Botox Injections for PN pain?
 

Hi,
Has anyone tried Botox injections for PN pain? My Neurologist mentioned it a a option, for the foot PN pain, he said they inject it into the top of the foot, supposed to bring relief for up to 3 months. I have a friend that uses Botox for painful neuropathy of his face, he claims it is the only thing the helps.
The subject came up when my chiropractor, that does pressure point therapy said it might help for relaxing my neck muscles, and suggested I mention it to the Neurologist.

There are papers on PubMed about this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22660369

This one explains 4 possible mechanisms on how it works.

However, botox also has many downsides...it may poison the neuromuscular junction as a side effect...and there are lawsuits that have been won by patients who received botox and suffered permanent damage.

example:
http://www.koonz.com/virginia-jury-a...-in-botox-case

So thoroughly research both sides of this issue, before trying this.

Another thing to consider is cost. Although the use of Botox to help our pain does seem somewhat promising, I'd doubt the average person could afford it every three months.

I'd like to try it anyway. However, imagine being pain free for almost three months, then the pain starts to return. It would be like an evil nightmare.

Regarding side effects, I'd be prepared to risk it if Botox was able to offer 100%, or close to, pain relief.

MrsD puts forward a very important point. You need to consider if the risk is worth it to you.

If you do decide to give this a try, please keep us informed. I'm very interested in hearing how things go.

There are papers on the net with photos ...of how botulinum toxin affects the neuromuscular junctions.

This is one:
http://www.biocarta.com/pathfiles/h_BOTULINPATHWAY.asp

But I did see photomicrographs on another paper suggesting that botox can cause myasthenia gravis.(permanent damage).
I did that search long ago for our MG forum.

So this is not a minor treatment. It needs considerable thought, and search out the side effects.

Here are the side effects from drugcite.com
http://www.drugcite.com/?q=botox

The neurologist will pursue less invasive treatments first, this was just a option that came up. Wouldn't want to use something that could potentially cripple me! Right now, we are starting with compounding creams.
As far as the price, if it lasted 6 months might be worth it.

I have to also look into it, in light of my diagnoses of SLE, don't need anything triggering a flare.