Posted by TXcyborg on January 5, 2013, at 0:25:54
In reply to Any experiences with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), posted by Deahoidar on December 22, 2012, at 18:03:04
> Does anybody have any experience with it?
I've had it.
> Is it really a great thing?
Like most things, that's subjective. And who really knows what the primary factor is when your life actually turns around and gets better, especially when you are getting multiple modes of treatment, like meds, therapy, and DBS. But I know that two years out, I'm a lot better, most progress being made since my device got turned up to the highest setting.(single contact...what most people do because going to more than one contact causes very bizarre side effects, they tell me)
> Can it bring back hope for a life?
Yes.
> Or do the costs outweigh the benefits?
I was at the point I was willing to risk death to get better. I think you have to be firmly at that point to risk brain surgery. And I did have complications - a raging infection that required four nights in the hospital and six weeks of taking one of the strongest oral antibiotics on the market - narrowly avoiding an extended relationship with a PICC, although they only decided to go with oral antibiotics AFTER putting one in - and as you might expect, significant pain. But I was off prescription pain meds and the muscle relaxant within 10 days (earlier, maybe, because I was really allergic to one of them, I discovered). I have a couple great scars mostly covered by hair on my head and a 3"x1" horizontal scar on my chest (right side - you get to pick) that I believe is so gnarly because of the infection. And I get to be patted down every time I fly. Oh, and everything study-related for me (medication, surgery, treatment for infection, etc) was free. Of course, if you'd asked me your last question maybe five days after my surgery, when I was puking my guts out because I was so stopped up from the painkillers that food could no longer go anywhere but up and every heave made me feel like my staples and sutures were going to burst and my head would explode, I might have had a different answer. I recall saying it was the second worst night of my life and I had broken myself. But that's ancient history now.
--Happy to answer additional questions.
poster:TXcyborg
thread:1033566
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121231/msgs/1034695.html