Botulism Toxin For Spasmodic Torticollis 
Botulism toxin is deadly in food.  But in a needle, it's being used to battle everything from wrinkles to birth defects.  The toxin has a paralyzing effect on muscle tissue and that's precisely why it's helping one woman to hold her head high again. 

Reading to little Megan used to be an impossible task for Katie Curran  because of a debilitating condition called spasmodic torticollis. 

Katie Curran/spasmodic torticollis patient:   "I would've had to do everything controlling my body this way." 

Dr. Paul Cullis/ St. John's Macomb Hospital Center:  "Iin this case the muscles in the neck become contracted and twist and cause  the neck to go into an abnormal positon." 

"As a result of it too, I started shaking really bad. I just didn't want to be  out in public anymore." 

Spasmodic torticollis is a mystery. the cause could be a chromosomal defect,  a biochemical imbalance, or both.  

After four years of pain and frustration Katie met Dr. Paul Cullis.    His treatment: injections using a deadly chemical. 

Dr. Paul Cullis:  "In the old days, even 10 or 15 years ago, doctors didn't really understand this disease.  They didn't know it was a real problem and so when someone showed  up with a twisting neck that looked funny and was shaking, the average doctors reaction was to send them to a psychiatrist thinking that it was probably a psychiatric problem." 

Botulinum toxin is the most deadliest poison known to man. When you eat something bad and you get botulims. The toxin basically paralyzes the muscles and that's exactly what happens when it's injected into the neck muscles of someone with spasmodic torticollis. 

Dr. Paul Cullis:  "We discvered 10 or 12 years ago that you can inject the purified toxin into specific muscles and it causes weakness and only in those muscles." 

In very few patients, side effects include trouble swallowing and some fatigue.  The series of injections must be done three or four times a year.

But for Katie it's a small sacrifice for the chance to be an active and healthy mom. 

Katie Curran: "I'm just thankful to dr. cullis that he was able to introduce me to  the botox and change my life because I don't think I would have had much quality of life if I hadn't received the botox." 

Other treatment options include surgery or medication which isn't always effective. Spasmodic torticollis affects three times more women than men. 

For more information contact the national S-T Association at 1-800-HURTFUL. 
 
 

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