Alpha Lipoic Acid

Alpha Lipoic Acid is a nutritional supplement that is a co-factor in vital energy producing reactions in the body. Lipoic Acid is used intravenously or as an oral supplement. It very effectively reduces pain, numbness, burning and other unpleasant sensations of neuropathy. It has been documented by various physicans that it can restore liver function as well as help diabetic patients.

Facet Injections

A facet injection is a non-surgical treatment that can temporarily "block pain" in your neck and back from inflammation of the facet joints in your spine. The effects of facet injections tend to be temporary. Relief can be felt from one week up to one year if successful. Facet injections may provide relief of pain and inflammation as well as provide more diagnostic info for the doctor.The injection "blocks" the pain much the same way your dentist would use an anesthetic injection to block pain in your jaw before working on your teeth. The neck, low back and leg region are the general areas that facet injections would be appropriate.

Glutathione and Parkinson Disease

Parkinson disease is a devastating illness, which occurs in one out of every 100 people over the age of 65. It is a slowly progressing disease of the nervous system that results in progressive destruction of certain brain cells or neurons in an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. It is thought that these neurons in the substantia nigra are damaged by free radicals or reactive oxygen species produced by oxidation of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, which is used by the cells of the substantia nigra. The dopamine is a chemical messenger between the brain or nerve cells to communicate with cells in another region of the brain called the striatum; however, when the nigral cells are destroyed or lost, nigral dopamine levels resulting in a decrease in striatal dopamine. When this occurs, the patient's with Parkinson's disease have motor function deficiencies characterized by muscle rigidity, jerky movements, rhythmic resting tremors, depression, and other debilitating neurological problems.

The pharmaceutical industry has developed dopaminergic drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease. These drugs are aimed at temporarily replenishing or mimicking dopamine. These medications can improve some symptoms, but do not restore normal brain function nor do they help brain cell destruction of the substantia nigra. These Parkinson drugs are generally effective at first in reducing many of the Parkinson's disease symptoms, but overtime these medications lose their effectiveness. These medications also have severe side effects because they do over stimulate the nerve cells elsewhere in the body and can cause confusion, hallucinations, nausea, and fluctuations in the movements of the limbs along with severe fatigue. Also, it should be noted that when the dopaminergic neurons and the substantia nigra are lost in the course of Parkinson's disease, the metabolism of the neurotransmitter dopamine is increased, which then in turn increases the formation of highly neurotoxic hydroxyl radicals, which cause even more dsestruction to the substantia nigra and more devastating effects of the Parkinson's disease. There a free radical scavenger in the cells of the substantia nigra , and it is a powerful brain antioxidant; this is called glutathione. Glutothione levels in Parkinson's disease patients is very low as we age, levels of glutathione in the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra decreases even more. This appears to advance the progression of Parkinson's disease even further. It should be noted that at least 80% of the substantia nigra cells are lost before symptoms of Parkinson's disease become noticeable.

Therefore, it is very important that glutathione is replaced in patients withparkinson's disease to help with not only the patients' symptoms , but also the progression of the disease. Unfortunately, glutathione in the oral form is not absorbed through the GI tract and really does not give a patient any benefit. Therefore, IV glutathione infusions are needed to give patients this powerful detoxification enzyme.

It can be concluded that glutathione is beneficial for Parkinson's disease because . . .

1. Glutothione increases the sensitivity of the brain to dopamine, which is not utilized in
    patients with Parkinson's disease. It is also thought that glutathione does not raise     dopamine levels: it just allows the dopamine in the brain to be more effective.
2. Glutothione's powerful antioxidant activity protects the brain from free
    radical damage.
3. Even more benefit of glutathione lies in its powerful detoxification ability, which has
    so many important positive effects for the body.

The glutathione protocol that I use in my office should be credited to Dr. David Perlmutter, who is a neurologist, that practices in Florida. He has been performing glutathione infusions since the late 1990's with terrific success. For more specific information on Dr. Perlmutter protocol, you can visit his web site at www.brainrecovery.com.

In many cases, the patients will get immediate relief of their tremors, spasticity, rigor and improvement with their gait after the first IV infusion. I guess at this juncture everyone reading this is wondering why they have not heard of glutathione. The reason why most people have not heard of it is because the pharmaceutical companies are not advertising a compound that cannot be patterned and can never be owned by any particular drug company. Therefore, the pharmaceutical companies are out to lose a lot of money if Parkinson's disease can be controlled or treated with a simple natural compound.

In addition to being extremely helpful in Parkinson's disease, glutathione is helpful for many other chronic diseases. It has been used in diseases like Lou Gehrig's disease or ALS, MS, HIV, and other neurological problems caused by chemical exposures. Glutothione has many other medical applications, too many to discuss in this basic oracle information. It is nothing short of miraculous for many patients suffering from Parkinson's disease.

If you have any further questions concerning any of the information in this article, please call my office where I will gladly talk to you personally. If you are interested in the glutathione protocol by Dr. Perlmutter, M.D. please call today to see if you are candidate.

