Woman partially paralysed after receiving botox injections for migraines, lands in ICU
The woman shared that the botox injections for migraines left her partially paralysed. She added that she was choking on her saliva.
A woman from Texas, United States, was suffering from migraines when she was administered Botox injections to subside the pain. Following the treatment, she was left partially paralysed and was choking on her saliva. Alicia Hallock, 35, took to Instagram to share her harrowing experience that led to her ICU admission.
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In her Instagram post, Hallock shared that she ‘ended up having a rare complication’ from botox injections given to her to alleviate her migraines. She added, “My eyelids are droopy, causing a lot of pressure, blurry vision, and dizziness. The muscles in my neck are essentially paralysed, so I can’t lift my own head. I have to wear a neck brace to help hold my head upright.”
Additionally, Hallock has developed dysphagia and shared that it is the ‘scariest part’. “I experienced a couple of days where I was choking on sips of water and even my own saliva,” she added.
The woman continued, “They moved me to ICU to be constantly monitored, and I’ve had six tubes shoved down my throat to get up all the mucus that’s stuck in my lungs and throat.”
She also shared that she can barely talk and that her speech is ‘slurred and hoarse’. “I can barely talk. It’s slurred and hoarse. They’re having a speech therapist come in to try and help retrain the muscles and see what we can do for my vocal cords,” she further shared.
“I currently have two IV’s and they’re running all the things,” she wrote.
In another Instagram post, she gave her followers an update about her health condition. Hallock shared, “They tried to suction me again last night because I had so much mucus stuck, and I temporarily stopped breathing. They had to bag me to bring my oxygen levels back up and to keep me from blacking out. It was super scary. I’m relatively okay now, but I am on oxygen.”
“They gave me the botulism antitoxin yesterday that was sent here from the CDC. We’ll see how things look today and decide if they want to do a second dose or not. It won’t actually reverse anything that’s already bonded to the muscle, but it can prevent things from getting worse,” she added.
Hallock even shared a video demonstrating her difficulty in supporting her head without the aid of her neck brace. Alongside, she wrote, “I know it’s a little scary and daunting to see, and I’m sure none of you expected this to be my reality, even with what I’ve shared here so far. So, I apologise. But this is where I’m currently at. And I just wanted to tell you about my wibbly-wobbly bobblehead and let everyone know I am fighting and I am doing okay at the moment.”
According to PEOPLE, Hallock also has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which affects skin, joints, and blood vessel walls.
She told PEOPLE, “The doctors don’t believe that had anything to do with my reaction this time since I’d been doing these with the same [nurse practitioner] for nearly five years without any issues.”
“We’ve had multiple neurologists on my case, and it’s just really hard to narrow down why this happened at this particular time,” she says. “My NP did not do them under ultrasound-guided technique, so it’s difficult to say if that’s why it spread or what truly went wrong. I don’t think we’ll ever fully know,” she added.