New Treatment Helps Relieve Symptoms Of Diabetic Neuropathy
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
One of the complications of diabetes is neuropathy.
But with a relatively new procedure, neuropathy may soon be a thing of the past.
And Dr. Daniel S. Allen, Lakeview Foot & Ankle P.C., Warsaw and Nappanee, is the first doctor in this area - within an approximate 150-mile radius - to receive the training for the procedure. So far, he has treated 12-15 diabetics with neuropathy and his success rate is 100 percent.
"We're excited about it. We've had very good results," said Allen.
One such success story is Lance Eckman, 62, Wabash, who underwent the procedure in early February. Eckman has had diabetes for more than 20 years and neuropathy since approximately 2000.
The neuropathy caused him to have pain that wouldn't go away. He'd go without sleep for three to five days because the pain kept recurring.
"It was pretty heavy," Eckman said. "It would let you know."
He saw an advertisement in a newspaper about a hospital seminar - diabetes was one of the topics. He went to it with his wife. At this point, Allen wasn't trained in the procedure, but Eckman said he liked what Allen had to say.
"I was really impressed with him. He didn't pull any punches and said it like it was," Eckman said.
After Allen received the training and certification, Eckman made contact with him. After consultation and testing, Eckman had the procedure performed.
Soon after the procedure, Eckman said, he noticed a change and it was some time before he had another painful episode. Allen told Eckman he will continue to have the episodes until the nerve heals itself, but Eckman said they have been fewer.
"It's telling me, yes, it is working," Eckman said. "I'm satisfied. It's 100 percent better than it was."
He's already been recommending the procedure to others.
"If you have diabetic neuropathy, you should at the very least, at the very least, go talk to him," Eckman said.
Diabetes is when a person's body is no longer able to control their sugar level. This may be caused by excess weight, because they are unable to produce enough insulin or insulin is not adequate to control their sugar levels. There is a large hereditary component for diabetes, especially for Type II diabetes.
Neuropathy is a condition that affects approximately 50 percent of those who have diabetes. It typically occurs within five to seven years of diabetes diagnosis, but a certain smaller percentage of those can have neuropathy prior to actually having a clinical diagnosis of diabetes.
Neuropathy is where the long nerves, most notably in the feet but also in the hands, no longer get the vital information to the tips of the toes or fingers. Symptoms may be pain and/or numbness. As neuropathy progresses, it may include temperature sensation or may be manifested as weakness or stumbling or instability because the foot muscles are no longer getting the appropriate nerve impulses.
On the metabolic level, particularly with diabetes, the nerves are bathed in glucose so there's an increased level of glucose. The nerves pull in the glucose. The glucose, through a chemical process, converts into several components, most notably sorbitol. Sorbitol then draws in water into the nerve, so as a result of this metabolic process, the nerves become swollen or enlarged.
"What is different about what we are doing in approaching this is the fact that we are viewing neuropathy more as a compression. We realize that there may be a component of compression as well as a metabolic component. So there are several places in the foot and ankle as well as the hands where these nerves pass through anatomically tight spaces. Now that we have a nerve that is swollen and enlarged going through a tight canal, then we get the symptoms that we are familiar with, with neuropathy - the burning and the tingling and/or even the numbness so that you are unable to feel the sensations that you would normally feel. So this is where diabetics normally get into problems is with the nerve component, no longer being able to feel injury or insult to the skin and foot that normally would be able to keep them out of trouble," said Allen.
Allen first heard about this procedure about 1-1/2 years ago. He had become frustrated having seen many patients with diabetes come in with neuropathy and "we really haven't had a very good way to treat these patients."
He gave them varied medicines such as antidepressants, narcotics and pain pills. But there was no good way to solve the problem. Determined to find a better way to help his patients, he began researching, coming across Dr. A. Lee Dellon, Baltimore, Md., who had been doing neuropathy research and trials for 15 years. Allen became acquainted with Dellon and his non-mainstream ideas. Dellon had statistics and research to back up the ideas.
Allen spent a week at Johns Hopkins Medical University, Baltimore, with Dellon. There, Allen had classroom time, cadaver dissection and went in the operating room, assisting Dellon with neuropathy procedures. As soon as the patients were in the recovery room, some of the patients' sensations started returning. That was in December.
Since then, Allen has performed 12-15 cases with more scheduled. Statistically, he said, all the research says the expected success rate is 88 to 90 percent. At this point, he is at 100 percent success rate, though he does acknowledge that at some point that may drop.
The challenge with neuropathy, he said, is there has never been a good way to diagnose it. Now available is an instrument, plugged into a laptop, that quantifies sensory loss. If patients have enough loss, they are candidates for the procedure. However, they do need to be healthy enough to withstand the surgery and anesthesia and have their sugars under relatively good control. As with any medical problem, the quicker the intervention with the disease, the better.
According to Allen's latest information, only 200 physicians worldwide are trained to do the procedure with the interpretations of the neurosensory testing, which is a vital component.
Annually, there are 55,000 to 75,000 amputations due to neuropathy. Of Dellon's test group for this procedure, not one went on to need an amputation.
Patients who undergo the procedure still have diabetes - it doesn't change that. They even still have swollen nerves. The procedure just takes the compression off the nerve to allow that nerve to function in a more normal matter.
"As this continues to become more well-known, it will be almost a mainstay of treating patients with neuropathy," Allen said.
For more information, contact Allen at 574-267-6967 or 800-393-2114. [[In-content Ad]]
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One of the complications of diabetes is neuropathy.
But with a relatively new procedure, neuropathy may soon be a thing of the past.
And Dr. Daniel S. Allen, Lakeview Foot & Ankle P.C., Warsaw and Nappanee, is the first doctor in this area - within an approximate 150-mile radius - to receive the training for the procedure. So far, he has treated 12-15 diabetics with neuropathy and his success rate is 100 percent.
"We're excited about it. We've had very good results," said Allen.
One such success story is Lance Eckman, 62, Wabash, who underwent the procedure in early February. Eckman has had diabetes for more than 20 years and neuropathy since approximately 2000.
The neuropathy caused him to have pain that wouldn't go away. He'd go without sleep for three to five days because the pain kept recurring.
"It was pretty heavy," Eckman said. "It would let you know."
He saw an advertisement in a newspaper about a hospital seminar - diabetes was one of the topics. He went to it with his wife. At this point, Allen wasn't trained in the procedure, but Eckman said he liked what Allen had to say.
"I was really impressed with him. He didn't pull any punches and said it like it was," Eckman said.
After Allen received the training and certification, Eckman made contact with him. After consultation and testing, Eckman had the procedure performed.
Soon after the procedure, Eckman said, he noticed a change and it was some time before he had another painful episode. Allen told Eckman he will continue to have the episodes until the nerve heals itself, but Eckman said they have been fewer.
"It's telling me, yes, it is working," Eckman said. "I'm satisfied. It's 100 percent better than it was."
He's already been recommending the procedure to others.
"If you have diabetic neuropathy, you should at the very least, at the very least, go talk to him," Eckman said.
Diabetes is when a person's body is no longer able to control their sugar level. This may be caused by excess weight, because they are unable to produce enough insulin or insulin is not adequate to control their sugar levels. There is a large hereditary component for diabetes, especially for Type II diabetes.
Neuropathy is a condition that affects approximately 50 percent of those who have diabetes. It typically occurs within five to seven years of diabetes diagnosis, but a certain smaller percentage of those can have neuropathy prior to actually having a clinical diagnosis of diabetes.
Neuropathy is where the long nerves, most notably in the feet but also in the hands, no longer get the vital information to the tips of the toes or fingers. Symptoms may be pain and/or numbness. As neuropathy progresses, it may include temperature sensation or may be manifested as weakness or stumbling or instability because the foot muscles are no longer getting the appropriate nerve impulses.
On the metabolic level, particularly with diabetes, the nerves are bathed in glucose so there's an increased level of glucose. The nerves pull in the glucose. The glucose, through a chemical process, converts into several components, most notably sorbitol. Sorbitol then draws in water into the nerve, so as a result of this metabolic process, the nerves become swollen or enlarged.
"What is different about what we are doing in approaching this is the fact that we are viewing neuropathy more as a compression. We realize that there may be a component of compression as well as a metabolic component. So there are several places in the foot and ankle as well as the hands where these nerves pass through anatomically tight spaces. Now that we have a nerve that is swollen and enlarged going through a tight canal, then we get the symptoms that we are familiar with, with neuropathy - the burning and the tingling and/or even the numbness so that you are unable to feel the sensations that you would normally feel. So this is where diabetics normally get into problems is with the nerve component, no longer being able to feel injury or insult to the skin and foot that normally would be able to keep them out of trouble," said Allen.
Allen first heard about this procedure about 1-1/2 years ago. He had become frustrated having seen many patients with diabetes come in with neuropathy and "we really haven't had a very good way to treat these patients."
He gave them varied medicines such as antidepressants, narcotics and pain pills. But there was no good way to solve the problem. Determined to find a better way to help his patients, he began researching, coming across Dr. A. Lee Dellon, Baltimore, Md., who had been doing neuropathy research and trials for 15 years. Allen became acquainted with Dellon and his non-mainstream ideas. Dellon had statistics and research to back up the ideas.
Allen spent a week at Johns Hopkins Medical University, Baltimore, with Dellon. There, Allen had classroom time, cadaver dissection and went in the operating room, assisting Dellon with neuropathy procedures. As soon as the patients were in the recovery room, some of the patients' sensations started returning. That was in December.
Since then, Allen has performed 12-15 cases with more scheduled. Statistically, he said, all the research says the expected success rate is 88 to 90 percent. At this point, he is at 100 percent success rate, though he does acknowledge that at some point that may drop.
The challenge with neuropathy, he said, is there has never been a good way to diagnose it. Now available is an instrument, plugged into a laptop, that quantifies sensory loss. If patients have enough loss, they are candidates for the procedure. However, they do need to be healthy enough to withstand the surgery and anesthesia and have their sugars under relatively good control. As with any medical problem, the quicker the intervention with the disease, the better.
According to Allen's latest information, only 200 physicians worldwide are trained to do the procedure with the interpretations of the neurosensory testing, which is a vital component.
Annually, there are 55,000 to 75,000 amputations due to neuropathy. Of Dellon's test group for this procedure, not one went on to need an amputation.
Patients who undergo the procedure still have diabetes - it doesn't change that. They even still have swollen nerves. The procedure just takes the compression off the nerve to allow that nerve to function in a more normal matter.
"As this continues to become more well-known, it will be almost a mainstay of treating patients with neuropathy," Allen said.
For more information, contact Allen at 574-267-6967 or 800-393-2114. [[In-content Ad]]