Botox Frustration

[Guest guest]

I wrote about a week ago about a Botox injection I received in my trapezius

shoulder muscle. The shot was supposed to paralyze the muscle. Ok. It did

that. The spasming is gone. So, the botox was a limited success.

I also mentioned that I have Arnold Chiari Malformation (ACM), where the base of

the head at the top of the neck can feel a lot of pain and pressure, and that

can affect all parts of the body since it is right where the nerves for entire

body come together. ACM also can affect spinal fluid flow which affects the

brain and brain performance; things like memory and speech.

Well, when you combine the two; botox and ACM, turns out it is not a very good

combination. While I did review my ACM with my physical medicine doctor, he

didn't take my ACM into account when giving me the botox injection.

Now that the botox has the trapezius muscle paralyzed, I can feel the full

weight of my arm because I have no muscle to hold it up. Then I still have the

usual pulling, pressurized feeling at the base of my head which now feels like

it has a sack of potatoes attached to it that I am carrying along with the base

of my head. It hurts so bad to just hold my head up.

Beside the painful pulling sensation, the pressure is not allowing the spinal

fluid to flow appropriately. This pressure squishes the pituitary and is

causing hormone problems and my female cycle is now out of whack. What a mess

this botox injection has turned out to be for me.

When I have pain, it can come and go, but when the pain is harsh and continuous

with no breaks like it is now, I get frustrated, my blood pressure drops and I

get really shaky, confused and disoriented. Today at the doctor, my blood

pressure was 80 over 48 which is way too low for me to be comfortable. When it

gets low like that I just feel really weak.

My point, I guess is that I think some things are novel and useful, like the

botox for example. While it did nothing for the original nerve pain that I had,

it did work on the original trapezius muscle spasm that it was intended to fix.

On the other hand, I would warn anyone with ACM to watch out before paralyzing

any muscles near the neck. Looking back I have to wonder what I was thinking.

At the time of the injection my mind was soaring at the idea that maybe one day

I would be off pain medication for my nerve pain.

Oh well, live and learn. I'm living my mistake now. The doctor I saw today

said that I can expect to have this pulling, pressure, headache, neck, cramping,

pain and all the low blood pressure an shakiness to continue for 6 months or at

least until the botox wears off. One member of this c_p list said 3 months. I

am hoping for 3 months.

I'm going to email the botox physical medicine doctor to see if he will send me

to pain management for this new pain he caused with the botox injection, at

least until the botox wears off. If I was open to his treatment that did not

work, then I think it is only fair that he stay open to me, and help me through

this pain he created with appropriate meds.

Jade, in pain and not happy about her botox decision.