In my opinion the things holding this back are that it still requires surgery to access the brain. -- This is absolutely brain surgery. The OR time, anesthesia costs, and equipment costs will be massive. It will be a tough sell to get insurance to pay for this.
Hi
@spedgas -- Very interesting information; thanks for posting this. -- I'm just going to toss something into the mix here (reflexology concepts), which I realize holds relatively little interest for most people. The reason being is that it really has no connection to mainstream science and/or medicine. It does however connect to stimulating the body in ways that are widely practiced in the fields of reflexology, acupuncture, massage, and various other similar modalities. I thought it would be worthwhile to post just in case there are others like myself who find these kinds of approaches to be effective--and fairly fascinating as well.
First a story: -- I was reading a reflexology book many years ago by a woman who was a practitioner for many years. One of the experiences she had with a patient was pretty remarkable, even for her. Her client had major heart issues, and was getting regular work on her feet, which involved massaging the nerve endings that corresponded to her heart. Since her heart was in so much stress, those nerve endings were extremely tender. So the progress was relatively slow, since enduring too much pain isn't really part of the reflexology experience. However, the practitioner one day said she felt it was important to go a little deeper. The client agreed.
So the session began, with it being a quite a challenge for the client as things progressed. And then out of the blue, the client screamed out in a way the practitioner had never heard before with any of her clients. She was of course quite startled, and wanted to know what had happened. The client shared that as her foot was being worked on, she experienced what felt like a bolt of lightening run from her foot to her heart; and then immediately subsided. Quite an experience for both of them! -- But here's the kicker: The client's heart problems literally disappeared. She no longer needed to see her conventional medicine practitioners, and as I recall, relatively little need to continue her reflexology sessions that were primarily to try to affect her heart condition.
Some thoughts on how this all relates to tinnitus and the topic of DBS: -- There are reflexology points on the hands and feet that connect directly to all other parts of the body, including the ears and the brain. When I had my initial traumatic onset of tinnitus, those points on my hands on feet were
extremely tender, to the point where I could hardly touch them. But based on my fairly extensive understanding of reflexology, I knew I had to start working on them gently, and get as much nerve energy to my ears as possible.
In reflexology, the big toe corresponds to the head, and the inside of the big toe corresponds to the brain. (Most people have some pretty tender points in the big toe if they do a little exploring). Besides my ear points, I began massaging my big toes every day as well (and continue to do so). I do it in the mornings, as my tinnitus is usually the worst and most troublesome when I first get up. I find doing these relatively simple massaging techniques on my brain and ear reflexology points makes a big difference for me, perhaps mostly in my "perception" of tinnitus. I think that sending extra nerve energy lends a good amount of resilience to the nerves in my ears and brains, and helps them "calm down".
I think conventional medicine may actually have something to offer along these lines. I suspect they could come up with some kind of mechanism or device similar to a heart pacer or vagal tone stimulator to get some kind of steady deep brain stimulation without having to do the surgery. I haven't thought about it a lot, but it seems to me it would be possible. -- Anyway, this could put this in the FWIW, or perhaps "food for thought" category. I understand most people have little knowledge of reflexology, or of how it can transform many different ways energy (perhaps bioelectric energy) runs through our body, and how various kinds of subtle disrutions of energy flow can affect us in so many ways. But having done self-reflexology (and acupressure) for many years, I'm a big believer in how it can help for many situations. The most dramatic for me was what it was able to do for my chronic neck issues (
@Mathew Gould), having restored a great deal of stability after a severe whiplash as a teenager.
Regarding reflexology, the area on the hand that corresponds to the ears is between the little finger and ring finger. If you massage the inside of the little finger and the immediately adjacent area of the ring finger, I'm guessing most people with tinnitus will likely find them quite tender. Work on them gently over a few days, and that tenderness will work itself out. I've read that some people actually notice an immediate difference in their tinnitus and/or the stress levels in their ears, though that wasn't the case for me. -- Reflexology can also be very effective for headaches.
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