Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD
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Free Initial Consultation - Call Now (954) 448-1515 Non-Drug Options: Depression & TENS This response submitted by Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD on 9/22/99. Those of you that have been switched from one SSRI to another (drug rotations) have to be aware that there are non-drug options for the treatment and management of depression. All of the SSRIs have side effects of one type or another. I hope you find this reposting helpful. I have also posted an article on nutritional medicine options in Jan, 1999, entitled, OPTIONS: TREATMENT RESISTANT DEPRESSION, I & II, without electropharmacology. This article (actually two parts) is archived. Serzone vs CES: Depression This response submitted by Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD on 8/18/99. While serzone (an SSRI) has possible adverse effects that include headache, nervousness, insomnia, drowsiness, anxiety, tremor, dizziness, lightheadedness, agitation or sedation, abnormal gait, confusion, nausea, vomiting, diahhrea, dry mouth, anorexia, dyspepsia, constipation, taste changes, flatulence, gastroenteritis, dysphagia, gingivitis, postural hypotension, sweating, rashes, pruritus, acne, alopecia and contact dermatitis in order to raise your serotonin levels......................... CES (FDA approved for depression Cranial Electrical Stimulation) has none of these and no side effects. It is a portable unit the size of a sony walkman that can be carried on your waist easily, that runs on a 9 volt battery, delivering to cranial trigger points 1 to 4 milliamps for usually 10 minute to 20 minute sessions to raise the same serotonin levels. Patients are taught to self medicate using this mild electrical current. It automatically shuts off at 20 minutes if you forget and you are taught how to control the current. The Liss Body Stimulator that provides the CES is an upgrade from the previous TENS units. It is not the same. The original device is defined electically as a unit with a 15,000 hz square wave carrier waveform, modulated assymmetrically (50 milliseconds "on" followed by 16.7 milliseconds "off") by a modulating waveform of 15 hz. While the Liss Body Stimulator has the same carrier waveform of 15,000 hz (same as above), but in addition, has a second modulating waveform of 500 hz. Thus, within the same 50 millisecond "on" time there are only 375 pulses, grouped in 25 minibursts of 15 pulses each. LISTEN CAREFULLY: This protocol of stimulation therefore exposes the patient to half the total energy as that of the original TENS device. This FDA approved device, without drug side effects of the SSRIs like serzone, raises serotonin AND beta-endorphin levels in most patients and may last for hours like the SSRI. It may be self, re-administered as required since it is portable. You do not have to be stuck with the immediate and long term cumulative effects of the SSRIs. The Liss Body Stimulator is not experimental. It is an FDA approved device for the treatment, management of panic, anxiety and depression. I use these in my practice and provide it both to physicians for their patients and for patients directly who obtain prescriptions for it from their physicians. It is your choice to pursue this particular line of inquiry for better treatment for yourself, or not. I could not help but respond when someone writes in complaining about SSRI side effects. Just don't confuse this new unit with the earlier TENS devices. I hope a few of you genuinely looking for improved treatment options found this to be helpful. Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD CES: Headache & Anxiety This response submitted by Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD on 8/9/99. There are trigger points for attachment of the FDA approved CES (cranial electrical stimultation) electrodes for anxiety as well as the pain from headaches. Keep this in mind when you read below my past posting. CES: Headache Management This response submitted by Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD on 8/6/99. Email Address: rkeysphd@brainlink.com Dear Jan, Known side effects to imitrex include possible dizziness, vertigo, headache, anxiety, malaise, fatigue, weakness, myalgia, abdominal discomfort, dysphagia, blood pressure alterations, tightness or pressure in the chest, tingling, burning sensation, feeling of heaviness, numbness and feeling strange. So any rational approach includes consideration of non-drug, less invasive options in management. You need only check any drug manual on the possible, terrible range of cumulative, long term effects of prozac and other SSRIs. Besides looking at neurobiochemical precursor substrates such as amino acids,organic acids, essential fatty acids, mineral levels (i.e functional magnesium deficiencies, etc.), detoxification profiles (hyperammonemia may produce headaches by itself!!!!!).............................. The FDA approved CES unit discussed below involves looking at the various pain reference patterns to track the muscle from which the headache pain originates, and then to apply the leads to the trigger points directly to the originating muscle. Around the head and neck, we look at the sternomastoid, temporalis, trapezius, levatr scapulae, splenius capitis, masseter, trapezius and posterior cervical areas as possible points of origin within the pain reference pattern of a muscle. This is how we know where to place the leads of the CES unit; then therapy may include 10 minute sessions, three or four times per week for a period of 12 weeks as an ordinary treatment regimen. Of course this varies from patient to patient. Note my recent article below: CES: Headache Management This response submitted by Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD on 8/5/99. Email Address: rkeysphd@brainlink.com CES (cranial electrical stimulator Units): Intractable Headaches This response