Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Shae Eichele-Gawry and Dr. Allen Burton discuss Complex Regional Pain Syndome

Transcript

Shae Eichele-Gawry and Dr. Allen Burton discuss Complex Regional Pain Syndome · Cyrus Webb's tracks

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  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your host,
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  Speaker 1: Cyrus Webb. Glad you all could join us once again.
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  Speaker 1: For our radio audience tuning in at WYED 94.1 FM
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  Speaker 1: and WYEDonline.com, we're glad that you all can be with us. Also,
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  Speaker 1: join us online worldwide via our podcast at iHeartRadio and
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  Speaker 1: Amazon Music. We're glad you all could be with us
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  Speaker 1: as well. This is part of our News and News
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  Speaker 1: segment here at WYED, and today we're talking about something
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  Speaker 1: you may not be familiar with, and that is CRPS.
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  Speaker 1: Former gymnast and cheerleader Shea Eichle-Gowrie never imagined that an
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  Speaker 1: advanced stunt would lead to years of severe debilitating pain
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  Speaker 1: and a diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS,
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  Speaker 1: one of the world's most painful chronic conditions. Now a
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  Speaker 1: competitive bodybuilder, Shea and Dr. Alan Burden, who's the chief
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  Speaker 1: medical officer at Abbott Neuromodulation Business, join us to discuss
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  Speaker 1: CRPS and how stimulation therapy positively changed Shea's life Thanks
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  Speaker 1: to the two of you for stopping by. I really
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  Speaker 1: appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having us.
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  Speaker 1: Shay, we're going to talk more about your own journey
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  Speaker 1: with CRPS here in a moment, but Dr. Burton, I
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  Speaker 1: want to begin with you. I mean, for our audience,
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  Speaker 1: this is what's new to me, but what is complex
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  Speaker 1: regional pain syndrome and how many people are affected by it?
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for having us talk about this important topic, Cyrus.
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  Speaker 3: I think chronic pain itself is a bit of a
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  Speaker 3: silent epidemic in the U.S. As many as 20 million
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  Speaker 3: Americans are affected with chronic severe pain. About 200,000 a
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  Speaker 3: year develop this disorder after minor trauma or surgery, and
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  Speaker 3: sometimes not minor trauma, but trauma, like in Shay's case,
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  Speaker 3: that is ongoing. So they develop a slight trauma, surgery,
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  Speaker 3: and then have a chronic pain disorder that blossoms out
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  Speaker 3: of this where the pain is much worse than expected
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  Speaker 3: following that type of injury or surgery. And that pain
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  Speaker 3: is very debilitating and can be extremely severe and becomes
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  Speaker 3: a much bigger problem than the initial trauma or surgery
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  Speaker 3: that the patient went through. So it can be quite
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  Speaker 3: intense and severe, again, affecting about 200,000 Americans annually, including
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  Speaker 3: what you'll hear from Shea.
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  Speaker 1: So, Shea, as I mentioned, people know you because of
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  Speaker 1: what you've been able to do, living an active life.
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  Speaker 1: Tell us what happened that led to your diagnosis of
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  Speaker 1: CRPS and how it's affected you.
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  Speaker 2: So in 2018, I fell out of a cheerleading stunt,
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  Speaker 2: and that resulted in two injuries. major leg reconstructions. And
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  Speaker 2: throughout that process, of course, it was a really tough
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  Speaker 2: recovery from the orthopedic perspective, having to go through different
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  Speaker 2: types of therapy, the general stuff that we see, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the therapy bands and all the dry needling and the
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  Speaker 2: normal things. And along that journey, my pain was getting worse.
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  Speaker 2: And the doctors were telling me, Shay, you had a
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  Speaker 2: really difficult surgery. Just keep pushing through. Just keep going
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  Speaker 2: to therapy. And ultimately, that was not leading me down
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  Speaker 2: to any other path than continuous pain, extreme pain. 15
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  Speaker 2: out of 10, extreme burning. I can't put a blanket on.
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  Speaker 2: I can't let hot water touch my leg. Not only
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  Speaker 2: physically debilitating, but mentally taking upwards of 20 to 30
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  Speaker 2: ibuprofen a day just to try to manage some of
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  Speaker 2: the pain. And about two years later, I was diagnosed
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  Speaker 2: with CRPS. And that is when I started my journey
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  Speaker 2: learning about the DRG stimulator from Abbott.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to talk more about that. Shea, thank
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  Speaker 1: you again for sharing your story. I think it's going
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  Speaker 1: to really help people. Dr. Burton, I want to ask you,
