ATLANTA -- The Florida couple who made headlines last month after their Botox cosmetic procedure went awry spoke out Friday in Atlanta about their ordeal.

Eric and Bonnie Kaplan held a news conference at the Shepherd Center, where they were transferred Jan. 6 after apparently receiving full-blown doses of the toxin that causes botulism.

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What was expected to be a simple procedure turned into a nightmare, the Palm Beach couple says.

"When I got to the ER room, I couldn't swallow and then I couldn't speak," Eric Kaplan said. "My teeth froze like I had lockjaw. Eventually, I became totally paralyzed."

The incident, which sparked news coverage around the country, raised fears about the cosmetic procedure, which has been embraced by many celebrities and along Main Street by those who want to fight wrinkles.

The procedure involves injecting small doses of Botox into muscles, which paralyzes or weakens them and blocks the release of a chemical that causes muscles to contract. Botox is a highly refined derivative of the toxin that causes botulism.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration agreed in 2002 to allow the treatment to be used for cosmetic purposes. Patients who receive too much of the drug, however, can face serious health consequences, including paralysis.

The substance is supposed to be administered in licensed medical practices by trained health care workers. The safeguards apparently were not followed during the Kaplan's treatment.

The couple was listed in critical condition when they were admitted to the Shepherd Center. They are still undergoing rehabilitation for their Botox poisoning.

Dr. Brock Bowman, associate medical director of the center's spinal injury program, said Eric Kaplan may be able to leave the center Friday or Monday, but Bonnie Kaplan must remain at the center at least another week to recover.

"Both have done very, very well," Bowman said Friday at a news conference. "Their health is good at this point. But I don't think their prognosis will be a complete 100 percent recovery."

Eric Kaplan must be fed through a tube placed in his stomach and his wife still needs a respirator at times to breathe.

The Kaplans received the treatment at Advanced Integrated Medical Center in Oakland Park, Fla., last November, federal officials have said.

Osteopath Bach McComb is facing charges in connection with the incident. He injected himself with the substance and was also hospitalized along with his girlfriend Alma Hall, 34, who received the treatment as well. Both are hospitalized with similarly severe symptoms.

Federal investigators say the Kaplans were injected with a mixture of botulism toxin 10 times stronger than Botox.

Eric Kaplan says the toxin made it difficult for he and his wife to breathe, walk and speak. Eric Kaplan was able to walk on his own to the news conference but Bonnie Kaplan was escorted in a wheelchair.

"I'm very fortunate to be here in this room and I don't take that for granted," he said. "We never anticipated this would happen. Unfortunately we're not able to turn back the clock. ... I'm guilty of being vain."

Eric Kaplan said he had a lot of emotions after being injured and both said they were angry for what had happened to them. Bonnie Kaplan said she was hopeful they will recover and they have grown even closer in the weeks since the injections.

"My feelings are I'm upset -- that turned my whole life upside down. There are days I wished I did die -- it was horrible being in the state we were in," she said. "It was vanity -- I'm 53 years old; I've got wrinkles. I wanted to get rid of them. All of my friends were doing it."

The injections the Kaplans received destroyed nerve endings responsible for sending chemicals that activate muscle fibers in their bodies. The human body can regrow the nerve endings but it will take time, Bowman said.

"If the Kaplans weren't astute enough to recognize some of their symptoms and get appropriate medical care, they wouldn't have survived," Bowman said.

The couple soon began losing their vision, speech, felt extreme flu-like symptoms and complained that they felt like their bodies weighed a few tons.

They are suing the company that makes the botulism toxin, the clinic where they received the shots, its owners, and the doctor who injected them.

"Our objective is ... so this will never happen to anyone else, anywhere in our country, because it's just not right," Eric Kaplan said.

McComb faces criminal prosecution for practicing medicine after his osteopathic license was suspended. He created the excessively stronger solution by diluting powdered botulism intended for animal research with saline, federal investigators said.

wsbtv.com Staff Writer Alfred Charles and Channel 2 Action News reporter Jovita Moore contributed to this report.