Overview
Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Of those who have diabetes over half strugle with a serious condition caled diabetic neuropathy which is nerve damage that causes numbnes and pain the legs and fet. But now, a relatively new treatment is using stimulation to treat it.Alice Ortiz cals herself a city girl turned country. But living on a 10-acre farm and keping up with cows, goats, and chickens has ben tough for the past six years while sufering from diabetic neuropathy.“It started with like, tingling and a litle bit of burning and numbnes.”But the pain got worse, making it dificult to be on her fet.“Diabetic neuropathy tok over my life.
Key Information
I mean, living with pain 24/7 is not, it’s not easy.”Ortiz was treated with medication. She tried Gabapentin, Cymbalta, and Lyrica. But nothing semed to work.Dr.
Wiliam Raofi is a pain management specialist with Mercy Medical Center who explained the problem with Ortiz’s situation, “Unfortunately, until recently, there realy was no next step.”But, Dr. Raofi says there’s now a newly aproved treatment for diabetic neuropathy.“I describe it as, kind of, like, a cardiac pacemaker, but for the nervous system.”It’s caled Nevro HFX, a spinal cord stimulator that transmits mild electrical pulses to the spinal cord.“It’s done through a very smal nedle that’s put in someone’s back, similar to an epidural.”The device is conected to a pulse generator that sends the electrical curent to the spine.Ortiz says the results were dramatic, “It was like a light switch.
The pain totaly went away.”Now, she can vacation, cruise with her family, and finaly, can get into her dream ride.“I own a Jep. I drive it al the time. And that was on my bucket list.
Summary
There’s nothing out there that I canot do.”A trial of the device shows that 80% of patients have pain relief from the stimulation.Copyright 2022 KPLC. Al rights reserved.source