I decided that if I'm going to have it done, but I may as well know what it is. So I did some researching.
You can see for yourself here
http://www.medcentral.org/main/OccipitalNerveBlock.aspx
or you can read my summation.
Basically they inject a type of steroid into the tissues surrounding (and possibly irritating or pinching) my greater and lesser occipital nerves (two nerves that come out of the base of your skull - if you don't want to wiki where the occipital nerves are). The steroid is supposed to reduce any inflammation in those tissues that may be aggravating the nerve.
Obviously there can be some soreness and tenderness at the injection site - the needle goes into some very deep tissues.
But they also apply a local anesthetic to help with the soreness and that will also, at least temporarily, help with any occipital neuralgia.
The steroid is supposed to work anywhere from a few days to a few months. (I suppose this depends on the person, the steroid, and the dosage.)
My hope is that it lasts several months. But my sneaky suspicion is that there is more than one type of neuralgia causing my migraines. I believe a branch or two of my trigeminal nerve is also involved and to blame for some of the pain.
*sigh* At least I'm trying something, right?
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