New Treatment Option for Painful Diabetic Neuropathy
If you are one of the millions of people with diabetes, you may also have nerve damage due to years of high blood sugar and triglyceride levels. The nerve damage, or diabetic neuropathy, can be very painful and lead to serious medical problems. Symptoms develop over time and can affect various parts of the body, from feet and legs to the nervous system and organs. It's a chronic complication of diabetes that can potentially cause lasting, debilitating nerve pain in approximately 60 to 70 percent of people with diabetes. Until recently, patients have had very few options for treating this chronic pain, mostly with prescription medicines. But that is changing.
With 10kHz high-frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation(SCS), physicians at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska have been using this therapy to effectively relieve chronic back and leg pain and are now offering SCS to relieve painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN).
What are the Types and Symptoms of Diabetic Neuropathy?
There are four types of diabetic neuropathy – peripheral neuropathy, autonomic neuropathy, proximal neuropathy, and mononeuropathy. For our purposes here, we will focus on symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, the most common form of diabetic neuropathy.
With peripheral neuropathy, most people experience nerve damage to their feet and legs, with some having pain affecting their hands and arms. Common symptoms may include:
- Tingling or burning sensation in your feet, legs, toes, etc.
- Stabbing-like pain, especially at night when sleeping
- Numbness
- Weakness in your muscles
- Heightened sensitivity when touched
- Ulcers, infections, and other problems in the feet
In the early stages, you may only experience numbness or tingling in the hands, feet, or both. Because this can be overlooked and not treated, over time it can develop into PDN.
Treating Diabetic Neuropathy with SCS
The physicians at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists are experienced in using SCS to treat chronic pain, and were the first to use this therapy in Lincoln. SCS uses low-voltage stimulation of the spinal nerves to block or scramble pain signals. The 10kHz Spinal Cord Stimulation is the newest treatment therapy that has received FDA approval for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy.
The first step for patients is to be evaluated by one of our providers, which includes a medical history, diagnostic imaging, and psychological screening prior to trialing SCS. It’s one of the only procedures that can be tested in advance to see if it will work before deciding if it is the right treatment. The trial period is from three to seven days wherein adjustments are made to the device to tailor it to your pain level. If the device has reduced your pain by the end of the trial period, you and your physician will discuss the next step.
Our interventional pain medicine physicians at Innovative Pain & Spine – Drs. Phillip Essay, Kelly Zach, and Thomas Brooks – surgically insert small electric leads between the spinal cord and vertebrae. These leads operate with a battery pack that is implanted under the skin in the patient’s back. This device sends small amounts of electrical pulses to the brain to relieve pain and is controlled with a remote.
Patients who receive SCS can be assured that it is safe and effective.
- It doesn’t interact with pain medications
- It doesn’t interfere with sensory perception
- It doesn’t affect cognitive abilities or motor functions
Find out if SCS is right for you
If you have diabetes and have struggled with chronic pain from nerve damage, you may be a candidate for SCS. Call Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska at 402-413-5020 to discuss how SCS may help you.