Get the Botox!

I received my Botox injections one week ago by Dr. Jared Wasserman, and I couldn’t be happier with the results!

Dr. Wasserman was awesome. He’s treated RCPD before so when I described my symptoms, for the first time, someone understood what I was going through and validated my experience. After a quick look into my throat, he explained that I could go through with the Botox injection. It would be done under general anesthesia so they could go into my throat and be more precise as a result. The worst case scenario would be that nothing would change. There sadly isn’t a test for RCPD yet. But I was 99.99% sure this would work!

The procedure only takes 8-10 minutes, but there’s a lot of prep and setup beforehand. I met with the NP, doctor, and anesthesiologist beforehand, and they were very kind and thorough.

Dr. Wasserman explained that recovery looks different for everyone, but we could correspond through my patient portal. He was kind, realistic, and helpful in answering my questions, and he recommended watching Dr. Robert Bastian’s YouTube channel for helpful, reliable content about recovery. Recovery takes at least a month.

I had very little throat pain for the rest of the day, and came off the anesthesia very quickly. I was eating solid foods the next day and didn’t need pain medication. You’d almost think I hadn’t had anything done!

By day two, after watching some Dr. Bastian videos and drinking lots of seltzer, I began having micro burps. In the days since, I’m learning what movements can “invite” a burp, and I’m getting larger burps. I’m burping a lot, but I know this will get better as the muscle adjusts and learns to accommodate more pressure. Carbonation and trigger foods (ice cream for me!) cause better burps, which I think is good practice for the muscle.

I felt like a had a lump in my throat for days two through four. Swallowing did get a little more difficult at day three or four, and I’m waiting for this to get better. I have to always have water with me to chase food, and chewing thoroughly is super important. My throat can feel like there’s air stuck in it at times.

My worst RCPD symptom, chronic bloating, is SO much better even after only a week. Trigger foods still cause some bloating of course, but there’s so much less pressure in my stomach. There are still some throat noises/croaks, but they’re not as frequent. Less flatulence happening as well.

I called and got a cost estimate of $500 before the procedure. I’m still waiting on the final bill but this has been so beyond worth it for me.

Happy to answer any questions I can!