This is not a topic that most patients with pain want to think about. The surgical treatment for pain is a rapidly advancing field. Dr Dean Willis presents a passionate lecture on the difference between pain and suffering which is so right on. When we talk about helping patients in pain, we really are not talking about the subset of patients that have RSD or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. These are patients who are truly suffering. Their lives deeply affected by their pain. Suffering literally always carries a deeper darker sadder meaning than the word "pain" implies. It is for those patients that sympathetic spinal nerve blocks can help when other treatments fail. It is for those patients when the sympathetic spinal nerve blocks do not help (when the nerve pain has centralized in the spinal cord, not in the peripheral limbs) that Spinal Cord Stimulators or Infusion Pumps can change the suffering down to managable pain. I was glad to hear Dr Willis emphasize that a percutaneous (electrode implanted just under the skin) trial can be done, and that it rarely ever flares up the pain cycle. I know, since the time of his lecture, further advances have been made.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
2 comments:
Thank you very much for leaving a comment. Due to my time restraints, some comments may not be answered.I will answer questions that I feel will help the community as a whole.. I can only answer medical questions in a general form. No specific answers can be given. Please consult a podiatrist, therapist, orthopedist, or sports medicine physician in your area for specific questions.
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I doubt anyone will ever see this comment... but I was touched by the bold lettering in red above, as I have intractable CRPS in all limbs, and due to a rampant case of osteomyelitis, cannot have the implants that might help. So... thanks for the show of compassion, it was appreciated, anonymously, in the middle of the night!
ReplyDeleteI saw your comment, and completely agree. How are you doing?
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