FDA links anti-wrinkle drugs to deaths

[lligrd]

Source: A. P.

WASHINGTON - The popular anti-wrinkle drug Botox and a competitor have been linked to dangerous botulism symptoms in some users, cases so bad that a few children given the drugs for muscle spasms have died, the government warned Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration's warning includes both Botox, a wrinkle-specific version called Botox Cosmetic, and its competitor, Myobloc, drugs that all use botulinum toxin to block nerve impulses, causing them to relax.

In rare cases, the toxin can spread beyond the injection site to other parts of the body, paralyzing or weakening the muscles used for breathing and swallowing, a potentially fatal side effect, the FDA said.

Botox is best known for minimizing wrinkles by paralyzing facial muscles — but botulinum toxin also is widely used for a variety of muscle-spasm conditions, such as cervical dystonia or severe neck spasms.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080209/ap_on_he_me/botox_warning;_ylt=Ap1ufSdgwfGmr5ih1VvHR_.s0NUE

[truthisfreedom]

1. This was reported a couple of weeks ago, too.

Wrinkles. Another obsession.

[lligrd]

2. I Must Have Missed It

A wrinkle in time?

[DRoseDARs]

3. *****BREAKING NEWS: STUDY SHOWS H2O MAY BE LINKED TO WATER*****

Darwin must rolling in his grave because more people DON'T die from having this shit injected into their faces. :eyes:

[Kittycat]

4. This is particularly bad news for kids with CP

I know many parents that have children with High-Tone Cerebral Palsy. The botox injections, actually helped relieve discomfort and relax muscles for the children - staving off painful surgeries and such for the child that can often leave them worse after it's compounded.

I never understood the cosmetic aspect, but as a medical treatment for CP kids, it was a real breakthrough.

[davsand]

5. Introducing a neurotoxin into your system just sounds like a bad plan.

I'm not making light of this at all--and I do understand how it could make a huge difference for people with muscle spasticity--but I just never understood using this stuff voluntarily. My prediction (when Botox first came out) was that this was gonna go the way of bleeding and the humours.



Laura

[ursi]

6. I feel bad for the kids ...

[truedelphi]

7. A couple of years ago someone directed me to a website where

Kids could e-chat with one another about the fact that their parents were having them have "corrective surgery" so they would look "better."

Some kids had their jaws broken and bones shaved so they could attain perfect symmetry!

Even for things on the scale of 1/64th of an inch.

I am assuming that parents who "Botox"their kids had some real health concern they were addressing.

But I'll never forget that website. <shudder>

[Ian David]

8. Wrinkled faces just provide more surface area for oral sex. It's all good.

But then again, there ARE limits...