Saturday, April 25, 2015

Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block

June 12, 2014
A new treatment is out. Dr. Williams is going to be learning how to perform it and she wants to learn on me and a few of her other patients when the specialist comes to town.  It's an SPG Block (Sphenopalatine Ganglion). A small rubber hose is inserted in my nose while I hang partially upside down and lidocaine is sprayed into my nasal cavity.  I need to be upside down so the lidocaine can soak my SPG for several minutes and not simply run down the back of my throat.
I have a migraine that evening. I am not optimistic. 
But then I am virtually headache and migraine free for the next two and a half weeks!





So there I am, upside down, letting my SPG soak up the lidocaine.  The little strips on my cheeks are temperature strips.  It's how the doc knows she got the lidocaine in the right spot.  The SPG regulates, among other things, the temperature of the skin of your face. 



July 11, 2014
I return for another SPG Block.  Again, I have a migraine that evening.  But this time the block only lasts about 2 weeks.  It's supposed to be a sort of cumulative effect.  Each block is supposed to last longer and longer.  We decide to stop, they obviously aren't working as they should.




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