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  Speaker 1: because when I was prepping for this, what I noticed
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  Speaker 1: is that, you know, for everyone, things can be different
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to symptoms. How is it typically diagnosed
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  Speaker 1: and treated when it comes to CRPS?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, CRPS is a condition that is often treated by
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  Speaker 3: chronic pain specialists. So patients that have the kind of
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  Speaker 3: symptoms that Shea described, this intense, burning, severe, localized pain,
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  Speaker 3: need to seek a pain specialist through usually their primary
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  Speaker 3: care or their surgeon to get the diagnosis nailed down
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  Speaker 3: and then to get therapy and other directed treatments, which
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  Speaker 3: if they don't work, can be a path toward a
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  Speaker 3: proclaimed DRG system, which can be trialed, and then if
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  Speaker 3: the trial is highly successful, can be implanted, really restoring
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  Speaker 3: the patient's quality of life. So I encourage patients who
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  Speaker 3: have symptoms like Shay's to seek that referral to a
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  Speaker 3: pain specialist, and then to start asking about therapies, including, like,
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  Speaker 3: Proclaim DRG to see if they're a candidate.
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  Speaker 1: So, Shay, you referenced that yourself. Was that something that
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  Speaker 1: initially was able to help you manage your pain, or
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  Speaker 1: what were you able to do after you first got
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  Speaker 1: the diagnosis?
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  Speaker 2: So when I first got the diagnosis in 2020, we
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  Speaker 2: went through some more conservative treatment measures with medication, injections,
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  Speaker 2: things of that nature. And ultimately, when I ended up
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  Speaker 2: with the stimulator, immediate relief. I will never forget, you know, Dr.
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  Speaker 2: Burton mentioned there is a trial that happens. And so
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  Speaker 2: when I went through the trial, I remember waking up
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  Speaker 2: in tears. I mean, 80% pain relief right off the bat.
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  Speaker 2: I had never thought that I'd ever be able to
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  Speaker 2: experience that. And, you know, shortly after I was, after
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  Speaker 2: the recovery process, I was back to going to the gym,
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  Speaker 2: living a lifestyle that I never thought I'd be able
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  Speaker 2: to live. And the DRG gave me a second chance
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  Speaker 2: at life, and that couldn't be more true, and I
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  Speaker 2: couldn't be more thankful for the technology.
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  Speaker 1: That's incredible.
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  Speaker 3: So, Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Burton, what is the Abbott Proclaim DRG system, and how
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  Speaker 1: does it work for people living with CRPS?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for the question, Cyrus. We understand that CRPS
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  Speaker 3: is a group of irritated nerves called the DRG, dorsal
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  Speaker 3: root ganglion, that are really flared up and firing off.
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  Speaker 3: And so the Proclaim DRG system serves as like a
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  Speaker 3: pacemaker for that group of nerves. And really, with a
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  Speaker 3: small wire placed by the doctor near that group of nerves,
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  Speaker 3: this pacemaker, the Proclaim DRG system, quiets those nerves down,
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  Speaker 3: therefore calming the pain down and really restoring the patient's
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  Speaker 3: quality of life. And there's a lot more information about
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  Speaker 3: this for your listeners at aboutyourpain.com. if they feel as
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  Speaker 3: though they may be a potential candidate for this for
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  Speaker 3: themselves or even a family member.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll make sure that we link that website up
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  Speaker 1: as well, aboutyourpain.com.
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  Speaker 3: Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Burton, I really appreciate you all sharing this really important
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  Speaker 1: information for our audience. Maybe if it's something that they
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  Speaker 1: may feel like they may be impacted by or may
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  Speaker 1: know someone, it's great to know that there are treatment
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  Speaker 1: options available. And looking forward to speaking to the two
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  Speaker 1: of you again.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you. Appreciate it.
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  Speaker 1: You're welcome. And we thank your audience for tuning in
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  Speaker 1: to another great segment of Conversations Live, again, part of
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  Speaker 1: our music and news segment here at WYED. Until next time,
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Sarasweb Singh. As always, enjoy your day,
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  Speaker 1: enjoy your life, enjoy your world. Thank you for being
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: with us here at Conversations Live. Let us go make
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  Speaker 1: today amazing.
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  Speaker 3: Take care.