Case Study 4:
“Finding this treatment is like ‘winning the Lottery,' says ENM patient”
A woman who considered suicide because of crippling pain caused by a long-standing illness has had her life transformed by a hand held device.
Marie Donald has been unable to work for years and had difficulty performing everyday tasks because of excruciating pain associated with the condition fibromyalgia, which she has suffered for 33 years.
The mother-of-two spent many thousands of pounds on treatments for the condition – which affects her muscles, tissues and ligaments – but pain continued to rule her life.
She says some of the treatments made her pain worse, which ultimately contributed to the end of her 32-year marriage.
She was exhausted all the time and was unable even to carry a handbag to the shops.
Then she discovered a new therapy called Electronic Nerve Modulation (ENM), invented by the healthcare company remedi and within a few weeks, things started to change.
The small, hand held unit uses electrical impulses to influence the way the central nervous system conducts chronic pain signals as they travel from the spinal column to the brain.
Many people who use the device report their chronic pain is significantly reduced after using the device. And, with long standing pain affecting one in five adults, and some sufferers even wanting to die, the ENM device is set to help thousands more Britons.
Mrs Donald said: “The pain I had with fibromyalgia had was so bad at times that it felt like I was being stabbed in the back.
“I endured it for 33 years, had tried all sorts of treatments. You name it I tried it. Then I tried ENM in May, using it for about two hours a day.
“I still have problems with pain, but this machine has made a wonderful difference.
“The other day I took my son to work at 8.15am, and came back at 1.15pm and was still up in the evening. I wouldn't have been able to so that in the past.
“There were times I was unable to carry handbag – I couldn't carry it to the shops – my partner had to do it for me. From the age of 22, I have felt like I was 90.
“After 33 years of having this condition, the machine has such difference. It's like winning the Lottery.”
ENM has been proved to work with pain associated a range of conditions – provided that the pain caused is chronic (persistent and long standing).
The device works on a simple principle. When we feel pain, nerve signals are sent from the injury site through the spinal cord and finally to the brain.
Electrical energy can interrupt nerve signals on their way through the spinal cord, effectively blocking the ache.
People who suffer from agonising conditions including sciatica, lumbago, backache, arthritis, headaches, migraines and osteoporosis are using ENM to help them regain control of their lives.
The ENM devices, which are the size of small personal stereos, are also very cost effective.
Patients can easily use them on themselves, without the help of a nurse. One electrode, on a sticky pad, is placed on the lower spinal column, the second at the base of the neck.
Mrs Donald is fully aware that her condition is something that won't go away, but thanks to the ENM, it is something she is able to live with
She said: “I can control the pain now. Before I did contemplate suicide.”
“ENM has changed my life. I can do all the things I like to do and appreciate them.”
The above case study formed the basis of articles printed in the Woodley Chronicle on 29th July 2004 and the Reading Evening Post on 3rd August 2004. |
