A mom was left ‘partly paralyzed’ after being ‘poisoned’ by Botox-like injections – and says chasing beauty ‘ruined’ her life.
Stephanie Ottaway, 35, told Daily Mail in an exclusive interview that she first went under the needle in March 2023 to ‘rid a few wrinkles’.
Within the first 24 hours she began experiencing debilitating headaches. In only a two-week span, she was ‘barely able to walk’.
Stephanie initially ‘brushed off’ her symptoms after speaking to doctors – who didn’t initially connect them to the injection – and in July 2023, she underwent a second round of injections ‘not thinking anything of it’.
Soon after, her initial symptoms worsened, and she suffered extreme pain in her joints and muscles, tender and raw skin, and breathing difficulties during her sleep that left her ‘gasping for air’ at night.
The mom-of-one told how she was left temporarily ‘partly paralyzed’ following nerve damage in her hands and arms and was ‘unable to pick up’ her daughter, Millie, age 4, ‘on and off for over a year’ due to the muscle weakness and joint pain.
And she even found everyday tasks like washing her hands and opening the fridge ‘very difficult’.
In March 2024, she was finally diagnosed with iatrogenic botulism – a rare neuromuscular junction disease caused by botulinum neurotoxins, the active ingredient in Botox – after more than a year of ‘ruling out’ every other cause.
Stephanie Ottaway, 35, told Daily Mail that she first went under the needle in March 2023 to ‘rid a few wrinkles’, but within two weeks of the jab, she began experiencing debilitating headaches and could barely walk
When doctors told her the symptoms weren’t connected to the injections, she went for a second round, which left her temporarily ‘partly paralyzed’ and ‘gasping for air’ at night
During the first round Stephanie paid $400 to have 36 units of Xeomin injected. The second round left her with a total of $900 out of pocket for both visits
She says she’s more than $15,000 out of pocket from countless doctor appointments and treatment, and two years on she still undergoes regular physical therapy to help ease the symptoms of the poisoning, as there is no specific cure.
Stephanie, who works in influencer marketing, from Bakersfield, California, US, told Daily Mail: ‘It’s my life’s biggest regret.
‘I have friends and family who have had Botox done – and I thought I was completely safe,’ she explained.
‘But two years of my life have been lost because I didn’t feel beautiful enough. There were days when I couldn’t walk and be the mother I wanted to be.
‘And now I want to warn others about the unknown dangers of botulinum toxins.’
Stephanie paid over $400 to have 36 units of Xeomin – a Botox alternative – injected into her forehead, eleven lines, crow’s feet, and under her brows in March 2023.
Initially, she had no symptoms and left the clinic ‘happy’, but within 24 hours, she noticed issues.
‘I began developing horrible headaches that were more like migraines,’ she said.
Stephanie said at one point she felt so much pain and was so ill that she couldn’t hold her 4-year-old daughter Millie, who was two at the time
Stephanie’s before and after of her forehead wrinkles after being injected with Xeomin, a Botox alternative
When the symptoms got worse, Stephanie suffered extreme pain in her joints and muscles and tender, raw skin
‘I was told this was normal, and I did all my research, but everything just felt wrong and it kept getting worse.
‘There were days when I couldn’t walk, open the fridge, or string sentences together. It was the scariest time.’
Botox and Xeomin are drugs made from a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.
They work by weakening and blocking certain muscles or nerves, with effects lasting roughly three months, and can prevent wrinkles from developing or worsening.
Stephanie visited doctors with her concerns and was initially told it had ‘nothing to do with the injections’, but that it could be an autoimmune disease or severe inflammation.
Despite having ‘no real answer’, after four months, her symptoms began to subside and she returned for a second round of injections in July, this time with 40 units of Xeomin in the same places, ‘thinking nothing of it’.
But, within just a few weeks, her initial symptoms returned with ‘full force’.
Stephanie before the injections
In March 2024, she was finally diagnosed with iatrogenic botulism – a rare neuromuscular junction disease caused by botulinum neurotoxins, the active ingredient in Botox
Two years after the injections, Stephanie continues to suffer daily with the lasting effects of the poisoning. But says she and her husband Tanner (right) take it day by day
‘It wasn’t just a two-week flu that I could sleep off,’ she said. ‘I was losing my capacity to do anything.
‘Simple tasks like drying myself with a towel or washing my hands were excruciatingly painful.’
At her lowest point, Stephanie couldn’t type, open food jars, walk and, at ‘worst’, pick up her daughter who was two at the time.
During the night, she would frequently wake up ‘gasping for air’, and couldn’t have anything touching or rubbing against her tender skin – including bed sheets and tight clothes – due to the pain.
Stephanie visited the doctors numerous times to investigate what was happening – which left her $15,000 out of pocket.
The injections alone totaled around $900.
‘Doctors didn’t have a clue what was going on,’ she said. ‘I was being tested pretty much daily and was told it could be autoimmune-related or Lyme disease.’
It wasn’t until she discovered a forum of people who had suffered Botox poisoning that she recognized her symptoms – and that the injection can spread in rare instances, paralyzing other body parts.
She now undergoes frequent physical therapy to help ease her nerve and muscle damage
Stephanie said she doesn’t know why she got the injections in the first place and that she now embraces her wrinkles
The former happened to Stephanie, and in March 2024, she was diagnosed with iatrogenic botulism after doctors pinned the timing and correlation of her symptoms to her Xeomin injections – which include botulinum neurotoxins.
‘It was a bittersweet moment,’ she said.
‘But there is no cure and no promise that I will be 100 percent back to normal.
‘I was shocked to see how many people this had affected.’
Two years after the injections, Stephanie continues to suffer daily with the lasting effects of the poisoning.
She now undergoes frequent physical therapy to help ease her nerve and muscle damage – and has started trialing Ozone IV therapy and seeing an integrative doctor who is taking a more holistic approach to her health.
She and her engineer husband, Tanner, 33, take each day as they come.
‘Now looking back, I don’t even know why I had the injections in the first place,’ she said. ‘My wrinkles have come back and I embrace them.
‘I’m getting more active and able to do more things with my daughter. But now, I want to create more awareness about the dangers of botulinum neurotoxins.
‘I was perfectly fit and healthy, so if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .