Kathy - My husband had bilateral pallidal stimulation surgeries, one in Nov.
of '95 and one in Feb. of '96. He had also suffered from severe back pain.
After the first surgery, his pain was gone completely for the first month,
but then returned. His second surgery went more smoothly than the first, and
the headache that followed the surgery was less severe and didn't last as
long. His back pain also wasn't as improved as right after the first
surgery.
No one could explain the absence of back pain or its return. However,
there was extensive brain swelling after the first surgery, to the extent
that just the presence of the electrodes in his brain, without any electronic
stimulation, was enough to achieve a "temporary pallidotomy effect" (that's
how his doctors described it) and completely eliminate his Parkinson's
symptoms.
It's interesting to us to hear that a pallidotomy can eliminate back
pain. It seems to make sense, based on the "temporary pallidotomy effect"
caused by the brain swelling.
If the severity of his headaches post-surgery was an indication, the amount
of relief from back pain directly corresponded to the degree of headache, and
thus, we think, to the degree of swelling.
We'd be interested in hearing if anyone else experienced relief of back
pain (or other types of pain) following pallidotomy. We have had great
difficulty getting any of our physicians to deal with his back pain. His
G.P. and other specialists say it's due to the Parkinsons, and his
neurologist says it's unrelated to the Parkinsons (which translates to, "We
don't want to hear about it.") We thought part of it was due to the degree
of dystonia he experienced, but the reduction in dystonia following the
Pallidal stimulations hasn't seemed to make an appreciable difference in the
amount of pain, except for right after surgery.
Anyone else have any experience along these lines? Margie Swindler
