My feet have gone numb...the latest symptom in the battle. Lyrica is helping me get thru the day, but taking enough of it to really work cause me to gain weight like crazy.
So, I asked my LLMD about electrical stimulation. I saw an internet ad for it somewhere for foot neuropathy. She said its worth a try.
I am scheduled for an appt in 3 weeks. Anyone have any experience with this?
(This is the physical therapy type of electrical stimulation...not brain implant stuff.)
Insights or recommendations? Thanks, friends.
Posted by dmc (Member # 5102) on :
mixed reviews...it did help with numbness, didn't do much for pain.
Mine is the older model w/the foot bath.
My feet no longer give me problems since IV Tigecyl this past summer.
Posted by laura_from_nh (Member # 18885) on :
My husband is a physical therapist and he says there is no conclusive data to support that electric stimulation is effective.
This protocol is slowly being phased out at the hospital he works at on account of the research. Additionally, he told me that both Medicare and Medicaid are supporting the evidence and will not pay for the treatment.
No big surprise there as they just don't like to pay for anything, but you may want to think twice about it and save your money for something else that has more conclusive proven results.
I'll talk to him when he gets home today and see if he has any suggestions.
Posted by laura_from_nh (Member # 18885) on :
I stand corrected. It's actually just medicare that doesn't reimburse and it's for a certain type of e-stim, but nonetheless, he believes that that e-stim would help numbness in your feet.
He has a couple of questions. 1. who is performing the e-stim? a physical therapist? and 2. although numbness in the feet can be a lyme symptom, he suggests you are certain that it is from the lyme as it could be a number of other things causing it that should be addressed.