Fourth Treatment
Fourth treatment in, and I have not turned into a marvel superhero truthfully I’m a bit disappointed…I was hoping to turn into the flash. Or at least I have not developed some superhuman capabilities, and I could really use the superhuman speed like the flash to keep up with the toddler and our now crawling baby. As well as, to catch up on the sleep I lose playing the human boomerang between my bed, the toddler's room and the baby, I call it my "night workout" that the fitbit tracks 1.5 km.
All jokes aside, the stinging sensation has either drastically come down from the first time the electrodes made contact, or I no longer really notice the stinging/burning sensations anymore. Once on my head I get a small tinge of pain, a sore throb where ever something comes into contact with my skin as soon as it's placed. (Note: a disclaimer here that due to my severe central sensitization disorder (basically my skins has super human painful capabilities) it’s really more just the way my body responds to something coming in contact with it, not the way this treatment feels to the average patient.)) Two bands hold the electrodes in place, that distributes the current, sit on your head like a crown, along the top of the Trigeminal nerve. So if you do have Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) you’ll notice it, if not you won't. And, so for a patient like me participating in a treatment like this, is a no pain no gain sport.
For 20 minutes I sit in a comfy chair, sip a coffee that’s still hot, and am thankful for 20 minutes of peace and quiet. As a mom these are rare moments kid free time, so at least I am grateful for the little things. I brought a good book this week called Daring Greatly written by Brene Brown a brilliant shame researcher. Its a great read, I’m learning lots about foreboding joy right now. After my 20 minutes is up, my electric crown comes off, the book goes away, and I’m usually very sore and very tired for the rest of the day. The pain for me is just enough to be unable to drive, unable to focus, unable to think. If I were able to go straight home to rest, I’d be totally fine.
Treatment Plan
The frequency options for tDCS treatments are a minimum of 2x a week and the most is 4x a week for a total of 20 treatments. Personally, I'm doing 2x a week because that’s what works best for our family as it's really difficult, making the long trek into the big city from where we live, all the while with a toddler and baby in tow. Adding a degree of difficulty to it is that I am in too much pain right now from the treatments (having something touch on my trigeminal for 20 min) to be able to drive myself out there, so I'm hoping that eventually changes.
Some common side effects of these treatments are dizzy spells, headaches if the intensity is too high, and changes in mood. An example of these side effects would be the dizzy spells that I experienced last night; I had to lay down because I felt like my bed had turned into a pirates of the Caribbean boat ride which was not cool. So, if I do feel the side effects of the treatment like the dizzy spells, I just end up discounting them more thinking that its cause I don’t get the rest after the treatment, and have overworked myself all day. (One of the days we ended up being out from 9 AM to 6 PM and then racing home and then out again). I pushed through the migraines by taking some Advil & Tylenol combo, when that / if doesn’t help I’ll apply a strong topical cream to the throbbing burning nerve area for breakthrough pain. All for an 11:30 AM appointment that will last 20 minutes, but the way I see it I have responded so badly to the best pharmaceutical options for TN that these treatments are my best option aside from the surgery.
Not One Flare Since Starting
One of my main concerns starting this treatment was that it would flare up my trigeminal neuralgia. I was actually quite terrified of it. But thank God there have been no flares yet. And, I’ve been blessed that since starting the treatment I haven’t had an up-all-night-screaming-pain episode. When I was going in for this weeks treatments I started with having a migraine both days, but surprisingly it did not make it worse. What I’ve been noticing happening, is that after the 2nd and 4th appointments I’ve had some really deep sleeps, and then feeling slightly more awake and alert the next day. Thus, it appears to be a very well tolerated treatment that comes with gradual improvements. After speaking with my Dr we have discussed the idea of starting to decrease my medications after there is very noticeable improvement in my pain levels. Which is one of the many benefits other patients see with these treatments is being able to drastically reduce their pain medications.
Prayer
When I was asked if I wanted to do these treatments I said yes immediately without thinking. I prayed that it would work out, and hoped that it would work out. Somehow it has. The money was not there when I said yes. We tried to work it out with benefits. We brought it to our life group and we prayed. I talked to everyone about getting rides in and I thought I had all my rides covered. But then, my sister who was going to be driving me got into a car accident. We brought it to our life group and we prayed some more. The benefits said no. Amongst all of this my grandma ended up in the hospital with a newly diagnosed heart condition. After hearing of how hard the treatment will be on us financially and taxing logistics we were blessed by family covered the cost of treatments. With how crazy life has been lately, I have been taking each treatment on faith that I will some how get there and that it will be okay. For example, this weeks Tuesday appointment I did not have a ride for until Monday. And, something I have never experienced before is happening in our lives the church in the form of our community group is helping us through a really tough time. It’s in times like these I feel like God is close, because nothing makes sense but that he is present and cares about us.
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