good news! my neurologist is giving me a referral for laser treatment of my pain...

[CTyankee]

so I am calling Hartford Hospital's pain prevention program and getting an appointment set up.

http://www.harthosp.org/pain/default.aspx

It's a 45 minute drive from New Haven up to Hartford. I'm getting particulars on whether I need to be driven but Idoubt I'll need that.

My lingering shingles pain is just constant. It is now often a stinging pain, as if something suddenly bit me. Hopefully, the treatment or treatments will not be too expensive because I hear that insurance usually doesn't cover it.

I'll let you know how it goes. I'm sure it's an option in lots of major cities...

Stay tuned...

[Jim__]

1. I hope it works!

[brer cat]

2. Sending you a lot of good vibes

and hopes that it will work!

[postulater]

3. Laser treatment? Isn't that considered woo by REAL doctors?

To be used only by quacks like chiropractors?

Seriously though, I'm glad that you are being helped to find what may be a safer and more effective solution to your problem. It is way too uncommon for alternate approaches to be recommended by MDs, let alone covered by health insurance.

Good luck, keep us posted.

[CTyankee]

4. Hartford Hospital is hardly a "woo" place...so I wouldn't expect they'd just

accept anything that isn't medically accurate.

[postulater]

5. Here's the most recent human clinical trial I could find about laser and herpes zoster.

From 1991 with no control group.

If this is all there is, then it is not much more scientific than many other modalities or treatments that are considered woo.

I hope it works for you. In fact I will be surprised if it doesn't.

My only point is that some 'alternate' or 'woo' approaches have little published data and yet many people benefit from them.



http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10149452

J Clin Laser Med Surg. 1991 Apr;9(2):121-6.
Evaluation of analgesic effect of low-power He:Ne laser on postherpetic neuralgia using VAS and modified McGill pain questionnaire.
Iijima K1, Shimoyama N, Shimoyama M, Mizuguchi T.
Author information
Abstract
In order to investigate the efficacy of low-power He:Ne laser in treatment of pain, we irradiated 18 outpatients with severe postherpetic neuralgia. The efficacy of the low-power laser treatment was evaluated using a four-grade estimation, visual analog scale (VAS), and modified McGill pain questionnaire (m-MPQ) after every 10 of as many as 50 irradiations. The efficacy rate using a four-grade estimation at the end of 50 treatments was 94.4%. VAS decreased from 6.2 before irradiation therapy to 3.6 after 50 treatments, and the degree of pain relief was reduced to 44.6% and correlated with the number of treatments. The total numbers of words and the total scores of the m-MPQ decreased as the number of treatments increased. No complications attributable to the laser therapy were observed. These results suggest that repeated irradiation with low-power He:Ne laser is an effective and safe therapy for postherpetic neuralgia.

[CTyankee]

6. Oh, thanks for this. I'm setting up my appointment Monday morning. They will have

the referral from my neuro by then and they require an M.D. referral to get an appointment.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. Good luck with this and let us know how it goes...

I previously had acupuncture for my chronic pain as well as DMSO treatments, so I'm not willing to dismiss any type of treatment and this looks like an excellent facility.

[mopinko]

8. fingers crossed.

wishing you great luck.

[CTyankee]

9. thanks. I haven't heard from them. I called and left a voice message asking if they

got the referral from my doctor. It should have been faxed yesterday.

[CTyankee]

10. Yay! Got my appointment set up for laser treatment for my shingles!

They couldn't be more accommodating! I'm getting the first appt. next Tuesday which will be my health history, etc. followed by the first treatment. That's covered under my insurance but unfortunately, not the ones going forward. If it isn't helpful they pretty much know after the first 3 treatments at $50 per treatment.

Let's hope my shingles pain will be a thing of the past and I can move on.

I will keep you informed about this treatment here in the Health group. I think it's good to record it for other DUers who may be having the same problem as I am.
Thanks for all your support!

Let's hope it's all good!