bump
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:40 pm
Welcome to This is MS, the leading forum for Multiple Sclerosis research and support. Join our friendly community of patients, caregivers, and researchers celebrating over 20 years of delivering hope through knowledge.
https://www.thisisms.com/forum/
This one leaves more questions than answers. What sort of irregular vein? Why is it less risky now? How does the Bulgarian IR intend to treat the vein? Is a second procedure without IVUS still not as good as a first procedure with IVUS?The first procedure, which restored blood flow in three veins, helped, she said — for example, she no longer loses her balance and falls from the disease that attacks the biological insulation for nerves.
But she’s still easily fatigued and confined to a walker or scooter, so O’Connor wants to go back a second time because doctors in Bulgaria say they can do now what was too risky last summer — open up a irregular vein.
Immediately after receiving the treatment, Harriman said she enjoyed improved feeling in her extremities, was able to walk more steadily and had better control over her bladder.
Harriman, who has also completed physiotherapy and several other rehabilitative sessions in order to improve her balance and movements over the past few months, said the treatment changed her life.
"I took medication for 26 years. I went from one thing to another thing to another thing, with an increase here and an increase there. I haven't taken anything (for my bladder) since the day I was liberated," she said.
The 30-year old fog that had filled Darrell Watchorn's brain disappeared instantly as he lay on the surgeon's table.
"When he opened up my left jugular vein to 22 millimetres, I felt the energy coming back, it was that instant," said Watchorn.
"You're always in a bit of a dazed, fogged head and you can't keep your thoughts straight or anything like that. That was gone immediately."
Although his symptoms of MS remain, the procedure has given Watchorn a newfound control over his body. He can now take short walks with the help of cane.
"My left leg would feel like I was trying to swing a 50-pound weight," he said. "Now I can actually take a normal step and lift it."
I know I'm not 100%, I never expected to be," Watchorn said. "At least now I have a chance, I have a life. I'm not lying on the couch 24 hours a day anymore."
Although Ball's results weren't quite as instantaneous, her condition has also improved since the procedure.
"She used to have headaches so severe they would almost knock her off her feet. She hasn't had one since," Watchorn said.
McLaughlin spent $10,000 in April to have the liberation treatment at a clinic in Rhode Island.
"I can see colour again, and my energy levels have improved," he said.
When she began to suffer seizures, fainting spells and paralysis on the right side of her body following a 20th birthday celebration in January of last year, blood tests and CT scans were ordered.
Today her pain is constant, and muscle spasms are frequent, as is the paralysis that comes and goes.
Three weeks ago, Murray awoke to discover she had gone blind in her left eye.
Nerve pain her back "is pretty excruciating," she adds.
My husband is now two years past his venoplasty, with no MS progression or relapses. He is able to work full days as a film and TV composer.
"My energy is higher, I feel rested after six hours of sleep instead of needing nine, 10, 12 or 14 hours of sleep before I am able to function, I can get down on my knees and play with my sisters' children, I don't fall over anymore and I don't have regular choking spells.
"It has changed my life, my energy levels and my ability to do things."
She said she noticed immediate results. Her sense of touch drastically improved as did her circulation, balance and cognitive abilities.
However, she said those gains are faded and MS is slowly regaining the hold it had on her. So Thomas is fundraising to take a trip to Pittsburgh in September to have the procedure again.
"The angioplasty did not fix everything. But I am so happy; my life has changed completely," she said. "I have less fatigue, less migraines, and if I can continue walking with a cane instead of deteriorating, I will be very happy."
When she arrived in New York, Gordon said she could no longer swallow properly, didn't have the strength to cough, suffered fatigue and what she calls 'brain-fog', or the inability to think clearly.
During the short afternoon surgery, Siskind widened both of Gordon's jugular veins and inserted a stint in the azygos vein.
Now, Gordon says she lives life to the fullest.
"My days are filled with what everybody else does now," she said. "There's no comparison to how I felt before, and how I feel now. I have a life again."