How Long Does Botox Take to Work if Used for Tension Headaches?

Certainly if you have not had benefit at the end of 10 days then it is very likely that your treatment is not working for you.  Tension headaches do require a sufficient dose of BOTOX in the right muscle groups to be effective.  So even if the initial treatment was not effective, it is still possible that additional treatment might be beneficial.  I would encourage you to work with a neurologist with experience with this type of treatment.

Botox takes about 3-4 days before you will notice any effect, and about 7-10 days before full effect is felt. It will last about 3-4 months.  

The mechanism of botox is totally different from medication so it is hard to compare directly.  Studies thus far have shown a reduction from about 15 headaches per month to 7 or 8.  Not perfect, but it definitely helps!



Best of luck

Dr Rodman