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

Botox is used successfully in many patients with both tension and migraine type headaches.  The Botox should take effect in a few days but can take 7-10 days to have maximum benefit.  Result should last 3-4 months in most patients.  Most patients with migraine headaches will still need some rescue medications but studies have shown about a 50% decrease in headache frequency and severity with Botox use.

Botox has been noted to help some patients with migraines, and other patients with tension headaches, especially those who get relief from injecting the glabella of the forehead (between the eyebrows) get relief usually within a few days of the Botox being injected.  They tend to konw when to schedule the next treatment even before seeing the wrinkles reforming, when they start to feel headaches recur around three to four months.

While some patients may experience immediate relief (within a day) with the use of Botox for tension headaches, full effects may not occur for up to two weeks.

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