UK national goes under knife in city to `cure' rare headaches
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32-Year-Old Expat Would Pop 20 Pills A Day For Relief
Instead of living with daily
headaches and popping up to 20 pills a day for almost 20 days a month, a
32-year-old British expatriate decided to get a surgical solution in
Mumbai. George Johnston underwent a nerve stimulation procedure to
`cure' his rare headaches, classified medically as intractable occipital
headaches.
“It was towards the right side at the back of his head,“ said neurosurgeon Dr Paresh Doshi, who operated on Johnston at Jaslok Hospital on October 30. Johnston, a bank accountant working with a firm in Chennai, said, “The pain continued through the day and night. I put on weight as I couldn't cycle to work or even go to work on some days.“ Johnston, within a year, had run through the whole gamut of treatments--from medica tions to nerve-blocker injections. He chose India because of the long waiting list of the nerve-stimulation procedure back home in the UK. “Moreover, it's half the cost,“ he said.
If Johnston decided to undergo the procedure within 13 months of intense pain, another neurosurgery patient, 61-year-old Uday Shenai, waited for almost 17 years after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease to seek surgery (see story in box).
“Patients, especially in India, will go to any extent to avoid surgery.A patient had to be detoxed for taking anti-migraine medications for 17 years, but he did not want to hear the mention of surgery ,“ said Dr Doshi.
Dr Doshi performed the occipital nerve stimulation procedure, in which a small incision is made in the lateral part of the neck to implant two electrodes--one on the left and another on the right side. “The electrodes are connected with a pacemaker implanted in the chest wall.As and when the patient experiences pain, he can use a remote controllike device to stimulate the electrodes,“ said Doshi. The pain then disappears.
“It was towards the right side at the back of his head,“ said neurosurgeon Dr Paresh Doshi, who operated on Johnston at Jaslok Hospital on October 30. Johnston, a bank accountant working with a firm in Chennai, said, “The pain continued through the day and night. I put on weight as I couldn't cycle to work or even go to work on some days.“ Johnston, within a year, had run through the whole gamut of treatments--from medica tions to nerve-blocker injections. He chose India because of the long waiting list of the nerve-stimulation procedure back home in the UK. “Moreover, it's half the cost,“ he said.
If Johnston decided to undergo the procedure within 13 months of intense pain, another neurosurgery patient, 61-year-old Uday Shenai, waited for almost 17 years after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease to seek surgery (see story in box).
“Patients, especially in India, will go to any extent to avoid surgery.A patient had to be detoxed for taking anti-migraine medications for 17 years, but he did not want to hear the mention of surgery ,“ said Dr Doshi.
Dr Doshi performed the occipital nerve stimulation procedure, in which a small incision is made in the lateral part of the neck to implant two electrodes--one on the left and another on the right side. “The electrodes are connected with a pacemaker implanted in the chest wall.As and when the patient experiences pain, he can use a remote controllike device to stimulate the electrodes,“ said Doshi. The pain then disappears.
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