submitted by Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD on 8/5/99. Email Address: rkeysphd@brainlink.com The concept of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been used in pain management for many years. See: Cassuto, J et al. The Use of Modulated Energy Carried on a High Frequency Wave For the Relief of Intractable Pain. INT J CLIN PHARM RES 1993, XIII(4)236-241. I am talking about an FDA approved device for pain described by some of you including JEN with headaches. And I am talking about a more current type of TENS application. Not the old or past units. The newer ones. This is the Liss Cranial Electrical Stimulator (CES) Model that produces a bipolar signal with 15- and 500-Hz modulations of a high frequency (15,000 Hz) carrier wave. Effective pain relief occurs even at currents that cannot be felt, and for periods of only 10 to 20 minutes two or three times per day rather than the conventional continual use of regular TENS at a level that itself produces discomfort or even pain. It is non-invasive. It is self administered after it is prescribed by a physician. In many cases of intractable pain, it may lessen or eliminate drugging requirements. It acts by electrically stimulating known trigger points. An active trigger point may produce pain in its reference zone which may be either local or remote. The device may be applied at the place of origin of the pain. The duration of relief is often much longer than the period of stimulation and can o The clinical efficacy of transcutaneous cranial electrical stimulation commonly termed TENS is known to abolish or at least diminish many types of pain syndromes. It has been applied successfully to treat many types of headache conditions via CES, including migraine or muscle contraction headaches. See: Solomon, S et al. Treatment of Headache by TENS. HEADACHE 1985, 25:12-15; Kudrow, L. Efficacy of Pain Supression Prophylaxis in Migraine and Muscle Contraction Headache. California Medical Clinic for Headache; Goldman, E. Electrical Stimulation Helps Prevent Migraines. FAMILY PRACTICE NEWS, 1997 (Nov. 1):10. When treating headaches, the Liss cranial electrotherapy stimulator (called CES) is applied to 12 known accupuncture points that previous studies have shown to be effective in treating headache. See also: Solomon, S. et al. Safety and Effectiveness of Cranial Electrotherapy in the Treatment of Tension Headache. HEADACHE, 1989:29:445-450. As an FDA approved device, it appears that this noninvasive CES (cranial electrical stimulator) is safe and should be considered in the management of headaches as an alternative or in addition to the chronic usages of analgesics. You have choices in your treatment and not the same old drugs that just knock you out and produce brain fog. Just because you have pain doesn't mean that your intellect or sense of judgement has been impaired. How will you process this information and what, if anything, will you do about it? I hope this has been helpful to a few of you and especially to Jan. Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD Free Initial Consultation - Call Now (954) 448-1515 RONALD B. KEYS, JD, PhD CLINICAL & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD 2402 N. 28th Avenue Hollywood, Florida, 33020-1814 USA 954-448-1515 primary email: email@rkeysphd.com secondary email: rkeysphd@brainlink.com secondary email: rkeysphd@yahoo.com by pre-arrangements for voice/text chat: Mostly, Dr. Keys works as a Consulting PhD Doctor, usually from a distance, with and through a proper local anchor physician to order blood work. Advanced treatment protocols may develop from the advanced blood chemistries he requests. If you have no local doctor, Dr. Keys finds one through an affiliate physician network. His work is global, oftetimes involving patients from other countries as well as all over the continental USA. There are many tests and treatments to help people; Oftentimes, anchor physicians are not familiar or comfortable with them. Dr. Keys teaches and helps to direct individual patients AND their physicians with laboratory-work for these treatment options. This is measured work and clinical biochemistry. Opinion evidence standards are not employed here since this is a measured and laboratory-based or empirical study of the patient. Numbers are sought from the results of these tests that, usually, "...jump up and grab you..." that dictate what is needed and how much. Patient-advocacy is frequently involved to get advanced and necessary clinical biochemistries ordered and to help interpret them in filed reports..Chat room capabilities in voice or text, besides email, may be employed. This may include conference calls online. In a perfect world, if your physician knew everything, people like Dr. Keys would not exist. Physicians themselves are caught frequently in the traps of their own standards of care that may be very limited in many cases. Methods used by Dr. Keys are rational, scientific and disciplined. Designed by Fencl Web Design.Com DISCLAIMER: Ronald B. Keys, JD, PhD is not a physican. He acts here, when hired, only as a consulting PhD doctor. Any information offered on this site is intended for prevention and education. It is the responsibility of your anchor doctor or chosen physician to diagnose and treat diseases through their medical licenses. By using this web site you agree that you will seek professional medical advice from your doctor before using any of the information presented on this web site. All tests are ordered through your physician, only, and not Dr. Keys. Most jurisdictions require that an attending physician is required by law to take patient and family history, conduct a physical examination of the patient and to order tests appropriate and necessary. As an online consultant, he cannot do these things required together, as a whole, as a practice of medicine. Any emergencies should only be handled in a hospital emergency room or by your physician. |