A New Shot at Pain Relief

For millions of Americans, chronic pain gets in the way of enjoying- even functioning- in everyday life. So an increasing number are turning to pain management to take the stress off. "A lot of times patients can't be fixed, quite honestly. And what you're trying to do is maximize their ability to lead a functional life," explains pain management specialist Dr. Gene Mahaney. He is on medical staff at Lee Memorial Health System. A frequently used option is injection therapy, which pinpoints pain at its source. Treatment was based mostly on steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs - until now. "Sometimes homeopathic medicines can be used very efficiently to get good relief for patients' pain," says Dr. Mahaney. People who have little response to traditional injections or are reluctant to use them may be interested in the growing trend toward nature-based injectables. "They are naturally occurring substances that do not have any interactions with medications in the body," Dr. Mahaney says. "We use medications such as Traumeel. Zeel is another one that's commonly used in Europe. Sarapin is a pitcher plant extract that is seemingly without any toxicity for the human body but seems to block a lot of pain receptors at the same time." Doctors find the naturally-occurring substances may relieve pain for longer periods of time than typical steroid injections. And while patients are getting relief, they are also getting peace of mind. "Patients are very appreciative when we can use something that's naturopathic or homeopathic that they don't need to worry about will conflict with their existing medications in any way," says Dr. Mahaney. It is an option that might be worth exploring for people willing to take a shot at a new form of pain management. View More Health Matters video segments at leememorial.org/healthmatters/ Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we've been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.

Epidural Steroid Injections, The Truth...

d Dr. Oz episode, you will learn what many pain doctors fail to disclose. The safety and efficacy of epidural steroid injections were never properly demonstrated to the FDA and thus were never approved! Considering that the majority of the trial tests for off-licensed ESI's were directly funded by the very same doctors and institutions that would later financially benefit from the practice, it's no mystery why the manufacturers never submitted an application for FDA approval. The makers saw the obvious conflict of interest, knew of the severe adverse medical event reports and warned the FDA in writing in 1988 and '89 to "alert the medical community." These requests along with a label change for the drug were denied by the FDA for unknown reasons. So Upjohn (the originators of Depo-Medrol) and their new owner Pharmacia backed off at that time. It's likely that they decided to leave it to the discretion of the prescribing physician. The "Injection-Mill" industry happily agreed that it was better to keep the practice "off label". (Pfizer now owns Pharmacia&Upjohn) Note: (Earlier in 1983, Upjohn did try to first have Depo-Medrol approved for epidural administration in Australia and New Zealand but the Health authorities there rejected their safety and efficacy data, thus the effort failed. Upjohn never applied for epidural approval again. Five years later in '88 and again in '89, Upjohn did warn the US-FDA about the severe adverse reports they were receiving from ESI's. They asked permission to make significant label changes and to distribute letters alerting the heavy users about intraspinal/epidural issues but the agency rejected their efforts.) Remember, there are no steroid brands anywhere on Earth, regardless of the maker, that are indicated and safety approved for epidural administration by any Health Authority, including the US-FDA. Doctors will rarely, if ever, tell you this fact. Many wrongly believe it is FDA approved for ESI's while others believe it was strictly a financial decision not to apply for FDA approval. They're all flat wrong! Epidural Steroid Injections, The Truth... Finally! / Part 1 Epidural Steroid Injections, The Truth... Finally! / Part 2