Posted by John R (171.161.96.10) on December 20, 1999 at 18:38:44:
In Reply to: Ganglion Nerve Block posted by traci on December 20, 1999 at 16:43:37:
Yeah, I've had a nerve block done. It was called an SPG block. SPG stands for sphenopalantine or sphenophalantine ganglion. It's a bundle of nerves in the head. I had it done by a doctor who was an ear, nose & throat specialist as well as a denist. He just did it in his office. I had to sign a waiver saying it might cause blindness if he hit the wrong nerve.
He took a really long needle and bent it and injected about 2 cc's of a mixture of lidocaine & something else up into my face through the gum behind my back molars on the headache side. It hurt a lot for a few minutes and parts of my face were numb like at a dentist for a while; my lower jaw was sore for hours. Then later that day I had a really bad cluster headache and then none for several weeks. This was about 10 yrs ago. It was the 1st time I had any period of more than half a day without a headache up to that point (about two years into being a clusterhead). He did it again a few mos later & worked for a shorter period of time. The third time it didn't work at all.
But now they have better blocks & I think they do them in different ganglions, not just the SPG. Also, they do some kind of radio rhizhotomy (sp?) surgery to locate exactly where to deaden to the nerve and apparently have better success. Earlier this month the wife of a a man who has had it done several times posted under the title "Relief."
I may be up for trying it again if things get worse. I'm getting tired of all the side effects of the various drugs.
Good Luck.