After the treatment, I could walk really fast. Previously, I had felt as though they were very heavy to lift and walking was comparable to wearing cement shoes. "My feet and legs felt light and pain-free. "I was tremendously better after just one treatment," she says. The new signals broke the pain cycle by retraining Karen's brain to understand that it was not really experiencing pain.Īlthough the scrambler does not ease symptoms of peripheral neuropathy in all cases, Karen's response was dramatic. The device sent painless electrical signals to the damaged nerves, and the nerves relayed those signals to the brain. During her treatment sessions as a participant in the research study, the damaged nerves in Karen's feet were connected by electrodes to the scrambler. The damaged nerves send aberrant signals to the brain, causing pain and the other symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy happens as a result of nerve damage.
#The scrambler trial
Then in December 2013, Karen learned of the clinical trial at Mayo Clinic that would change everything for her. Like many others who have this debilitating disorder, Karen tried everything she and her doctors could think of to relieve her pain. Traditionally, chronic peripheral neuropathy has been challenging to successfully treat. If there wasn't a spot close enough for me to walk the distance to and from my car, I would just go home." In time, it got so bad that whenever I went somewhere, I would analyze where I had to park my car and how far it was to get to the building. "It hurt if I was sitting, walking or standing," she says. The effect on Karen's life was overwhelming. But for some, like Karen, it can last long after other chemo side effects are gone and can have a significant impact on day-to-day life. For many people, the condition fades away after treatment is over. Peripheral neuropathy is a common side effect of some chemotherapy drugs. By the end of her treatments, her breast cancer was gone, but she had constant shooting pain and numbness in her feet and legs that left her weak and unable to maintain her balance. Karen began to notice symptoms of peripheral neuropathy shortly after she started receiving chemotherapy. Through her participation in the clinical trial and occasional follow-up treatments at Mayo Clinic, Karen has been able to leave peripheral neuropathy behind and reclaim her life.
#The scrambler series
After completing a series of treatments, she was pain-free for the first time in more than a decade. With MC-5A Calmare Therapy, often called "the scrambler" for short, Karen noticed improvement following the first session.
At that time, I thought it wouldn't be much longer before I couldn't walk anymore." I was analyzing my house to figure out where we could put a wheelchair ramp. "But years past, and the pain didn't get any better. Anything a doctor recommended or heard about, or anything I heard about, I'd give it a try if I could," Karen says. So in 2012 when she found out about a clinical research trial available at Mayo Clinic for people who had peripheral neuropathy after chemotherapy, she was interested, but not optimistic. Over time, Karen tried dozens of treatments to rid herself of the discomfort. Severe peripheral neuropathy - a side effect of breast cancer treatment she received in 2002 - left her with constant burning, tingling, numbness and pain in both her feet. Karen Safranek didn't take a worry-free step for 10 years. Participating in a clinical trial gave Karen Safranek a solution to her decade-long struggle with peripheral neuropathy
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