Posted by LifeTime on December 3, 2005, at 10:49:40
In reply to Anyone know of a PDoc in LA for VNS Therapy?, posted by juanantoniod on December 3, 2005, at 2:27:41
Antonio (juanantoniod),
I correspond with the father of a VNS patient living in Los Angeles and I shall try to obtain the information you seek.
As an aside, as a long-time support person and health care for my wife I want to share a quick story based upon something you have written. We needed a safety net for my spouse close to home. She was a study subject for the VNS Therapy in Charleston, SC at MUSC and we live in Florida and needed a doctor close to home. This was all prior to the FDA approval for the therapy so we were searching for a psychiatrist who would be interested. A friend recommended a doctor who she was extremely happy with. We made an appointment. We went to the office and my wife spent ¾ of an hour filling out the psych questionnaires before we got to see the doctor. Finally we went into his office and we both sat down. Before he started I explained we were looking for someone who would be interested in learning about the Cyberonics prosthesis and attending to my wife’s needs. He looked puzzled and said he didn’t understand. I explained it was the VNS Therapy for Depression and that she was a study subject. He said, “Oh! I heard about it and I have no interest.” I looked at my wife and I said, “Honey, let’s go.” We got up and walked out of the office.
It was the shortest meeting we ever had with any physician. It was under 3 minutes. When we got to the car I said to her, “I was appreciative of the fact that he was honest and didn’t waste our time, but in a million years I would never want any doctor treating you who was not interested in learning something new to aid his patients. I also could not believe as a psychiatrist that he didn’t have enough intelligence or moxie to say he was too busy at moment with patient loads etc or to make some other excuse.”
My personal opinion based upon your experience; find a trusted, compassionate and knowledgeable psychiatrist willing to work hard for your wellness. Be careful when choosing a surgeon, make sure you find one who besides knowing how to open the patient is also interested and learned how to close the patient (joke) but I hope you understand my drift. If one is going to be a doctor then one should continually learn all that is available in the specialty to insure patient wellness.
Good luck. If I may be assistance in sharing experiences, knowledge or directing anyone to information relating to the subject y’all knows where to reach me.
Warmly,
Herb
VNSdepression.com.
> Hello all,
>
> This is an update on my progress in getting VNS Therapy. Briefly, I need to find a psychiatrist in LA that prescribes and works with this therapy, and a surgeon who will implant the device. If anyone has any names, please post them and I will be emailed when you post. If you're not comfortable posting a name and number, please post with that and I will respond to your post with my direct email address.
>
> To bring you up to date, I am considering VNS Therapy for my long term depression. I read the book, Out of the Black Hole, and decided that I probably wanted the therapy. However, I had not yet received the information package from Cyberonics, which includes a video.
>
> I received the package yesterday. While reviewing the video with my partner, about half way through he said, "You're getting that. I don't need to see any more. You need that." This was good to hear because he is more objective about these things than I am. The video and information basically confirmed what I had thought after reading the books and viewing the satellite broadcast online. It also reminded me that the treatment takes up to 6 months to a year to start working. This is fine with me.
>
> So, I saw my psychiatrist today and I am very disappointed. Although he said he supports me getting VNS and would affirm my chronic depression and lack of efficacy of many antidepressant medications, he did not want to participate in the prescribing or management of VNS. I really thought that he would have wanted to learn this new therapy and be on the cutting edge. Had I known he did not, I wouldn’t have waited all this time to see him before seeking other options.
>
> Although I have an email in to my case manager at Cyberonics, if I could get ANY leads on psychiatrists or surgeons in the Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, Glendale, and Pasadena, before Monday, I could get a head start on finding a doctor.
>
> Any help is appreciated. Thanks for your support.
>
> Antonio
poster:LifeTime
thread:574518
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051203/msgs/584937.html