2023-08-10 04:17:32
Morphine can’t stop the pain!College student suffers from depression due to ‘chronic pain’
Ms. Lin, 23 years old, was diagnosed with “ankylosing spondylitis” when she was in college. Due to repeated severe pain in her lower back, she had to stop school and recuperate at home. After four years of treatment, although the spondylitis was under control, the pain still might not be effectively relieved. Even taking high doses of morphine painkillers was ineffective, and even repeatedly hospitalized for severe back pain and suffered from depression. Fortunately, following undergoing the “spinal cord stimulation”, Ms. Lin’s pain condition has been greatly improved. It has been more than a year since the operation, not only stopped more than 90% of painkillers, but also no longer need to take antidepressant drugs, happy to return to normal life, And entered the workplace smoothly at the beginning of the year.
Pain that persists for more than 3 months, may it be “chronic pain”?
When the pain persists for more than three months and recurs despite treatment, it is classified as “chronic pain”. Dr. Lin Yourun, Department of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital explained that once chronic pain occurs, the nervous system will receive wrong pain signals from the body. The brain cannot correctly distinguish the severity of this pain, which often causes great distress to the patient. Many patients suffered from insomnia, depression, and even lost the ability to work. And when the human body is in a state of insomnia and emotional depression for a long time, it will not only lead to an increase in body stress index, increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes in the future, but also cause chronic inflammation in the body, which in turn increases the chance of malignant tumors!
A new weapon for the treatment of chronic pain, “Spinal Cord Stimulation” can halve the pain!
For chronic intractable pain that lasts for more than six months, Dr. Lin Yourun said that patients can choose to use “spinal cord stimulation” for treatment. This is a kind of neuromodulation surgery. The doctor will choose the site to implant the neurostimulator chip according to the location and shape of the patient’s pain, such as in the cervical spine, thoracic spine, and lumbar spine. Pain signal transmission, and then achieve the purpose of pain relief. Taking Kaohsiung Chang Gung Hospital as an example, the current treatment effect of spinal cord stimulation can reduce the pain by more than half, and can also cut the dosage of oral painkillers in half.
Good news for patients with spinal cord injury, electrode stimulation + rehabilitation is expected to restore walking ability
In addition, this therapy is also a first-line opportunity for patients with spinal cord injury. Dr. Lin Yourun explained that spinal cord injury will destroy the connection between spinal cord neurons and terminal peripheral nerves, and some motor, sensory, and autonomic nerve functions in the area below the injured segment will be partially defective Even complete loss, depending on the location of the injury, will lead to paralysis of the whole body or lower body. In addition to being unable to take care of oneself due to paralysis, which seriously affects the quality of life, there will also be difficulty in urination and defecation, respiratory dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, chronic intractable neuralgia, etc. question.
Shi Fuyuan, Physician of Department of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital added that there is currently no absolutely effective treatment for chronic spinal cord injury. In recent years, a number of human and animal studies at home and abroad have confirmed that electrical spinal cord stimulation can activate nerves, increase neural plasticity, and facilitate the establishment of new neural circuits. Implanting a nerve stimulator, sending a small amount of current to the relevant muscle groups controlled by the ganglion through the electrodes, can enhance and improve the ability of the originally paralyzed muscles, coupled with active rehabilitation treatment, can even restore the ability to walk, and at the same time reduce the The sequelae of neuralgia and muscle stiffness, tension, and excessive tension originally caused by spinal cord injury.
The battery life is up to nine years, and the MRI inspection is not affected!
Since spinal cord stimulation must be carried out in two stages, the test electrode leads are first implanted for short-term treatment testing, and following the curative effect is confirmed, the permanent nerve stimulator is implanted in the body to achieve long-term therapeutic effects; in other words, patients can be treated in the first stage After the end, decide whether to proceed to the second stage. Statistics show that 70% to 80% of patients can confirm the curative effect following the test treatment, and the satisfaction of patients who finally choose to receive permanent neurostimulator implantation can be as high as 80%.
Physician Shi Fuyuan said that since the nerve stimulator provides 24 hours of electrical stimulation without interruption, it is equivalent to doing pain suppression treatment all the time, so it can reduce the frequency of patients taking painkillers and the dose of morphine drugs, and greatly reduce the pain caused by drugs. side effects. In addition, the charging speed of the battery is fast, and the average lifespan can reach nine years; if the patient needs to undergo an MRI examination, it will not be affected. Spinal cord stimulation can significantly reduce pain, reduce the tendency to depression, and restore the patient’s original quality of life.
Shingles, Migraines Work, But Spinal Cord Stimulation Isn’t a Panacea
Dr. Lin Yourun often describes to patients that pain is like a fire alarm, although chronic angina pectoris, ischemic pain in limbs, low back pain, cervical nerve root neuralgia, sciatica, and neuralgia caused by herpes zoster can all be seen through Spinal cord stimulation can be used to improve, but before this type of treatment, it must be confirmed that there are no other lesions that may cause pain in the body before interventional pain treatment can be performed. Physician Shi Fuyuan also reminded the public that prevention is better than cure. Although spinal cord stimulation can control the pain well, it should be taken care of before it happens. If the pain persists for more than two weeks, it is recommended to seek medical treatment as soon as possible, and do not wait until it deteriorates into chronic intractable pain.
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