Patient Reviews

In March 2016 Harland was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and began treatment with chemotherapy that lasted until October 2016. He developed chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy with burning and numbness in his hands and feet. After a number of months this did not go away and remained in the 1st through 3rd digits of both hands and feet. The burning pain and tingling in his feet extended into the arches and heels. The pain in his hand included burning and allodynia at the fingertips and clusters of sharp shooting pains into all the fingers and especially the thumbs. At that time he was taking gabapentin and oxycodone for his pain which was continuing to break through despite these medications. In addition, he had a rollover accident in 2010 that left him with neck pain and persistent numbness and tingling in the same fingers.

The pain was enough to disturb his sleep and preoccupy him during the day. After weaning himself from the gabapentin he began Scrambler Therapy in March of 2017 and after 6 treatments his numbness was 75% improved and there was no longer any sharp shooting pain, burning pain, or tingling in his hands or feet. As an additional benefit his neck pain that had persisted since the rollover accident in 2010 was gone and the numbness that had been in his hands and was treated along with his CIP pain. Harlan elected to suspend therapy at that point despite there being some slight tingling in the 2nd and 3rd finger tips and numbness in the same areas of his hands and feet. Because the numbness was still changing it could still be pursued with the hope of eliminating this along with the residual tingling.

He returned to treatment in May of this year to eradicate as far as possible the remaining symptoms. After 5 more treatments there is no burning, tingling, or shooting pain in his hands or feet and his numbness is almost completely gone.

Denise’ RSD problems began after a 2012 left ankle injury that was first immobilized in a boot and then operated on. Her symptoms began to be apparent almost immediately after surgery. She was initially treated with medication and epidural blocks. When these were not effective in 2013 she was treated with a spinal stimulator that had to be replaced once and never was effective. In 2014 she tried ketamine coma therapy which worked for a month but then also became ineffective. She initially contacted our clinic in the fall of 2015 and what he had to offer was explained. She was also receiving gabapentin and had to be weaned from this medication. Beginning March of this year Denise underwent Scrambler Therapy® Technology. She received a total of 12 treatments and became completely pain free. As of this writing she is not had return for any booster treatments and remains pain-free.

Karla is a 54-year-old female. Five years prior to coming to our clinic she had a severe fracture of her left ankle within an operative reduction and internal fixation repair. Within months she began to experience the burning tingling and numbness typical of RSD. Several months after it had begun in the left foot she began to experience similar symptoms in the right foot. The symptoms expended and extended all the way up to the thighs. Following a neck injury that resulted in bulging and herniated discs she developed similar tingling burning and numbness in the hands extending up to the elbows and shoulders on both sides. This was interpreted to be a spread of the RSD and the upper extremity.

To treat this problem, she has undergone extensive physical therapy and a year and a half ago, a treatment called ketamine coma therapy. She has been on high doses of anticonvulsants including gabapentin and narcotics in an attempt to treat her pain. Her pain was quite variable and moved around in her various extremities. It was always present and often an 8 to 10 in intensity. None of the treatments nor any of the pain medications had significantly helped her. Karla first contacted our clinic in the summer of 2015. After a trial of Scrambler Therapy®Technology she was encouraged that it could be helpful in reducing and eliminating her pain. She began a process of weaning herself from gabapentin. When this was done she initiated scrambler therapy in September 2015 and after approximately 10 treatments she became pain free. With scrambler therapy 50% of the patients will require some subsequent treatment to bring their pain back to zero. She did well until breaking her left first toe around Christmas which began the RSD process in earnest again. A second full series in January 2016 was initiated to bring her back to zero pain.

Natalie’s problems began after working long hours to the point of exhaustion on a home reconstruction project in 2000. She developed burning tingling and numbness the dorsum of the left hand especially over the second finger. She thought at first that this was caused from exposure to fiberglass but this persisted more than a month. In 2013 with extreme job stress she developed a burning tingling, numbness and redness in the same area of the hand with swelling. Ultimately blisters appeared and a diagnosis of shingles was made. She was treated with acyclovir and steroids and the problem resolved after a period of weeks. In December 2015 after returning from a vacation in Aruba same swelling burning tingling and numbness developed in the left hand especially in the dorsum and first and second fingers. There is exquisite allodynia over the surface of the hand and fingers and touching her second fingertip causes a shooting electrical pain. She treated this with multiple modalities including and in her scalene block using ketamine as well as EMLA and ketamine cream. More recently she began to use Lyrica to help control pain. This was ultimately diagnosed as RSD. Her symptoms have recently begun to spread up the arm towards the shoulder.

The current finding is that a person must be off ketamine for at least 3 to 6 months before a normal response to scrambler therapy is possible. Natalie wanted to begin therapy as soon as possible even though it was only 3 months since her last exposure to ketamine. She weaned herself off the Lyrica she had been taking and began treatment. Her response to therapy was positive but progress was slow and grudging. It took 20 treatments to bring the spontaneous and allodynia pain to 0 in all but the second fingertip. This finger had been the one on which ketamine cream at most often been used. We elected to suspend therapy and allow number of months to go by and then to resume therapy presumably a more rapid and robust response to scrambler therapy will occur once she has been off the Ketamine cream for the recommended period of time.

Russ is a 47-year-old male who has had pain, numbness and weakness for 30 years in his left arm from a high school football injury to his right brachial plexus. After 5 Scrambler Therapy® Technology treatments he became pain free and has remained so to this day. It is possible that he will not require any further treatments because he does not have an underlying condition.

Kitty is a 76-year-old female suffering Peripheral Vascular Disease, Coronary Artery Disease, Pleurisy and Rheumatoid Arthritis. She sprained her left ankle and developed RSD like symptoms in her left foot and then her right foot and both lower legs. Previously she was treated with medical acupuncture for rheumatoid arthritis, pleurisy, and extremity pain with good effects. When the Scrambler Therapy® Technology device became available and after just 3 treatments her foot and leg RSD pain was completely gone for 4 months because of her underlying conditions she will likely receive booster treatments in the future.

David is a 55-year-old male who has had Multiple Sclerosis for over 2 decades and does not remember the time when he did not have neck pain, back pain or sciatica. He has reacted adversely to most of the drugs available for multiple sclerosis. Prior to August of 2014, He was treated with medical acupuncture and ameliorated many of his symptoms. After his Scrambler Therapy® treatments in August of 2014 he became pain free for the first time since his MS began. His underlying condition is ongoing and he would likely need booster treatments if and when his pain reactivates.