Botox nearly killed me — it left me partially paralyzed and choking on spit

Human Interest

By Andrew Court

A Texas woman says she nearly died after receiving Botox injections that left her partially paralyzed and choking on her own saliva.

Alicia Hallock, 36, took to Instagram to share her harrowing story, saying she was initially administered the popular muscle-freezing drug to treat her migraines.

“I ended up having a rare complication,” the mom-of-three wrote in a post penned from her hospital bed on Feb. 17. “It spread to muscles in my neck and now it’s created many issues. My eyelids are droopy, causing a lot of pressure, blurry vision, and dizziness. The muscles in my neck are essentially paralyzed so I can’t lift my own head.”

She added that the complications had caused dysphagia, meaning she was unable to swallow sips of water or her saliva.

“They moved me to ICU to be constantly monitored, and I’ve had 6 tubes shoved down my throat to get up all the mucus that’s stuck in my lungs and throat,” Hallock told her followers.

The next day, Hallock’s condition worsened, with the Dallas resident writing in a follow-up post, “They tried to suction me again last night because I had so 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.”

Doctors were also concerned that Hallock could develop botulism —  an extremely rare, potentially fatal condition that attacks the body’s nerves.

Botulism is a poisoning usually caused by bacteria that grow on improperly sterilized canned meats and other preserved foods. However, according to USA Today, Botox injections use the same kind of toxin that causes foodborne botulism. In this case, though, the toxin is purified and meets Food and Drug Administration standards.

“One doctor had treated food-borne botulism, but not one person involved in my care had ever seen this from Botox injections,” Hallock stated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent the mom a special botulism antitoxin to try and mitigate the effects.

She was also placed on a feeding tube so doctors could administer other medication and soft foods.

After 18 days in the hospital, Hallock was finally released from the hospital, but her recovery is still ongoing.

“I will do some basic exercises at home but won’t be able to safely restart physical therapy and outpatient therapy until four to six weeks from now once the Botox starts wearing off more and I can actually use and rebuild strength in my neck muscles,” she explained.

Hallock suffers from chronic illness, previously claiming that she has “dozens of separate medical diagnoses, each fighting against the other and against your immune system.”

It’s unclear whether these conditions may have impacted how her body responded to the Botox injections.

Either way, Hallock admits that her severe side effects from the injections are uncommon.

“People do have Botox complications, even experiencing some or all of the symptoms I have,” she explained. “However, it is extremely rare to have numerous symptoms at the severity or degree that I did. So, the hospital is doing a case study on me and this bizarre situation we’ve been walking through.”

Dermatologist Dr. Lindsey Zubritsky further told USA Today that Botox was “considered safe and effective for most people.”

“Rarely, when injected incorrectly, Botox can cause feelings of heaviness, drooping of the eyebrow or other unwanted asymmetry depending on what areas were injected,” she stated.