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Anyone have experiences with a bad botox batch?/Novacain reaction?
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Posted by: Michelle Henich ® 06/14/2006, 23:07:58

Hello Everyone, This is my first post to the forum. I have had four repeated injections in the last four months. This last injection my doctor advised me that my HMO had recieved a "bad batch" and that all of his SD patients were returning because this batch was proving to be not effective at all. Because of this bad batch, I have been forced to resign from work, due to the fear that botox was no longer a viable option for me and fear of a very real impending threat of getting fired due to the escalating complaints from phone customers. I field about 60phone calls a day as claims adjuster. I was wondering if anyone else has had this experience, or if there is some test to tell whether or not the botox is "good". I also am wondering what recourse I have, since someone's failure has at the company that produces botox has cost me a job. I currently have good prospects for new employment, and this job was "not a good fit" for me anyway so I am not too depressed about it. What is difficult is this is my second career change, My first career change came two years ago when I was going to grad school to be a music teacher, so a career change as it is my third in two years. My cousin Marti, was diagnosed with SDD, ADD a year ago. She and I both discovered that when the novicain (please excuse my spelling) is injected that our voices sound smoother. My doctor surmises that this is because the sensation of the vocal cords touching in normal people causes a reflex which breaks the vocal chords apart. In people the vocal cords do not break apart, but stick together. His theory is that when the body loses sensation to these areas the chords do not have the sensation of touching so they do not lock together. I am not a neurologist, but I thought that this might be useful to share for some people. I diagnosed myself after listening to sound bites on the internet. One of my research professors also has SD ADD. I compared myself to sounding like him. A further diagnosis proved my theory. I know two other people with SD, him and my cousin, which is probably more than most people. However, I am grateful to have Botox treatments (even though my weak voice phase sounds like Mikey Mouse on helium).I am grateful that this forum is here so that I have a chance to communicate to others like myself. Sincerely, Michelle

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Re: Anyone have experiences with a bad botox batch?/Novacain reaction? Re: Anyone have experiences with a bad botox batch?/Novacain reaction? -- Michelle Henich Top of thread Archive Posted by: Laurie ® 06/15/2006, 13:05:03 Hi, Michelle. Welcome to the NSDA bulletin board. Sorry you're having a rough time with your voice, job, etc., but you've found a great source of support and information! First I'll try to address some of your questions. It is possible, albeit rare, for botox to become "denatured" during the reconstitution process (i.e., when it is mixed with saline) so that could be one reason why that vial of botox your MD gave to several SD patient didn't work. If it did, however, work for even one patient in the group, that would not be the cause for multiple failures. That being said, it sounds like it's possible that's what happened here. In that case, "blame" would not be placed on the manufacturer, but instead on the individual (your MD, one of his assistants) who prepared the vial of botox before injecting patients. But again, this is only one of several reasons why botox may not work. If all 4 injections for you have not worked, I'd re-evaluate your MD and/or your diagnosis in order to try and improve treatment results. As for your job, generally if you resign, you have no recourse for a wrongful termination claim against anyone. But even if you were fired and blamed that on "bad botox," you'd still have no claim, unfortunately, based on that reason alone. There are no guarantees in medicine and generally only injury (versus lack of result - i.e., no effect but with no harmful physical consequence) will generate a valid claim. However, had you been fired from your job simply because of your voice, and your voice was not required to perform the essential duties of the job effectively (this may or may not be the case), then you might have a claim against your employer. Ovearll, it is quite rare for botox to become denatured and/or to develop an immunity to it, so I'd try it again, perhaps even with another MD. You might want to look into vocational rehab in order to get back into your field and/or pursue a similar or even different career. But it sounds like you have some prospects already. If you haven't already pursued this, you may also want to look into COBRA in order to hold onto your current health insurance, leaving no gaps in coverage, before you find a new job. Anyway, welcome to the bulletin board. I think a lot of us can relate to your issues. I gave up my original career (social work) by choice due to SD and found another (paralegal work). While I can now see getting back into my original field since I have a very good handle on treatment and can function pretty well with SD, leaving it 6 years ago wasn't an altogether bad thing. Good luck with everything, Laurie (beareisam@aol.com) | Recommend | Alert Where am I? Original message Top of thread Current page