Interlaminar and Transforaminal Epidural Injections:

i) Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Epidural Injections

Cervical epidural injections treat the neck, shoulder, and arms. Thoracic injections are for the upper back, chest and abdomen. Finally Lumbar injections target the low back, hip and buttock areas. Epidural Injections are used to help a patient get enough pain relief to progress with daily life or rehabilitation. Through fluoroscopic (an x-ray procedure that helps the doctor pinpoint the area where the needle is be placed) guidance the actual injection delivers steroids into the epidural space around the spinal nerve roots to temporarily remove pain. This type of epidural injection works on approximately 50% of patients to help reduce pain. Typically, after an epidural injection the area where the doctor put the needle may be quite sore. This will ,most likely, subside within a few days of the procedure.

ii) Leg and Back Epidural Injections

Transforaminal epidural injections are used to treat leg and back pain. This type of steroidal injection is indicated for those individuals who are trying to avoid surgery. It is performed through fluoroscopic guidance. People who have these spinal conditions such as: disc herniations, foraminal stenosis, and lateral disc herniations would benefit from this type of epidural. This type of epidural injection has had a success rate of 74% to 84%. Side effects are very minimal, and include but are not limited to headaches, blood pressure changes, and discomfort at the needle insertion site.

Lidocaine Infusion

Lidocaine is used to both control patients' pain and improve their quality of life. Lidocaine doesn't have the same side effects as commonly used opoids and other analgesics. Lidocaine is used to treat neuropathic pain conditions including diabetic neuropathy , post op pain , headache, and malignant nerve infiltration. A lidocaine infusion usually lasts between 20-30 minutes at which time vital signs and pain intensity are monitored. This type of treatment can only be considered after the patient has a complete pain assessment as well as physical examination.

Lumbar Radio Frequency Neurotomy

Radiofrequency is a procedure done to reduce or stop pain in the spinal facets. A small needle-like tube called a cannula is inserted in to the medial branch using an x-ray or fluoroscope to help position the cannula correctly. An electrode is inserted down the cannula with a small amount of electricity which stimulates the area. The doctor sends enough electricity through the electrode to heat the nerve. An increase in pain may occur for about a week after the procedure. The pain will generally fade with the recommended 3-5 treatments.

Myobloc Injections

Myobloc is commonly used for myofascial pain syndrome defined by the presence of trigger points and referred pain. Myobloc was FDA approved last year for the treatment of dystonia and migraine therapy. In recent studies done of cervical dystonia the analgesic effect of the neurotoxins appeared to have a greater duration of action than the other more direct neuromuscular effects. Significant side effects are uncommon, but pain muscle weakness, and a flu like system have been reported.

Osteopathic Manipulation

Osteopathic manipulation Therapy is a system evaluation and treatment designed to achieve and maintain health by restoring normal function to the body. Omt is different from what a chiropractor would perform. Chiropractors focus on realigning the joints. Osteopathic Doctors believe that problems in the spinal column can affect the nerves that radiate to various organs, consequently causing disease. OMT is used for musculoskeletal disorders. The most common disorders are chronic low back pain ,neck pain, sports related injuries, and some types of headaches. There are no known side effects to OMT other than soreness for a couple of days after the manipulation.

Percutaneous Electrical Stimulation for Spinal Pain

"Pens" is used to stimulate nerve fibers that are located in the deep tissues. Stimulating deep tissue nerve fibers allows the body to reprogram the nervous systems perception of pain. It brings the neural activity back into balance overtime. "Pens" has been associated with significant pain relief. In many studies "pens" has decreased the intake of pain medication, and improved physical activity.

Prolotherapy

The cause of back pain and other chronic pain problems as well as joint pain is caused directly or indirectly by ligament failure. Ligaments are the structures which hold bones together and stabilize joints which constitutes 6% of the body. The framework of the skeleton consists of ligaments, fascia and bones.

The ligaments are the structural "rubber bands that hold the bones to bones", which make up joints. These ligaments can become weak or injured and may not heal back to the original strength or endurance. This is largely because the blood supply to the ligaments is limited and therefore, healing is slow and may not occur at all. Prolotherapy is very helpful to treat these ligaments, which have become injured. Prolotherpy uses a sugar solution, which is injected into the ligament or tendon where it attaches to the bone. This causes a localized specific inflammation to the weak tendon or ligament, which then increases the blood supply. When blood supply is increased to the tendon or ligament, it allows for the flow of nutrients and stimulates the tissue that has become injured to repair itself.

This treatment can be used to treat any joint in the body including the neck, low back, rib cage, knee, hip and shoulder. You may ask how long it will take to complete a course of treatment? The response to treatment varies from individual to individual and depends upon the persons healing ability. The healing ability is directly related to the immunes system and/or the endocrine or hormonal system, which may be deficient.

Dr.Kauffman's treatment plan revolves around correcting any endocrine or hormonal problems as well as any immune deficiencies prior to prolotherapy. If the immune system and/or endocrine hormonal system is deficient, the sugar solution will not allow the proper nutrients to flow to the ligament or tendon that has become damaged and the prolotherapy will take much longer or may not work at all. It is therefore very important that the immune system as well as the endocrine or hormonal system is addressed prior to prolotherapy.

The ability to boost the immune system in conjunction with correcting any endocrine or hormonal problems along with prolotherapy can eleviate the most chronic pain problems including herniated discs, fibromyalgia, arthritic conditions etc. So, if you are suffering from any chronic pain condition, come in for consultation with Dr.Kauffman and see if you you are an appropriate canidate for proltherapy or other alternative treatments, which do not involve narcotics or risky surgery.

To learn more about Prolotherapy, please click HERE to listen to a sampling of Dr. Kauffman's radio show on which he specifically discusses Prolotherapy.

Synvisc

Synvisc is an FDA approved therapy that is used to provide pain relief from Osteoarthritis of the knee. In knees with Osteoarthritis the cartilage that protects the ends of bones deteriorates , and the joint fluid called synovial fluid also breaks down. Overtime the knee joint loses its lubrication and bone begins to rub on bone. This can result in pain, stiffness, and loss of range of movement. Synvisc is administered by a series of three injections to the knee joint over 15 days and can provide up to six months of pain relief.