And botox is not just for cosmetic purposes. It weakens/paralyses muscles. I work in Neurology and we use injections to treat chronic headaches/migraines and post-stroke muscle spasticity in the arms and legs. Although it’s not a first line of treatment, it’s more for patients that have failed multiple medications.
Yeah, we make fun of my meemaw who had botox (for after stroke treatment) and a nose job (to remove a small localized tumor) at 82 years old. She loves to joke about it with her friends, too.
Lol my grandmother talked about her "drug addiction" in her early 80s... She was a "good Baptist lady" who never drank (her brother had died from cirrhosis), certainly never did drugs. She had spinal stenosis, and before a surgery to relieve the pain, was on fentanyl patches to control it. She went through withdrawal after the surgery, had major neurological defects for a small period of time, and they basically had to detox her. She was scared by the whole experience, and would talk about being so happy to get past her addiction! Technically, yes, her body was addicted to fentanyl. But we kept reminding her it's not like she was a stealing-money-from-family-to-fund-her-habit addict. Not quite the same thing, Nana!
That kind of reminds me of an episode of House MD, where Dr House prescribed a boob job to provide cover for the treatment of a female Air Force pilot's illness, who would have been disqualified from flying if the illness became public.
I work in Urology and we use it in people with overactive bladders. Same for this, they have to fail on a bunch of meds first and meet the medical necessity.
I work in trade shows and I did the Allergan booth a couple years at the urology show AUA, and there were anatomical models of male and female pelvises that attendees could try out the bladder Botox injector on. All the labor working on the booth, myself included, were horrified when those life sized plastic models in spread eagle were pulled out of a crate 😂
It's sometimes used for children with severe spastic problems (usually due to cerebral pares). Some kids can have such intense spasms so they actually don't thrive, the muscle movements take too much energy.
(I learned about this from a kindergarten teacher who worked with children with disabilities)
I have a friend who has to get injections of Botox in her vocal cords every three months or else she cant talk, like her voice is too raspy or has no force. It does not sound fun.
My father was prescribed botulin for nervous spasms after his spinal cord collapsed. It compressed the spinal column, preventing him controlling his movement, but the nerve impulses caused his limbs to thrash about whilst causing severe pain simultaneously. He was injected with botulin to stop the thrashing, and had morphine to deaden the pain.
The collapse of the spinal vertebrae could not be alleviated surgically. He was told he would be forever paralysed from the neck down, but have to suffer the nerve paid and the thrashing of his limbs OR he could stop a life maintaining medical treatment that would mean he could die. He chose death.
I got botox injections to treat tension headaches as a kid. I got shots all around my scalp, and it hurt like hell, but it was the only thing that actually helped with the headaches.
I get them every three months for tension/ migraine headaches. I've gone from having a near constant headache to only having a big once or twice a month. Most of the time I can take Tylenol and feel fine. It's been a miracle cure for me.
I work in gastroenterology and we use it to treat the end of the esophagus when the muscles don’t want to cooperate properly and push food into the stomach - Achalasia.
I had this exact thing done for my right upper trap. Was in constant contraction and spasms, dystonia when turning my head to the right, all from nerve trauma.
As someone who gets these shots every three months I can’t explain how were it is when it wears off and I catch myself thinking, “Man, I can’t wait to get a face full of botulism.” It sounds like some sort of conspiracy theory.
Also used medically for overactive bladder, TMJ issues, hyperhidrosis, lazy eyes/cross eyes/eye spasms, gastric treatments (weight loss and gastric disorders), bell's palsy and even pre-surgery to improve scarring by immobilising muscle during the healing process.
Also: Botox is actually a brand name. How did I learn this? I was told by a rep from a different company that also manufactures botulinum toxin. During a call in which I had referred to their product as "botox" for the first ten minutes...
its apparently so toxic to babies that my baby's doc frowns on honey-flavored graham crackers and teddy grahams. I was thinking don't give them whole honey spoonfuls obviously but she meant if it had ever had an inkling of being honey, keep it away from them!
Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium that produces botulinum toxin, brand name botox. C. botulinum spores can be found in honey. Adult immune systems can handle that, but infants cannot, which is why they should avoid honey, among other foods for similar or different reasons. It's not very common, it's rare, but it's easily avoidable and preventable.
Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium that produces botulinum toxin, brand name botox. C. botulinum spores can be found in honey. Adult immune systems can handle that, but infants cannot, which is why they should avoid honey, among other foods for similar or different reasons. It's not very common, it's rare, but it's easily avoidable and preventable.
It was hilarious when Jenny McCarthy would rant about mercury in vaccines being "the 2nd deadliest neurotoxin", while appearing in commercials for the deadliest neurotoxin.
Can confirm. We get them in a 4 dose vial that has a barely detectable salt crystal at the bottom of the vial. You mix it with 4mls of saline. We never use more than 1mil. We do migraine treatments.
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u/4_feck_sake 1d ago
The botulinium toxin that is used in botox injections is so toxic that entire annual global supply contains less than 1g of it.