Posted by juanantoniod on June 18, 2006, at 0:21:04
In reply to Re: How VNS Therapy is Going, posted by HeadCheese01 on June 17, 2006, at 13:02:43
Yes, my titration has been very slow, but it has been good, because it allowed me time to discover that if I wait long enough, the voice changes during stimulation resolve for the most part. In addition to that, my PDOC spends 10 days a month at his office in Hawaii (must be nice), so that creates some scheduling difficulty.
I'll just be glad when I get up to 1.5ma, so I can ride out the following 6 months hoping for small signs of improvement along the way. This year, instead of dreading the holidays, I'm actually hoping that they go well, and optimistic that they could.
I will answer posts made here, and post anything of note that happens along my journey. However, for anyone at the end of medication options and considering VNS Therapy, I say "DO IT!" As long as you have little or no out of pocket, the risks are only as much as any surgical procedure and well worth the chance that your life could improve dramatically.
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that I also get a slight throat tightness after each dose increase, which also resolves with time.
As for your "problem", I would agree that you might try going down to your last step, then try going up again later (if you want/need to). Sometimes this is done with medications if you increase the dosage too soon and the side effects are intolerable. This salvages use of the medication by giving your body more time to adjust to it before trying again for the therapeutic level.
Also, as you said, there is nothing set in stone that you have to be at 1.5ma for VNS to be effective. Everyone is different and perhaps you may do just fine at the lower level.
Antonio
> Antonio,
>
> Glad you're feeling a bit improved.
>
> Your titration has been really slow (not that there's anything wrong with that). My doc has had me bumping it up by .25 milliamps every two weeks so far.
>
> I definitely think my downturn since Thursday is directly related to the bump up to .75 milliamps.
>
> If things don't improve by early next week, I think I'll have him lower it back to .5, where I was feeling improved. I think, like with meds, some experimentation will be needed to figure out the right dose, and that it will turn out that some people will respond well to small doses, while others need big ones.
>
> I'll look forward to seeing how you are getting on with VNS too.
>
> Take care.
poster:juanantoniod
thread:574518
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060617/msgs/658204.html