Friday, January 15, 2010

Stem Cell Therapy with Regenexx

After failing to follow instructions correctly during the DRX-9000 spinal decompression treatment and playing the nintendo Wii like a mad-man after 75% of the treatment sessions had been completed, I had another pain crisis and I've decided to look ahead and try out some other treatments. I think that the disc collapsed again after failing to heal completely. THE DAMN PAIN WAS BACK AND WORSE THAN EVER! I felt like crap, completely depressed and hopeless. I thought to myself that I needed to start ALL OVER AGAIN. Which is basically true. I can tell you though, that the decompression treatment definitely works. If I had maintained a steady level of exercise and activity, it would've succeeded! That it worked for me is a different story.. but that was because I felt over-confident when I hadn't started the back-strenghtening exercises.

I've decided to go along with the next treatment: REGENEXX stem cell therapy for the lumbar spine. Since I haven't read any real testimonials online regarding the results of the treatment (except for this one lady 
My Bad Back ~Treatments, Therapy, Regenexx ), I've decided to go forth and try the Regenexx stem cell therapy for the lumbar spine and let you all know on how it goes. I've been researching them for quite a while now and I've decided that their process is legitimate enough to give it a try.

I called them up and they told me I needed to mail the MRI in CD-format alongside the MRI report. I also needed to complete an online questionnaire which basically asked me what I had been diagnosed with and what I've been doing to try and heal it. You then have to call them again and pay $200 with a credit card for a 30-minute phone interview with one of the main doctors. I, personally, have an phone interview appointment scheduled for this wednesday January 13th at 8:30AM with Dr. Schultz. When that time comes, I'll post all the details, SO IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO ASK, SEND ME A MESSAGE OR POST IT HERE PLEASE! Here's a list of questions that I am currently planning on asking:
-Won't the stem cells die off if the disc has disc degenerative disease?
-What kind of therapy should I be doing alongside the treatment?
-What is the success rate with the lumbar disc stem cell treatment?
-How soon should I EXPECT to see results?

So I guess I'll be the guinea pig here! If this doesn't work, I'll be going to the Stenum Hospital in Germany for the M6 Lumbar Artificial Disc Replacement. It looks too awesome to be left out! In any case, I will have another MRI done after the treatment.. you know, for comparison purposes. I will also post graphs with pain levels and other stuff.

In case you don't know what Regenexx is, look it up on google and go to their website. What they do is they take stem cells from your bone marrow in the first session. They then reproduce them and three weeks later they inject them directly into your disc. A week later they do it again. The clinic is near Denver, Colorado. They told me the lumbar treatment costs $9000 
. My insurance company (IHI BUPA) is european and they covered my decompression treatment, so I think I shouldn't have a problem with this. Regardless of this, I'm willing to fork down the money even if it means I can't eat steak anymore!

Also, if anybody here has done this treatment before, how did it go?

Cheers and good luck to everybody!