Category Archives: deep brain stimulation surgery

Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery

deep brain stimulation surgery

My husband was diagnosed in 2005 at the age of 39. Started with the usually, tremors, loss of arm swing, etc.Tremors went away very quickly with medications but the stiffness and slowness took over. He has slight dyskenesia and dystonia when his Sinemet kicks in… then as it tapers off he does somewhat better.

He had Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery this past January and has had 3 programmings so far. We haven’t seen any difference as of yet. I know Parkinsons Disease is different for everyone but I feel as though the people with tremors do better with Deep Brain Stimulation.

We are told that in could take a year of programmings to see a difference. Do you find this to be true?

I hope they didn’t do the surgery if they didn’t feel it would help?

Cathy

Response:

I invite anyone with Deep Brain Stimulation experience to comment here. I have heard reports that reflect a wide variety of outcomes. As you state, what works for one person may not necessarily succeed for another person.

There has been a 2011 study that evaluated the effects of Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery over a ten year period. The abstract of this study follows.

Archives of Neurology [2011] Published online August 8 (A.Castrioto, A.M.Lozano, Yu-Yan Poon, A.E.Lang, M.Fallis, E.Moro)

Researchers assessed the outcome of Deep Brain Stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) in people with Parkinson’s Disease over a period of 10 years. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) involves the use of electrodes that are implanted into the brain and connected to a small electrical device called a pulse generator that can be externally  programmed. DBS requires careful programming of the stimulator device in order to work correctly.

DBS improved the Parkinson’s Disease symptom score by 25% in comparison to no treatment, including resting and action tremor by over 85%, and bradykinesia by 23%. It did not stop deterioration in speech, walking, and postural instability, including falling and freezing. L-dopa dosages reduced to about 63% of what they were initially. Daily living activity also improved. Dyskinesia and motor fluctuation scores also remained significantly lower. Potential adverse events included : a trend to weight loss, visual hallucinations, impulse control disorders possibly related to dopamine agonists, progressive cognitive decline culminating in dementia,  device related infections.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
http://www.parkinsonsdisease.me

 

Deep Brain Stimulation and Panic Disorders

anxiety attacks, deep brain stimulation surgery

Do you have any information regarding deep brain stimulators causing uncontrolled panic disorders?  The only solution seems to be turning the stimulator off.  

Joan

Response:

A 2006 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine compared the effects of Deep Brain Stimulation surgery compared to medication for 156 subjects. Half of the subjects received deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery (for a sample of 78) and half  took medications only. Fifty percent (50%) of the DBS subjects experienced adverse events of one type or another. Results showed that DPS was superior to using medication alone.

Four psychotic “events” were experienced by the DPS subjects who were followed six months after surgery. Three cognitive disturbances were reported and four events of depression occurred. The New England Journal study did not specify how many subjects were involved with any of these reported “events” and did not track subjects longer than six months after surgery.

In summary, according to the recent research on DBS, some subjects did experience events that likely fell into the category of panic disorders, though such an outcome was not specifically reported.

What do you do about this unwanted outcome? To begin with your DBS surgeon will certainly have some beneficial recommendations. I suspect adjustments to the simulator can make a huge difference. As you know, I am not a medical doctor so this is not my area of expertise.

One avenue of investigation you might consider pursing is to investigate methods you can use to “ground” yourself. This means taking your energy from your head (where it has been hanging out as a result of your surgery) and distributing this energy down to your legs and feet. I will be posting a video soon that will demonstrate a way to ground that is simple and quick. For now, simply paying more attention to your feet may help enormously.

Randy Eady (located in Delray Beach, Florida) is also known as the foot whisperer. Randy was my radio show guest on May 11, 2010. Visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/parkinsons-recovery and scroll back to hear his show. Randy  recommends that persons  with symptoms of Parkinsons (including anxiety) walk without shoes as much as possible. He explains this allow your feet to connect with the ground. When we are not energetically connected to the earth, there is a short circuit which  causes serious anxiety attacks to result.

Parkinsons RecoveryRobert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
http://www.parkinsonsdisease.me

Parkinsons Recovery is possible.

