Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Treatment Report : PatientsLikeMe

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Home > Community Treatment Reports and Side Effects > Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Treatment Report

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What is Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)?

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical treatment which stimulates the brain with mild electrical signals. DBS is used to treat tremor and other motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. DBS has been applied to the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus and the pallidum areas of the brain.

Reported Purpose & Efficacy

Reasons and Efficacy
Purpose	# of patients	# of patients with evaluations Efficacy
Parkinson's Disease	167	47
Stiffness/Spasticity	16	6
Dyskinesia	11	5
Other	9	3
Dystonia	5	2
Tremor	5	3

See all 21 reasons taken ▼

See all 124 patients currently having Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

Mouse over the table for more information

Reported Side Effects

Side effects as an overall problem

Severe	3
Moderate	9
Mild	19
None	28

Commonly reported side effects, conditions, and hospitalizations associated with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

See all 45 reported side effects ▼ See top 6 reported side effects ▲
Hospitalization	13	13
Weight gain	5	5
Mobility decreased	3	3
Balance problems	3	3
Pain in shoulders	3	3
Speech problems	3	3
Neck pain	3	3
Depressed mood	3	3
Balance worsened	2	2
Sleeplessness	2	2
Soft voice	2	2
Freezing of gait	1	1
Face drooping permanent frown	1	1
Word fishing	1	1
Swallowing difficulty (dysphagia)	1	1
Walking problems	1	1
Seizures (grand mal or tonic-clonic)	1	1
Drooling	1	1
Dyskinesia	1	1
Hospitalization	1	1
Excess saliva	1	1
Jerky movements (dyskinesia)	1	1
Difficulty projecting voice	1	1
Weakness in legs	1	1
Memory Loss	1	1
Numbness in fingers	1	1
sometimes am not as vocal as I would like to be and "hold back" how I REALLY feel	1	1
Tremor	1	1
Pain in right hand	1	1
Cognitive decline	1	1
Loss of balance	1	1
Injection site infection	1	1
Problems with focusing eyes	1	1
Neck and Shoulder muscle soreness	1	1
Visual disturbances (ie seeing stars and light flashes)	1	1
Dizziness/walking like I'm drunk	1	1
Black and blue bruising	1	1
mild pulling sensation in my neck from the wire threaded under the skin	1	1
Tingling near implant	1	1
Hair hurts (allodynia on scalp)	1	1
Dependent on doctor	1	1
Stuffy nose	1	1
Hypomania	1	1
Tremor in hands	1	1
Dizziness	1	1

Reported Stop Reasons

Why Patients Stopped Having Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) (multiple reasons could be selected)
Reason	# Patients	Percentage of patients
Not indicated	73
Did not seem to work	4
Side effects too severe	3
Doctor's advice	1
Other	1
Course of treatment ended	1

See all 78 patients who’ve stopped having Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

Reported Duration See details about how long patients take this treatment ▼ Reported Duration Hide details ▲

Currently Having Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

A bar graph

0-1 month	1-3 months	3-6 months	6 months-1year	1-2 years	2 years or more
0	0	0	1	4	40

Stopped Having Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

A bar graph

0-1 month	1-3 months	3-6 months	6 months-1year	1-2 years	2 years or more
0	0	1	5	1	2

Reported Adherence, Burden & Cost See details from patient evaluations ▼

Adherence

Taking treatment as prescribed

Adherence of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

Always	51	86%
Usually	4	7%
Sometimes	2	3%
Never	2	3%

Burden

Difficulty being on treatment

Burden of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

Very	4	7%
Somewhat	9	15%
A little	11	19%
Not at all	35	59%

Cost

Paid out of pocket

Cost of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

$200+	7	23%
$100-199	0	0%
$50-99	0	0%
$25-49	3	10%
< $25	20	65%

Patient Evaluations

See all 59 patient evaluations

nanuq50

Sex: M

Mouth/throat: mild

Arms: mild

Chest: mild

Legs: mild
nanuq50

since Jan 09, 2009
Efficacy Major for Parkinson's Disease
Side Effects None
Advice/Tips Allowed me to reduce my sinemet dosage 80%, eliminated agonist and amantadine, since have restarted to reduce sinemet even further. My balance and speech ha... See full evaluation

DWEST

Sex: M

Mouth/throat: mild

Arms: mild

Chest: mild

Legs: mild
DWEST

since Nov 18, 2008
Efficacy Major for Parkinson's Disease
Side Effects None
Advice/Tips I recommend everyone who has PD to at least be evaluated by a neurologist and neurosurgeon to see if they are candidates. See full evaluation

browncat87

Sex: F

On

Mouth/throat: none

Arms: mild

Chest: mild

Legs: none
browncat87

daily

since Feb 18, 2009
Efficacy Major for Parkinson's Disease
Side Effects None
See full evaluation

See all 59 patient evaluations

Report created on February 11, 2012.

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