I just got four Botox injections in my right quad muscles yesterday, the area where my spasticity is at its highest. They said I would see some results 24-72 hours later with full results in about 2 weeks. I am very excited to see if this works! My right quads currently prevent me from bending my knee properly while walking.
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So it's been over three days since my injections, which by the way don't hurt whatsoever. The needle they use is very very fine, and I didn't even feel it go in to my leg.
The electrodes and little machine they used were pretty cool. The doctor held the needle with the wires attached over a normal muscle and there was no sound. When she held the needle over a spastic area, the little machine made loud noises that sounded like static. These were the areas that she injected.
The maximal effects are supposed to occur at about 2 weeks and then last for three months. I have already noticed vast improvement.
Prior to the injections, most of my strength had returned through physio and yoga, but my right quad muscles were so spastic the my right knee wouldn't bend right. I was constantly feeling like I was swinging a tree trunk around instead of my right leg.
I noticed the first change about 24 hours later when I was out with my mother. I stepped up over a curb at the shopping centre with my right leg, which I hadn't done in a few years. Truth be told I didn't even notice, but my mother did and said, "Wow, I haven't seen you do that with such ease in years!".
Yesterday I went to a few huge department stores. (yes, walking with a shopping cart has been my preferred method of walking for months now. You get the benefits of walking for your legs but you have something to hold on to. Most of the time I don't even buy anything. I just walk until I'm tired then go home).
The difference yesterday was that my knee bent and allowed my foot to clear the ground normally and I did at least four times as much walking as before botox. The botox has just allowed me to do normal movements with my leg. It's funny how your brain so naturally remembers these movements after a few years of not being able to do them!
I have tried Baclofen for about 6 months, but had to lower my dose a few times because of side effects. It did make me drowsy, and gave me moments of extreme spasticity when I forgot a dose. My neurologist said it's not the drug for me. I take 15 mg per day now, which is very small.
Before the botox I had been feeling a tiny bit discouraged because I swam, did yoga, stretched, walked etc.. and none of it seemed to make a huge difference to my spasticity. These botox injections have given me new hope and motivation
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Excited for you, disappointed for me
I was told I'd start to see full results in a week. I know I'm a tough case. The doc had to decide which part to treat--it has to be just one. Because mobility is a problem, she decided it should be my hamstrings, and the spasticity that keeps you from being able to straighten them. When my legs are almost straight, I get the opposite--they go rigid, utterly straight. I also have back and arm problems. Anyway, it's been over a week and nothing at all has happened. Depressing. My hopes were so high that I'd get some function back. I fought so hard for the chance to try it--banging my head against the wall. The doctors didn't seem to care one way or another, but this was how I was going to be able to keep my job and house, do chores and dress/bathe myself. Maybe the doctors didn't care about that, but I did!
For the first time in the 25 years after diagnosis, I feel like giving up hope. Why bother fighting? Now I want to be the kind of person who doesn't even try. It would be so easy just to stare at the TV, stuffing myself with junk food all evening.Comment
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