Popular cosmetic treatment benefits MS patients

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Botox is now being used to treat people with multiple sclerosis coping with incontinence.

Lisa Fine walks with confidence and little pain. Three months ago that was not the case. “You’re walking somewhere and thinking everything is fine and urine just starts streaming down your leg,” Fine said.   No bladder control is one of the silent symptoms Fine has living with multiple sclerosis: a chronic condition that affects the central nervous system. That was before she was injected with the popular cosmetic treatment, Botox. Dr. Marlene Murphy says, “Botox is a neuro toxin.  It stops spasms in muscles whether they are in your face, whether they are in your shoulder or neck or leg or your bladder.” Dr. Murphy is a urologist at the Mandell Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Mt. Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital in Hartford. “Basically the way it works, by injecting it into the bladder, it paralyzes a muscle and allows the bladder to hold just like my bladder,” Dr. Murphy said. 

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