Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Medtronic Baclofen Pump Implanted

My MS spasticity had increased and increasing the oral baclofen resulted in my entire body swelling and functionality almost at zero. I ended up in the hospital to reduce the swelling and was introduced to the baclofen pump. After discharge I tool my healthcare into my own hands and pursued the baclofen pump. After consulting with the Dr., Physician Assistant, and Medtronic Rep I made the decision to have the Medtronic ITB pump implanted.

Before the pump was implanted I needed to have a test dose to ensure that this form of medicine infusion would work. It was amazing how fast my spasms disappeared. I am a past Medtronic Employee which sped up my surgery date to four days after the test dose.

I am a different person now. My spasms are gone, but so is the tone in my legs. This means that I was using the spasms to help stand and transfer. I now need to do quite a bit of physical therapy to strengthen my muscles. I also have so much more energy. I used to wake up and see everything as hard work, which meant not much got done. Now I am accomplishing so much more and even taking on the little things that I never even would have touched before.

Here is a clip from the Medtronic website about their pump

"People who suffer from severe spasticity resulting from cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, traumatic brain injury, or spinal cord injury may be a candidate for ITB Therapy. If you have spasticity due to spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis you must first fail oral baclofen. If you have experienced a traumatic brain injury you must first wait 1 year after the injury to be considered for ITB Therapy. A screening test will help show if you will respond to the intrathecal baclofen. You should not receive ITB Therapy if you have an infection, are allergic to baclofen, or your body size is too small to hold the implantable pump."

For more information about the pump click here.

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