Parkinsons and Deep Brain Stimulation

deep brain stimulation surgery, Parkinsons Disease Treatment, Parkinsons treatments

Question:

I’m suffering from Parkinson since 97 & doctor has suggested DBS to be done. I find its very scary. Do you have any other option?

Rashmi

Response:

There are more than one hundred natural treatment options that have been reported to me that help people with the symptoms of Parkinsons get relief from their symptoms. Without any information about your particular situation, I do not know where to direct you. The variation in symptoms across persons with Parkinson’s is huge (which is why there are so many treatment options that have helped people).  

Take advantage of the information on the website (www.blog.parkinsonsrecovery.com). Listen
to my weekly radio program at 11:00 am pacific time Thursdays. I talk about one modality or another that have helped people. Begin to experiment with what calls out to you. The people who get the  best relief typically use a combination of therapies. 

What will help you may not help another person, so forge ahead with your own investigation. Make some initial decisions about where to start. If whatever you try does not help, try something else. Having now interviewed many people, I can assure you that you will find a set of therapies and/or treatments that will provide you with relief.

I will be sure and put Deep Brain Stimulation on my list of topics to address on my weekly radio program.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
www.parkinsonsrecovery.com

Father and Son

About Parkinson's Disease, deep brain stimulation surgery

What follows is truly an amazing story about the power of  family systems and the connection between a father and son. It is a testament to the truth that Parkinson’s can inspire and motivate in ways that we could have never imagined or anticipated.  

Jeff Meyers wrote the following story to me in an e mail last week. He gave me permission to share it with everyone.  Get ready to be inspired. I was.  

What’s unique about my story is that my father divorced my mother when I was a very young child and I never saw or heard from him again. I knew nothing about the man.

At age 54 I decided that I wanted to do some volunteering and, being quite familiar with with computers, html, and content editing and writing, I came across an opportunity at the Parkinson’s disease Association of San Diego to update and maintain their website. I continued building the site for 2 years, at which time the executive director offered me a full-time position. Up until I came on the scene, their website had generated a mere $1421 in income. Since being hired 4 years ago, the pdasd.org site, the Tulip Tribute Funds site, and our Annual 5K Parkinson’s Walk & Fun Run site (both of which I created) have generated over $300,000 in income.

I also video taped our Parkinson’s educational seminars and, while viewing a live presentation through the video camera, I noticed that 2 of the presenters made reference to a Dr. Harold Russell Meyers, M.D. during their presentations. After the event I followed up with the two neurosurgeons, one of whom was very familiar with my father’s work. I did some research online and that’s how I found out who my dad was. My father did the pioneering work in the development of Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery (DBS). There was never any mention of him in our family all the years while I was growing up.

Now, isn’t that an incredible story! Who would ever have imagined that I would be “connected” to Parkinson’s–and my father–through this series of events? Life…what a mystery!

When I’d finished the Tulip Tribute Funds website, I told my only sister, who I had just recently heard from in over 40 years since the breakup of the family (her choice) and she revealed to me that she was the only child who maintained any contact with my dad in all the years of separation. Interestingly, she is the only child who ever finished college; in fact she earned 2 doctorates at McGill University in Montreal. She was the one who added the testimonial about Dr. Meyers on the Tulip Tribute Funds site. Hopefully, he’s beaming with pride from somewhere “above.”

It seems that my dad had received 32 honorary doctorate degrees, was a Seniors Olympics Champion sprinter through the age of 84, hung out with the likes of Alan Watts, Buckminster Fuller, S.I. Hayakawa, Alfred Korzybski and many other “high-level” intellectuals of his time. He had achieved many other professional accomplishments throughout his life, but being a father to his 6 children was not one of them. I am very blessed because I have a wonderful son who is so dear to my heart, and we are “best of buds” as the saying goes. Well, such are the possible “hands” one is dealt in life!

At any rate, here is where we are today…all of us together…fighting the “good fight” to find a cure for PD! I absolutely love the people I’m working with, and to add you to the mix…what a blessing!

Jeff Meyers

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
www.parkinsonsrecovery.com