Study unravels interplay between sleep, chronic pain and spinal cord stimulation (Implant helps)

Medical Xpress / Florida Atlantic University / Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery ^ | Jan. 30, 2023 | Phillip M. Johansen et al

[ConservativeMind]

Often debilitating, chronic pain is one of the most common reasons individuals seek medical help. Between 67 to 88 percent of them also suffer from sleep disturbances, including longer and more frequent nocturnal awakenings and poorer sleep quality.

Because chronic pain and sleep are thought to be correlated, treatment of one could be beneficial to the other. One such treatment is spinal cord stimulation, which shows mounting evidence it improves aspects of sleep and has demonstrated efficacy in treating a multitude of chronic pain conditions. This treatment involves an implantable spinal cord stimulator that sends low levels of electricity directly into the spinal cord to relieve pain.

The study successfully established minimally clinical important difference ranges for the insomnia severity index outcome measure to help gauge improvement in insomnia after spinal cord stimulation.

Results showed insomnia severity index improvement of 30 percent or more in 39.1 percent of the participants and an Epworth sleepiness scale of 30 percent or more in 28.1 percent of the participants. Minimally clinical important difference values of 2.4 to 2.6 correlated with improvement in disability and depression in the participants. The study revealed associations with sleep and both pain and depression, but no correlation between sleep and spinal cord stimulation success.

Spinal cord stimulation success was measured by the change between the pre-operative scores and the scores between six to 12 months post-operatively. The insomnia severity index asks seven questions to assess an individual's level of insomnia, with higher scores indicating increased nocturnal sleep disturbance.

The Epworth sleepiness scale quantifies day-time sleepiness based on a patient's likelihood to doze off during eight daily activities, with higher scores indicating increased daytime sleepiness. To determine which patients had improved sleep, researchers looked at improvement in insomnia severity index or Epworth sleepiness scale of 30 percent or more.

[ConservativeMind]

What condition causes your pain?

[wardaddy]

I can wean off 3-4 percs a day in 4-5 days

Not comfortable but doable

But pain comes back with a vengeance

Cold Turkey stopping 20mg prednisone daily is much more painful

My experience and like you I live with steady discomfort

[Bob434]

not related but something that might be of interest perhaps?

“Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgYs) block the binding of multiple SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants to human ACE2 “

” Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is still spreading worldwide, and there is an urgent need to effectively prevent and control this pandemic. This study evaluated the potential efficacy of Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgY) as a neutralizing agent against the SARS-CoV-2. We investigated the neutralizing effect of anti-spike-S1 IgYs on the SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, as well as its inhibitory effect on the binding of the coronavirus spike protein mutants to human ACE2. Our results show that the anti-Spike-S1 IgYs showed significant neutralizing potency against SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, various spike protein mutants, and even SARS-CoV in vitro. It might be a feasible tool for the prevention and control of ongoing COVID-19.
“

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33191178/

[ConservativeMind]

We would need to filter out a small component and inject it.

There are no facilities to do this, so it can’t be used, any time soon.

[toast]

If you have more confidence in drugs, I would suggest you ask about an implantable infusion pump.
It feeds directly into the spinal fluid. You only need 1/300th of the dose so have fewer side effects.

https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/patients/treatments-therapies/drug-pump-chronic-pain.html

[Bob434]

thanks- i thought maybe there was a downside to it- would be nice though if it helped protect by just eating eggs-

[Irish Eyes]

My husband has this implant and it has helped tremendously with the pain he was in. He was not a candidate for back surgery.

The visit to the psychologist was just to see if this was something he really wanted. Not bad at all. The doctors (very good ones) thought that it was silly. This was a stimulator from Abbott and I believe it was a condition wanted by Abbott.