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Botulinum toxin for gastroparesis?

I have very severe gastroparesis that began after a bout of food poisoning and is complicated by the fact that I take oxycodone for very severe chronic pain (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome). For various reasons I can't take any of the oral medications, so my doctor has suggested botox injections into the pylorus to see if that will improve my gastric emptying. I have had numerous conversations with my doctor and read a great many papers on its efficacy and it seems opinion is divided on whether it actually works or not.

I don't have much choice but to try it - I've lost nearly 20kg in recent months (and wasn't very big to start with!) - but was just wondering if there is anyone out there who has had this treatment? Did it work for you?

Update:

onlymatch4u - a/ I think that you need to research gastroparesis a little bit more thoroughly and b/ I asked for people who've had experience with this particular treatment. I'm not a great fan of quackery myself...

2 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favourite answer

    You need to seriously find a new doctor for starters. Secondly, you need to find a good Certified Nutritional Therapist that can help you get on the road to health, not a life of drugs that doctors prescribe for treating symptoms and ignoring the "root cause" of your gastroparesis. A lot of gastroparesis is simply due to the parietal cells of the stomach being subdued by an injury or trauma to the front of the body between the pelvic bone and the top of your head. Do you have piercings, tattoos, vaccinations (new or old), any root canals, extractions of teeth, amalgam fillings, etc.?

    The delay of stomach emptying can be a result of the pH of the stomach not getting low enough and the pyloric sphincter not wanting to open. Obviously there can be other things causing the problem, but to try some nutritional solutions would be far better than dealing with the problem and taking a bunch of drugs to treat the symptoms.

    Messing with your pyloric sphincter can be quite permanent and to go that route before understanding the "root cause" of the problem is not wise. Just because your doctor has no clue, you should not give up looking for the "real" answer.

    A practitioner that understands QRA testing most likely can find the "root cause" and make suggestions of how to solve it. Doctors are NOT the last word on these kinds of issues.

    good luck to you

    Source(s): CNT, B.A. biology & chemistry advanced nutritional research
  • 1 decade ago

    Botulinum toxin can heal as well as harm. The bacterial toxin that can paralyze and kill if consumed in contaminated food is now safely used, in a purified form, as a medicine to control certain conditions marked by involuntary muscle contractions.

    The history and lethality of botulism would seem to make it an unlikely source for a curative substance. Although death rates from botulism poisoning are just a fraction of what they were 30 years ago, botulism continues to strike dozens of people every year--most of them infants, according to statistics from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

    "Botulism is still lurking, and if our guard is not up, it will create a problem," says Richard C. Swanson, director of the Food and Drug Administration's division of emergency and investigational operations and one of the agency's representatives to the Inter-agency Botulism Research Coordinating Committee.

    Botulinum toxin is used in dermatology for the treatment of facial wrinkles caused by muscular contractions. These wrinkles are commonly referred to as crow's feet, frown lines, and bunny lines.

    Facial expression is influenced by muscular actions of the face. Both voluntary and involuntary contractions of the muscles play a significant role in expressing various emotions, such as fear, anxiety, and anger. However, the exaggeration of the facial lines can be cosmetically unacceptable or socially undesirable.

    Hyperhidrosis, caused by increased local cholinergic activity affecting sweat production, can also be socially unacceptable and may interfere with many daily activities (eg, in the case of palmar hyperhidrosis, with the handling of finer instruments or driving).

    **Gastroparesis means paralysis of the muscles of the stomach. Gastroparesis results in delayed emptying of food from the stomach into the small intestine.

    *^*consult to your trusted family doctor about this situation,,it might have big help for your own good health....

    Source(s): medicinenet.com
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