Any experience with Neuromodulation therapy?

Hello @shack76. I was able to find two members who have shared information and/or experiences with neuromodulation. While we wait for members @jfwerle and @martyk to join the conversation, I thought you may also be interested in the following information:

- Peripheral Nerve Stimulation:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/adult-pain-medicine/newsfeed-post/mauck-peripheral-nerve-stimulation/
- What is Neuromodulation?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/adult-pain-medicine/tab/neuromodulation/
How long have you been living with nerve pain and where do you experience it?

Thanks for these links, I'll watch them tomorrow morning. It's been about seven years now. It started mild (so I didn't try and get attention for it as soon as I should.) It was made much worse by two recent surgeries for achalasia (the second appears to have been successful because I can swallow but not without pain. It's also become painful to talk)
Another piece of this puzzle is my second and third covid vaccine's made it much worse. Achalasia is an autoimmune disease and I got the vaccine shortly after the second surgery. Vaccines can alienate' autoimmune conditions, and achalasia being my fourth I'm normally much more careful with them, (I think I've taken as many if you include the flu with covid in the last two years as I have the in the past decade.), but the simple fact is if a vaccine can make me sick I had to figure Covid would have been a horrible experience. It seemed necessary to take the risk

The pain for the most part is in the throat and neck area (it can grow to the lower back). It's often a tight stinging pain, but can change into a kind of buzzing or tingling occasionally. I've had a number of tests (and x-rays) that rule out pretty much anything other than nerve pain.

I have a referral that's currently being processed for Oregon Health Sciences (they are the closest place to me that seems capable of sorting this all out. And the entire hospital system is in network with my insurance.)
Neuromodulation therapy is something they do in their nerve center, which is where I expect I'll probably end up.

Philip

Good evening @shack76 Thank you for introducing Connect members and mentors to neuromodulation therapy. I have never been to a nerve center. Would you mind telling us about your experiences there?

What is it that you need to sort out Phillip?

May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
Chris

Hi, this is Jan; I can join the conversation. The chronic pain issue is with my husband and he has seen a gal twice now who is treating him; the second time, he described the treatment as leaving him feeling peaceful and light. That's all I have for today. ... I would really like to know the associated ICD codes, so we could submit these $120 ea. treatments to the insurance company. Can anyone help me understand what those are?

I can't tell you anything about my experience at OHSU's nerve center, because I have not been yet. I'm in the process getting to see them. OHSU is in Portland and I live on the coast and have not been seen at that hospital so there are some hoops I have to jump thru. Their neurology department (which the nerve center is part of) is well respected and the entire hospital is in my insurance's network. They seemed an obvious choice to start with this.
One of the things they claim to be able to do is too diagnosis when any nerve issues you are having are autoimmune in nature. That's important here, (and it's what I meant when I said sort out) because the chronology of how the nerve pain has involved with me suggest there could be a strong autoimmune component. Achalasia, which seems to have always been related too, is my third major autoimmune disease. My recovery from the surgery was definitely completed by the three Covid vaccinations (as well as a flu shot). They just made everything worse.
Under normal circumstances I would have never taken that many vaccinations in such a short time (especially not after a surgery), but with the pandemic I felt to have no real choice. Above everything else if a vaccine can cause an adverse reaction like this it's a safe be the virus would be far worse.
And that's the main thing I'm looking to understand, because if this pain is autoimmune in nature, it has to treated a bit differently. And I'd like to know, so I can take better precautions if any more vaccinations are necessary.

Philip