After the health department investigated her case they discovered the culprit to be a foil-wrapped baked potato. The woman and her husband had gone to at a restaurant where she ordered a baked potato with her meal. It was later determined that the potato had been prepared the night before, but had not been served. It had sat out waiting to be served for far too long after being cooked. The restaurant staff didn't have the opportunity to serve the potato, so they placed it in the refrigerator at the end of the night. The next evening they reheated it to serve. I think the instructor told us that the botulism began to grow when the potato was left out at room temperature too long the night before. Unfortunately, the temperature of the refrigerator wasn't cold enough to kill the botulism overnight. Then, when the potato was reheated the next evening, it wasn't brought up to a high enough temperature to kill the botulism.
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| Do not confuse this potato with the culprit potato. |
The woman described her hellish ordeal. The botulism caused major swelling throughout her body and paralysis, including respiratory paralysis. I don't remember the entire story, but I do recall this woman had to undergo a number of medical procedures without anesthetic because it could have completely shut down her failing body. She talked about being cut open for these procedures and unable to scream out in pain even though she was trying. She couldn't speak because her tongue was so swollen it was sticking out of her mouth. She couldn't see because her eyes were swollen shut. She could barely breath because of the respiratory paralysis. Her tale was utterly horrifying. For quite awhile her doctor didn't think she'd pull through, but she did. Ever since I heard her story I have associated baked potatoes with botulism.
Fast forward to May 2011 when my pain doctor said we had exhausted all the migraine treatments he knew of, with the exception of onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) injections. (WTF? Even the name, onabotulinumtoxinA, has the word toxin in it for crying out loud. Who was the brainiac that thought shooting a toxin into your head was a brilliant idea?) The doctor explained that the FDA has approved the use of Botox in chronic migraine sufferers to dull future migraine headache symptoms. He proceeded with the preauthorization for treatment with my insurance company. My insurance denied the request, as well as my appeal. At the time I thought that maybe it was for the best. Maybe fate was stepping in and didn't want me to have baked potato food poisoning injected into my head. Before we could discuss any further treatment, my doctor left his clinic and I gave up the idea of having the procedure. I tried to suck it up and figured I was out of treatment options since he said Botox was the last treatment he had in mind for me anyway.
In early 2012 I was once again at the end of my rope dealing with these effing migraine headaches. My massage therapist mentioned that my facial muscles didn't seem to relax during a massage. She suggested I research getting Botox injections in my forehead to relax those muscles. I talked myself out of doing it many times because of the expense. Then, a few months later, a friend of mine told me that she had cosmetic Botox injections in her forehead and a nice side effect was that her tension type headaches had disappeared. After talking it over with my husband, I decided to give it a try. We also decided it was time for me to look into going to a new pain clinic. I made the appointment to get the cosmetic Botox injections in my forehead to help with my furrowed brow, then called my regular doctor to start the referral process to a new pain clinic.
In January 2013 I had cosmetic injections and noticed results within a few days. I was not scrunching my forehead or furrowing my brow constantly. Also, I was finally unable to unclench my jaw, which had been in a painful, permanently clenched state for years. I still had migraines, but the tension release in my facial muscles was sweet relief.
About a month after the cosmetic Botox I visited my new pain doctor for the first time and he felt that migraine Botox treatment would be the next logical treatment option for me. He went ahead and put a preauthorization request into my insurance company and lo and behold it was approved straight away. I made an appointment to get the 25 injections in what he called a migraine pattern (spread around my temples, forehead, scalp, and neck). Within two weeks of the treatment I should see results, and with any luck I won't have any migraines.
I went in for the treatment recently. I attempted to distract myself from the boredom of sitting in a tiny exam room by reading the tattered, two-month old copy of People magazine and read about speculation that Princess Kate was pregnant. (I have never been in a doctor's office with a current issue of a magazine...what's up with that?) I got tired of reading old news so I sat in silence while my overactive imagination was hard at work. I imagined scientists donned in white lab coats working diligently in a high tech laboratory. They were piercing improperly prepared/handled, foil-wrapped baked potatoes with syringes and withdrawing botulism from them. Next, they transferred the substance from the syringes into test tubes, then they put the test tubes into a centrifuge. (I don't know why the centrifuge portion was necessary...it just seemed science-y.) After that, the test tubes were labeled as Botox and shipped out for injection into migraine patients such as myself.
The doctor finally came in with a tray holding syringes he went over the possible side effects of the treatment. Your eyelid could droop, you could have difficulty breathing, you could have flu-like symptoms, yada, yada, yada. He then asked me if I still wanted to go through with the injections after hearing about the potential side effects. I threw caution to the wind and told him I'd be remiss if I didn't give it a try, so let's get started. The procedure was somewhat painful, but at least it didn't take too long. Having needles shoved into your temple is never cool, unless they are for acupuncture or a really awesome face tattoo.
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| Awesome face tattoo? |
I'll keep you posted on my progress. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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