Finding Relief at Last - Catherine's Story

For years, Cather­ine dealt with migraines that would come and go. But about a year ago, she woke up with a headache that didn’t leave — and it stayed with her every sin­gle day for a year.

“I have had real­ly bad chron­ic headaches on and off for mul­ti­ple years,” she said. ​“I had CT scans, MRIs, tried mul­ti­ple med­ica­tions, dif­fer­ent treat­ment options from over-the-counter to pre­scribed med­ica­tions, even out­pa­tient infu­sions, and mul­ti­ple vis­its to the ER.”

The pain was con­stant and exhaust­ing. ​“The pain was so bad it was hard to get a good night’s sleep. I was up on and off. My vision was even being impact­ed, my face was going numb, and lights would both­er me,” she said. ​“I was work­ing a full-time job and tak­ing care of my fam­i­ly, and I had to push through.”

Trav­el­ing for work only added to the chal­lenge. ​“Some­times when I was dri­ving my vision would go out. It was real­ly hard,” Cather­ine said. ​“You nev­er real­ize how much you depend on things like your eyes or how lights and your envi­ron­ment affect you — or even how much a good night’s sleep mat­ters — until it’s all impacted.”

Her migraines had grown worse over time. ​“I did [have migraines before], but they weren’t con­sis­tent and nev­er this severe,” she said. ​“It got to the point where noth­ing helped. The pain became sharp, throb­bing, and more intense over time.”

When Hope Was Almost Lost

After exhaust­ing near­ly every treat­ment option she could find, Cather­ine was ready to accept that the headaches might sim­ply be part of her life forever.

But then a friend referred her to Paul Des­marais, MD, with the Inter­ven­tion­al Pain Med­i­cine depart­ment at South Bend Clin­ic (SBC).

Cather­ine already knew his name. Pre­vi­ous­ly, she had turned to him for help with seri­ous knee prob­lems. ​“I had two knee surg­eries, was walk­ing with a cane, and falling down,” she said. ​“He gave me one knee injec­tion, set me up with phys­i­cal ther­a­py, and I haven’t fall­en or used a cane since. My knee hasn’t gone out on me in almost a year.”

That expe­ri­ence gave her the con­fi­dence to reach out again — this time for her headaches.

At her first appoint­ment, Dr. Des­marais took the time to review her his­to­ry, lis­ten to her con­cerns, and out­line a treat­ment plan. ​“When I met him for a con­sul­ta­tion, we went over the treat­ment plans I’d tried, how long I’d had migraines, the imag­ing I’d done, and so on,” she said.

After hear­ing her sto­ry, Dr. Des­marais rec­om­mend­ed Botox — a treat­ment Cather­ine had nev­er considered.

What is Botox for Migraines?

Botox, a brand name for bot­u­linum tox­in, is FDA-approved for chron­ic migraines. Small dos­es are inject­ed into spe­cif­ic areas of the head and neck to block the pain sig­nals that trig­ger migraines. Treat­ments are typ­i­cal­ly repeat­ed every 12 weeks, and over time, they can reduce the fre­quen­cy, dura­tion, and sever­i­ty of migraine attacks.

Cather­ine trust­ed him. ​“Because of my great expe­ri­ence with him and my knees, I felt con­fi­dent. The day I saw him, I’d been up since three in the morn­ing with no sleep, and I asked if he thought I’d be a good can­di­date. I had com­plete trust in his deci­sion and rec­om­men­da­tions. He and his team have always been great, so I was on board.”

Don’t let chron­ic pain con­trol your life. Our pain man­age­ment spe­cial­ists are here to help you find relief and get back to liv­ing. Sched­ule with a South Bend Clin­ic Inter­ven­tion­al Pain Med­i­cine provider today.

After one round of treat­ment, Cather­ine went home a lit­tle sore, but with­in a week, her headache was gone.

The results were life-changing.

“I’ve had my first good night’s sleep in I don’t know how long,” Cather­ine said. ​“My appetite is back. Before, I just want­ed to go to bed and put the cov­ers over my head. Today I was actu­al­ly off work and ready to get back on our ellip­ti­cal and tread­mill. I told my hus­band I haven’t felt this good since high school.”

The pain that had drained her ener­gy and dark­ened her mood was gone. ​“The headaches had impact­ed my mood and made me feel grumpy and down,” she said. ​“Now I feel like my hap­py, cheer­ful self again. My sleep and mood have done a com­plete 360.”

Cather­ine & her dog.

What stood out most to Cather­ine wasn’t just the treat­ment itself, but the way she was treat­ed. ​“Every­thing he did or rec­om­mend­ed, he explained. He lis­tened and answered all my ques­tions. I nev­er felt rushed at my vis­its. His bed­side man­ner is amaz­ing,” she said. ​“I felt like he took time to real­ly review my chart and get to know my his­to­ry. As a patient, that means a lot to me.”

Cather­ine hopes oth­ers liv­ing with migraines will hear her sto­ry and know that help is out there. ​“If you’ve had migraines for a while, there are def­i­nite­ly more treat­ments out there than patients might real­ize,” she said. ​“I didn’t even know about Botox for migraines. And I hate to sound cheesy, but there is hope. I told Dr. Des­marais and my hus­band that I felt like I’d have a headache for the rest of my life. Now that doesn’t even cross my mind because my headache is gone.”

Her advice: ​“Explore dif­fer­ent options. If one thing doesn’t work, there are oth­er treat­ments that can help you get your qual­i­ty of life back.”

Above all, Cather­ine want­ed to share her grat­i­tude. ​“I just want to thank The South Bend Clin­ic, that depart­ment, and Dr. Des­marais for every­thing they do day to day — their work and patient care. They’re a won­der­ful and amaz­ing team, and they’ve always gone above and beyond. I’m very grate­ful and hon­ored to be a patient of that office.”

Like Cather­ine, you don’t have to accept pain as your new nor­mal. Our Inter­ven­tion­al Pain Med­i­cine spe­cial­ists uti­lize inno­v­a­tive treat­ments and com­pas­sion­ate care to help patients alle­vi­ate or elim­i­nate chron­ic headaches, mus­cle pain, joint dis­or­ders, and oth­er conditions. 

Whether you’re deal­ing with migraines, spine issues, or nerve pain, we’re here to cre­ate a per­son­al­ized treat­ment plan that gets you back to the activ­i­ties you love. Sched­ule your con­sul­ta­tion today and take the first step toward a pain-free tomorrow.