Microstim® for Pain of Chronic Wounds

058-OMDPodcast-Microstim-for Pain of-Chronic-Wounds
Carlyle

Welcome to the Organic MD podcast with Dr. Damon Miller. This is Carlyle Coash. How are you doing today Dr. Miller?


Dr. Miller

Well, thank you, Carlyle, thank you for asking. I am doing well today. It is a nice day outside. Starting to get cold here, we might actually be having a hard freeze. I worry about my banana tree. Do not worry, the banana tree will be okay. No banana trees have to die for us to make this podcast

Carlyle

Good, good. I am going to worry now about the banana tree

Dr. Miller

Okay, we will send it prayers.

So, this is the second in a series of podcasts that we are doing, talking about the micro stim microcurrent stimulator. Today, I wanted to talk about a use for this technology that, again, may not be all that common, but it has been well documented in peer reviewed literature. It helps explain some of the things that the microcurrent stimulation technology can do. We are going to be talking about the use of this technology dealing with the pain and discomfort that come with chronic non-healing wounds.

Where might you see chronic non-healing wounds? We are going to talk about three things and they are all rather similar. In diabetes, people with advanced diabetes, get poor circulation. Most of the secondary complications of diabetes, in fact, are due to poor circulation here and there. Poor circulation in the vessels to the kidney cause kidney problems. Poor circulation in the vessels of the heart, cause heart problems. Poor circulation in the distal circulation, especially in the legs and feet, can lead to the formation of wounds that do not heal well.

They nick themselves. Usually, it starts with getting a bruise or a cut or something, and it just does not heal. It forms a sort of ulcer and non-healing wound. The same thing you can see in vascular problems for other reasons. Somebody has advanced atherosclerotic disease that is affecting the vessels in their legs, and they can get the same thing. They can get non-healing wounds due to the poor circulation.


Carlyle

I have seen that a lot in my work in hospice. If a person had things going on, including diabetes, and their body is weakened as well, so the whole system is more compromised. And the pain and discomfort from those is sometimes overwhelming for people.

Dr. Miller

The other thing that I will throw in here, which can also be a problem, is what are called pressure ulcers. In other words, people who have been paralyzed or who are so sick that they are stuck in bed. They are not being moved around properly, they lay too long in one position, and they get a stress or a pressure ulcer. Those are very slow to heal and can actually…In my medical training, I saw a number of people working as an intern, where they were not my patients, but the sort of thing that brought them down that ended their life were bad pressure ulcers they got in a nursing home or something like that

Carlyle

Yeah, it is amazing how little it takes for them to start, and how hard it is to resolve them

Dr. Miller

Right. So, stay tuned because in just a minute, we are going to be talking about how this can help with those. The final chronic wound, which is a little rare, but this is such a great technology that we need to mention it here, and that is the non-healing wounds that come if you have been bitten by a brown recluse spider.

The brown recluse spider is found pretty much all over the United States they tend to be in leaves by the house, woodpiles, and debris. They are small, hard to see, and they have a little violin on their back. They do not hurt when they bite you, usually, but they inject a venom. That venom causes a little local area where circulation shuts down, the tissue becomes necrotic, and those can take months to heal without any kind of proper intervention. It can actually require surgery to breed the area and really help them get rid of that non-healing skin by doing skin grafts, so it can be a mess. Brown recluse spider bites can be a mess.

Where does microcurrent stem play in all of this? Well, all of these things are painful and microcurrent stimulation is a great, great therapy to help deal with the pain, while other things are being done to heal these injuries. There is some data that the microcurrent stimulation may actually contribute to the healing itself. There have been studies that show, especially in the lower extremities, the application of microcurrent stimulation leads to improved and increased circulation in the area that is treated.

The application of microcurrent stimulation has been shown to increase the production of ATP, adenosine triphosphate, which is basically the fuel that powers your cells. The cells have more energy and more gas, basically, to do the work that is needed for healing, so the microcurrent stimulation probably helps with that. There have actually been studies, especially when you talk about these common things, like the diabetic pressure ulcers, that show accelerated healing and improved healing. Meaning healing happens faster, better, more completely, if microcurrent stimulation is included as one of the therapies in trying to address these injuries.

These are common things, waiting just for the body to heal them, often is enough, but because they have all of these things that we have mentioned, the pressure ulcers, ischemic ulcers, diabetic ulcers, all sorts related to brown recluse spider bites. All those things have the potential to get secondarily infected, really kind of spiral out of control, and cause a lot of secondary problems. You want to throw at these things, every safe therapy you can think of, to really try and speed up the healing and keep the person comfortable without drugs and surgery while you are doing it

Carlyle

Things like being mindful of diet, and other things like that, also help alongside the microcurrent. What would be the other things you might do, in addition?


Dr. Miller

Yeah, everything that you can do to make you healthier is going to help with healing. The kinds of nutrition that you need to rebuild muscles, skin, connective tissue, if you are trying to heal an ulcer, you need adequate protein that is of high quality, and you need to take away garbage out of the diet that might be causing your body to react. A lot of people do better with a little more protein in their diet, and a healthier diet full of fruits, and vegetables, and fibers. Obviously, if you are capable, simple exercise, moving around, walking, and things that helps improve the circulation. There are therapies when you have these kinds of non-healing wounds and there is often a lot of congestion in the lymph system.

Therapies that improve lymph flow, everything from just walking to lymphatic massage therapy to vibrating plates, you see those in physical therapy offices, where you stand on a plate and it vibrates. That moves the lymph to special lymph star and different machines that use different energies to mobilize and liquefy lymph, so it can be moved along. Then also, there are certain homeopathics and things that help with lymph.

All of those things are important to attend to as well, but the piece that can really add a lot, if you have access to it, is the microcurrent stimulation. The nice thing about the micro stim unit is it is a very high-quality unit. I do not know of anything out there that is portable or better. It is quite affordable because you really need to be doing these therapies almost two or three times a day, virtually six days a week, five days a week. It is just unworkable to be running into a therapists office multiple times a day, every day of the week. It is just impossible to do but it also becomes incredibly expensive, so we do this.

If you have trouble with these things and you feel like you are not quite sure what to do, you can contact us. We can either put you in touch with a practitioner near you or we can work with you from a distance. Get you a microcurrent machine, get you going with the proper protocol, and help you. That is what we are here for

Carlyle

Excellent, that is a good thing to be here for

Dr. Miller

It is, thank you. Okay, well, I think that is all I have to say about help for chronic wounds


Carlyle

Great. Thank you so much, Dr. Miller

Dr. Miller

Okay, thanks Carlyle. We will be back soon.