While Botulinum toxin is not indicated for it, MS Botox treatment has been more widely used lately for its purported relief of Spasticity as it relates to Multiple Sclerosis. There are three types of the neurotoxin available for therapeutic use. Your doctor will have to decide which of the three might be appropriate for your Multiple Sclerosis Botox treatment. The FDA has not yet approved Botox for MS spasticity, but that hasn’t stopped patients desperate for any kind of relief they can get from the debilitating disease. But closely related to MS, Botox has been approved to treat a similar condition noted for repetitive contraction of the neck muscles known as cervical dystonia.
Just what is Spasticity?
Spasticity is a wide range of completely involuntary muscle contractions that result in stiffness and muscle contractions. It interferes with normal muscle movement and mostly involves the leg and arm muscles. It is a common symptom and cause of discomfort for sufferers of MS; Botox seems to help. It is an imbalance in the central nervous system, usually caused by an injury or a disease in the brain or spinal cord. The efficacy of MS Botox treatment for upper limb spasticity was evaluated in three randomized, multi-location, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies involving people who had upper-limb spasticity caused by a stroke. In each study, Botox showed improvement over placebo injections in treating upper limb spasticity. Botox can be given again when its effectiveness is depleted, but injections closer than 12 weeks apart are not recommended.
