Sciatica Treatments
Monday, November 3rd, 2008Yesterday I talked about the use of chymopapain as a sciatica treatment, but forgot to include some important negative side effects which you need to be aware of before going down this sciatica treatment route.
Some Negatives about chymopapain as a sciatica treatment
Allergic reactions
In the clinical trials that led to approval of chymopapain as a sciatica treatment in the US, two out of 1,400 patients died because of allergic reactions to the enzyme. Such fatalities could probably have been avoided by proper testing to identify allergic patients and by giving them preventive medication. About 1 per cent of patients who have chymopapain injections to treat sciatica have an allergic reaction, although most are not fatal.
Severe back pain
About one-third of chymopapain sciatica treatment patients develop excruciating back pain from the injection. The pain lasts up to 48 hours and occasionally longer. Muscle relaxants and locally injected anesthetics used to ease this pain don’t provide much needed sciatica pain relief.
Inaccessibility to injection
Even when a myelogram or CT scan can locate a ruptured disc, a syringe cannot always reach the offending gel.
Not an all-purpose substitute for sciatica treatment or back surgery
Numerous other back ailments like sciatica, such as degenerative disc, spinal tumors, spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spinal column) and spondylolisthesis cannot be treated with chymopapain.
Like any other pain-relieving sciatica treatment, chymopapain doesn’t change the conditions that brought on the problem initially. But it does offer you a less invasive and debilitating alternative to disc surgery and an opportunity to rehabilitate your back and avoid future problems.
Success rates vary from hospital to hospital. More to the point, they vary from doctor to doctor. And it is extremely important to find one of the relatively few doctors who have had a lot of successful experience using chymopapain therapy as a sciatica treatment. Don’t assume that any competent surgeon or anesthetist has adequate training in chymopapain therapy.
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