I have been getting injections for over a year. I get them every 4 to 6 weeks. I also suffer from osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, bursitis to just name a few. They give me relief but again I got every 4 to 6 weeks. I get mine in the hips joints and back, plus I am on oral medications. They give me relief for the most part... it is never completely gone but it helps a lot.

I had injections in the back of my neck for "migraines". I had a lot of headaches and intermittent face pain, which they decided where migraines. nothing helped. After I got the injections, THEN I knew what a migraine was. They lasted for a year, until one day I said I was going to drive over the bridge on my way home. Then the neurologist put 12 of the needles all throughout my head and neck. Then, they went away. Go figure.

One reason for having them in the neck is because it is the "centre", for lack of a better term. Nerve impulses from your brain that are telling anything below your neck is a train wreck, are in theory 'stopped short" before actually getting to your spine.

spine some of those words around until they make sense. I could maybe say it better.
kiss kiss

Topomax is an unusual choice to start your med world with. I was taking 150 (mgs, not pills..... But Some days, man.....) along with other prescriptions. The side effects weren't worth the benefits. It is, however, not supposed to cause weight gain. I think that's because your mouth is so dry, it feels like the bottom of a birdcage. Trying to get words out is like trying to wring water from a stone. And the food you do get past the sandpaper tongue and close to your throat you can barely swallow 'cus you have no spit. You can still taste it though, and 80% of it tastes like tin.
I have heard it work for some people. Finding the right meds to go with your particular issues is like bobbing for apples.
PS. Your doc will likely increase the dosage slowly. It's one of those meds you can't just "hop on full blast". Or stop chilled turkey. Nay, nay
Kiss kiss
MJ

ONG!

I took trigger point injection for about 3 years almost 20 years ago. I was told they were a combination of some mild, long acting local anesthetic, and cortisone. At one time, I held the record for the most TPI given at the pain clinic I was assigned to back then. They quit working on me, and I really am not sorry about that. I took 45 injections at one sitting, and they were excruciating! Now, cortisone injections don't work on me at all. This was all before I was correctly diagnosed with fibro. I was told then I had Spinal facet syndrome!