strange reaction since botox feel torn about another try.

hi everyone.

You may or may not have noticed I haven't been on the board lately. This is why.

Just over a month ago I had botox for migraine done by my neurologist. I was in the middle of a migraine when I had it done and the pain went through me leaving me in a teary mess. I felt like a complete wimp because I was really lucky to get the botox in the first place. My blood pressure went a bit low and the nurse kept me for the rest of the morning till it went up a bit and I persuaded her to let me go home. I felt awful for days after and kept crying and feeling like I was going to suffocate till I kept thinking what it would be like if I couldn't breathe as if it was going to be my last breath. I started having difficulty getting tablets down, started only going out if someone was with me and some days didn't feel safe just venturing downstairs. I am cold all the time now. I am wondering if this treatment was the last straw and I've had a breakdown as it seems to take all my strength to cope to talk to others now.

Here is the complicated bit. With that reaction. You would say no way am I going to have that done again wouldn't you? But for the last week I have managed to do ten times more things that before because there is less migraine. It looks like it has started to do something. But has the fearfulness gone away that started up on botox day? NO! But if the botox could make it so I could get back to work in the future and be able to choose to go out of the house when I want, should I risk the depths that the treatment sent my brain to, knowing I have a high survival instinct and would never do anything to hurt myself no matter how bad the feelings get?

Has anyone had side effects of any medications as bad as this? How or can we weather this level of side effect. Will I be able to be me when I get the other side of this awful situation? Sorry to ask this of you guys but if I tell my doctor they will want to give me antidepressants that make the m worse anyway and I will lose my place in the treatment.

best wishes

Di

glad to see you here, dizzy.  (but not, of course, under these circumstances....)

i had botox for the second time, also about a month ago.  the first time was many years ago, before neurologists really had a clue how to do it.

this time, the pain afterward was just excruciating.  the approximately 30 shots don't hurt, as you know, but the aftermath can be awful.  by the next day the pain in my head and neck/shoulder muscles was mostly gone.  i could tell that the migraines were a bit better after the first week.

by this time (a month) i'd say my need for triptans has been cut about in 1/2.  formerly, i had to take them nearly every day of my life, for about the last 12 + years.  not good.  what the botox seems to have done for me is to DELAY the M.  instead of the middle of the night, now i seem to need them, on the days i need them, at 7 a.m. or later.  weird?  my whole body is weird; what did i expect??

i have not had the horrid reaction you had, but just wanted to say that i hope others will respond also. and my only advice would be to NOT have the shots while in the middle of a bad M.  any reduction in M's is worth the initial pain, IMHO.  

your reaction was indeed very scary, and it remains to be seen if you will have the courage to try again in 2 months.   i will do it again.  nothing else has helped as much as this (though to most people what i have is minimal help, i suppose).

my coconut oil has failed me.  i wrote enthusiastically about that, a few months ago.  it helped at first, but no longer.......if i could take more, it might work again.  but the digestive "effects" are too severe.

keep hanging in there, we all feel for your situation.  dianne

Dizzy, that reaction is a bit alarming as those are the symptoms of botulism poisoning. You need to let your doctor know all of this just as you have told us. Perhaps a smaller dose might still work without those rather life threatening results.

I just looked up symptoms of botulism, so I agree with Kem10: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/botulism/DS00657/DSECTION=symptoms


And the treatment:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/botulism/DS00657/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

Agreed; please get in touch with your doctor about this. Whether its true botulism poisoning or an adverse reaction, both require attention.

Sorry you are struggling so much with that, but I'm glad that the Botox does seem to have helped the migraines. I can relate though to putting up with a lot as far as side effects if something causes relief. Best wishes.

Thanks for the replies. Would that be why the nurse kept looking at my blood pressure before I was allowed home then? I thought it strange that I seem to be having more low blood pressure and depression weeks after even when there seems to be some response migraine wise. It seems to do harm and good at the same time. I will try to contact my neurologist tomorrow. my skin is driving me nuts with itching since too so it is no wonder I'm feeling out of sorts.

On the coconut oil idea I too have been trying it. I take it a few days then stop so that the tummy doesn't get too cross. I have been putting it on a piece of toast instead of spread in an attempt to integrate it and then putting jam on top. I've only just started doing this so have no idea if it has any benefit.

best regards

Di