Question: My wife has been diagnosed with occipital neuralgia. She was involved several years ago in a car accident which led to a few surgeries on her back and neck. She had a fusion and Laminectomy (C2). This week she has been experiencing several of the symptoms of occipital neuralgia including tiredness, slurred speech, headache, coordination, memory loss and inability to focus. She has a pain Dr. who has given injections to the nerves in the past. She also has insomnia and anxiety. She suffers from frequent headaches and gets several "migraines" a month. In the past couple months, she has experienced severe symptoms which have caused me to miss work to tend to her and our kids. These issues seem to last 5-7 days. Her Dr. has said that a Botox injection might help?? Unfortunately these symptoms occur out of the blue and once they have set in, the only option would be the ER. I guess the question would be ... Is there anything we can do to lesson the symptoms until we can get into her doctors office?

Do you know if a Botox injection can help? We are having blood work done Tuesday and trying to set up appointments with pain Dr. and Dr. Tian Xia (recommended possible Botox injections) to try to pinpoint any and all things that may trigger any future episodes. The blood work is being done because she had a hysterectomy last year and was told that she can experience a hormonal imbalance due to the possibility of menopause occurring early in life. We are obviously looking into any and all possibilities to hopefully avoid another episode. She is familiar with the meds you suggested. She takes Fioricet daily. She was also prescribed Norco 10/325 (as needed... rarely taken). The only other daily medication taken is Lexapro 20mg. for depression. Family tragedy ... lost her brother at age 35. Do you know what type of possible treatments can be done if occipital neuralgia is causing her to "shut down" at random? Thanks in advance for any advice or guidance to this matter.