Posted by juanantoniod on May 19, 2006, at 16:10:41
In reply to Re: How VNS Therapy is Going, posted by deniseuk on February 23, 2006, at 10:30:46
Hello,
This is an update for anyone who is interested in VNS therapy. I have posted several times here, late last year and in January 2006 about my experience with VNS therapy.
I was implanted with the Cyberonics VNS Therapy System on January 6, 2006. One of the device setting parameters is how many milliamps the stimulation is. The therapeutic range is 1.25 – 1.50 milliamps. I am at .75 milliamps, and my goal is to get to 1.50 and stay at that for 6 months before making any further increases.
When the device was activated, at .25 milliamps, I noticed a profound hoarseness in my voice when I was speaking while being stimulated. It did not hurt, but I couldn’t speak through it. I used the VNS Therapy Magnet to turn off the stimulation when this happened. Eventually, however, my body got used to the .25mA, and I did not even notice when I was being stimulated. Next, I went to .50mA, had the hoarseness again, which did not go away as easily as when I first started. I also noticed that I had shortness of breath. I reported these to my psychiatrist, and my case manager at Cyberonics, and was told that there was a setting, called the Pulse Width, that could be changed to counteract this.
I went in and had the pulse width changed, but I stayed at .50mA. The change in pulse width helped, as I was able to become accustomed to the stimulation again, and my shortness of breath resolved. Once this happened, I went in to have the stimulation increased again. I went up to .75mA, but left the pulse width the same. After about 2-3 weeks, I was able to “speak through” the stimulation, but still noticed it. I was ready for an increase, but due to scheduling differences with my psychiatrist, I was not able to see him until June. Now that it is approaching 4-5 weeks since the increase, I barely notice when I am being stimulated, but sometimes I *can* tell. It is not bothersome, however, just a little noticeable (a little hoarseness during speaking).
About 3 weeks ago, my partner said he was noticing positive changes in my behavior. This is consistent with what other patients have experienced, as their families have noticed improvements before the patient did. Since then, however, I have noticed a few small improvements in my behavior. For example, instead of letting the mail pile up for 2-3 weeks on the kitchen counter, before moving it to a huge pile on the desk, I go through it and sort it after only a few days. I have also done some cleaning and organizing on my own, which I was not able to do before. I now think about plans for dinner, whereas before I would never think about eating unless my partner brought it up. Even then, I would sometimes not have an appetite for dinner. Now I do.
Although I’m hopefully optimistic that the VNS benefits will continue to appear, I am not resting on that alone. I am pursuing finding another therapist so that I can get into psychotherapy again, and am doing a workbook on reactivation therapy for depression.
If anyone has any questions that you’d like to ask me, I will be following this post, so please reply to this and I will be notified. I hope this has been helpful information to someone out there.
Best wishes,
Antonio
> Thanks Antonio,
>
> Please keep us updated on your progress.
>
> Kind Regards...Denise
poster:juanantoniod
thread:574518
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060515/msgs/645980.html