.
The primary advantage to Self-Administration is that the patient controls the therapy and can respond at the onset of symptoms. Treating the pain without a visit to the ER or physicians office improves patients quality of life. The SPG Block is effective for migraines, autonomic cephalgias, trigeminal neuralgia, myofascial pain, tension headaches, sinus headaches, TMJ headaches.
The common thread to all of these types of pain is the Trigeminal N erve which mediates all of these orofacial and craniofacial pains.
The SPG Block works on the Autonomic Nervous System. The Sphenopalatine Ganglion is the largest parasympathetic ganglion of the head. The ganglion also has sympathetic fibers from the superior cervical sympathetic ganglion chain and somatosensory nerves running thru it.
The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the “Fight or Flight” reflex and the parasympathetic reflex is the “Feed and Breed” reflex. Basically the way you feel playing with puppies, kittens or babies.
Sympathetic is stress and anxiety and parasympathetic is just the opposite, feeling chilled and laid back. That is why the blocks are also useful in treating anxiety.
These very safe blocks have been used for over 100 years in both medicine and dentistry.