Anyone here know about Botox???

[DBZ]

My daughter's ortho wants to give my girl botox injections in her inner thighs. She has cerebral palsy because of a stroke she had before she was born. At 3.5 she still can only walk with the help of a walker and she can't stand without support either. The doc thinks the botox might help. This is hard. I didn't vaccinate my younger two and now I have to really think about this. It would be so much easier if I was just one of those parents that just did what was expected of me LOL. 

How do you find the balance between natural parenting and health issues? 

Kara

[NiteNicole]

My daughter has dystonia (right leg).  It's unpredictable and there are lots of different kinds.  When I first started reading up, I found that lots of people use Botox for spastic types of dystonia.  I also know people who use it in their faces (just because) or for migraines.  They don't seem to have any ill effects,but side effects are always possible.

My questions would be - what is the long term outlook for this kind of treatment?  How often would she need to have it done (they can't tell you exactly, but they can guess)?  If she has this treatment for years, will it eventually damage the muscle or muscle group?  And what about diminishing returns?  Will it eventually stop working? 

It's not something that would help my daughter's condition and she is SO phobic when it comes to needles, we'd have to KNOW it was going to help.  Natural living is great, but sometimes  our kids have medical issues that need direct medical intervention.  Botox is like any other med, I am guessing it gives you pause because it's usually for cosmetic uses.  For us, if it would help...we would probably use it.  My daughter is already on two meds to help her walk.  The only difference is that she swallows pills and Botox is an injection.

[Caneel]

I am forum crashing because the title caught my eye.  My aunt has used Botox for years for incontrollable muscle twitching  around her eyes.  So far so good.  We are friends with a plastic surgeon and he did tell me that eventually Botox will weaken facial muscles.

[beachcomber]

I think your best bet would be to weigh out the pros and cons of using it with your daughter. What will the benefits be to her? What, if any, are the long-term effects of the drug on her system? Given her condition, are long-term effects of high or moderate concern or is mobility something you want to facilitate for her? If she's more mobile with the Botox, and can do more activity and strengthen her legs, for example, does that outweigh the possible negative long-term effects because it will build muscle strength and enable her to walk better now and later?

It's not easy being responsible for making such big weighty decisions for our children.