New help for uncontrollable shaking
For the past 15 years, for Johnnie Humphries, shaking and trembling has been a way of life.
CHARLOTTE -- There is new help for people who suffer from uncontrollable shaking. In years past, the only solution was to destroy portions of the brain but now, thanks to a groundbreaking procedure, that's no longer necessary.
For the past 15 years, for Johnnie Humphries, shaking and trembling has been a way of life. He has a hereditary condition called Essential Tremor.
Simple things like writing a check and drinking a cup of coffee just weren't possible.
“I had problems eating, going out to eat in public was embarrassing,” Humphries explained. “To sit in a restaurant you would notice people staring at you.”
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Thanks to a procedure called Deep Brain Stimulation being performed at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, Humphries is a new man.
“He had a very good response to the stimulation,” said CMC Neurologist Dr. Sanjay Iyer. “He opted to only get one stimulator placed which controls his right hand, or his dominate hand.”
An electrode implanted in the brain emits pulses of energy to block the abnormal activity in the brain which is causing the tremor.
“As we pass the electrode we actually listen to the brain activity and that helps us know what part of the brain we are in,” added CMC Neurosurgeon Dr. Martin Henegar.
The electrode is contained in a very thin wire. It extends through a small opening in the skull connected to an extension wire. That is connected to a pacemaker-like device implanted under the skin over the chest.
Forty thousand people worldwide have successfully been treated with Deep Brain Stimulation and it doesn't just help with essential tremor like Humphries, it also helps people with Dystonia and people living with Parkinson’s.
When the stimulator was turned on, Humphries’ tremors stop immediately.
“All of the things that you take for granted that you do on a daily basis, I had lost that ability and this gave me the ability to do it again,” he added.
Now Humphries is living a full life again, tremor-free.
For more information, visit the Carolinas Center for Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders website or call (800) 924-7620.