Summary
A patient from Austin, Texas suffered with widespread, hard to pinpoint pain for 35 years, beginning with lumbar muscle cramping that masked the true injury. Despite seeing countless chiropractors, neurologists, and neuromuscular therapists. All of whom found his lumbar MRIs normal. It wasn’t until an MRI five years prior identified four herniated thoracic discs that a cause was finally found, though he was told nothing could be done except a future fusion. Refusing to accept that, he discovered Dr. Deukmedjian’s pioneering thoracic transforaminal endoscopic Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. The only procedure of its kind in the world and flew from Austin to Florida for treatment. The day after surgery, he was completely pain-free for the first time in 35 years, with referred pain in his piriformis, heel, shoulder blades, and chronic headaches all gone, on no narcotic medication, and overcome with emotion at finally being able to enjoy life and his marriage without the burden of chronic pain.
Transcript
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: CEO and founder of Deuk Spine Institute. I’m here with one of my patients who’s traveled this far from Austin, Texas. He came to Florida to Deuk Spine Institute because he had a problem with his thoracic spine. He’s had pain in his thoracic spine, and I’m going to let him tell you a little bit more about it but I can tell you one thing, he just had surgery yesterday, the Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. How are you feeling today?
Patient: I feel amazing. The relief is incredible. It’s more than I imagined.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And you were saying outside you were on the verge of crying, or you were crying yesterday because of the pain relief. Tell us about that.
Patient: It was really weird. Liz asked me what I wanted to do and I just burst out; couldn’t stop myself. It’s just so amazing to have the relief. It’s incredible. I never thought it would come. I’ve been looking for this for so long. It’s been a very, very long journey to find you. 35 years.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: 35 years, right?
Patient: Yeah.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Tell us about that. 35 years of suffering you’ve gone through.
Patient: It started with lumbar cramping. Muscle seizing to guard the injury that I couldn’t even find. I went to countless chiropractors, neurologists, neuromuscular therapists. They took MRIs of my lumbar and said my back was great, that they couldn’t help me. They had no idea why my back hurt. Finally, five years ago, somebody took an MRI of my thoracic spine and found four herniated discs and said, “Well, there’s nothing we can do. Maybe in 20 years we can fuse all your vertebrae, and that’s it.” I just wasn’t willing to accept that, so I kept looking and looking, and I found a video of you talking with one of your patients about a thoracic disc injury that you fixed. So I called, and it was the best thing I ever did.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And then you drove here?
Patient: We flew in but it was a long trip. I’m from Austin, Texas, and I looked everywhere. I was like, well, if he’s doing it, somebody nearby is doing it. No, nobody is doing this but you.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: That’s right. We’re the first in the world. We have to fix that. We at Deuk Spine pioneered the thoracic transforaminal endoscopic Deuk Laser Disc Repair®(DLDR), which is what you had done yesterday on your thoracic disc. And how do you feel today? Are you having any of that pain?
Patient: None of it. It’s all gone. I had referred pain near my piriformis, I had referred pain in my heel. It’s all gone in a day. I was having muscle cramping up my entire back, between my shoulder blades, that was giving me headaches and it’s all gone.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: How did the pain affect your life?
Patient: It was terrible. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t sit for very long. I couldn’t stand for more than five minutes without shifting or moving. It made driving difficult… everything. And it was going downhill, continually getting worse and worse. Flying on a plane was difficult just because I had to sit still for so long.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And your wife. She was worried about you all the time because you’re suffering, and it’s hard to do anything enjoyable together hiking, walking?
Patient: Yeah, I really couldn’t do much of any of that. Everything was very short-term because the pain would just get overwhelming.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And you’re from Austin. Austin’s a wonderful city.
Patient: Yeah, a lot more things to do.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: So how did your pain affect your ability to enjoy nature and Austin and everything it had to offer?
Patient: We stopped going out. We literally just confined ourselves to the house, and it was all my fault. I felt so bad for my wife. I was tearing up our relationship because of it.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And this is what I’m talking about when I say relationship. People with chronic pain don’t just miss out themselves on life, but their loved ones miss out too. Because if he can’t do anything enjoyable outside because his back hurts too much, well then she can’t really either because she’s going to be by his side. When you’re by the side of your spouse, that means you’re suffering every moment they are. So this is a new chapter in your life that you’re going to open because you guys came to Deuk Spine.
Patient: Yeah, I’m so excited. I’m so excited.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: This is amazing for you. You can see actually in the surgery we went in with a tiny little cut on his back a couple of them and we went into the discs and repaired them using the laser. You could see the tears and the herniations coming out. You watched the videos after you saw the herniations coming out and you were impressed about how big they were.
Patient: Yes, they were huge.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: So anything you want to say to your audience. If you’re suffering?
Patient: Just call. Get help. There is help. He can fix you. The staff here has been incredible. I know I was a bit of a pain in the butt when I first got here because I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the pain was coming from, because it was so widespread and you were amazingly patient.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Well, let’s talk for a moment about that, because you bring up a great point. the process that we went through when you got here to figure out which disc to fix. Tell us about that.
Patient: Dr. Deuk was really trying to get me to tell him exactly where it hurt. Most of my pain was coming from a muscle-related cramping to guard the injury not so much from a pinching pain at the injury itself. After 35 years, my back is kind of desensitized, so I was really having a hard time telling him exactly where the pain was at. I literally had to get my wife to put all her weight on my back so I could pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, and she drew X’s on it. Once we did that, he was able to go in with the MRI and some X-rays and find out exactly what was causing all of my pain.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And more importantly, we fixed it.
Patient: You fixed it. Without pain medications, right? I’m taking Tylenol right now.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Congratulations. Thank you so much. Happy for you guys. Enjoy yourself. Let’s get you out of here.
The Deuk Laser Disc Repair® Difference
This patient underwent the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® for the thoracic spine at Deuk Spine Institute. A procedure for thoracic disc herniations using a transforaminal endoscopic technique pioneered exclusively by Dr. Deukmedjian and unavailable anywhere else in the world. After 35 years of widespread, hard to diagnose pain that masked four herniated thoracic discs through years of misleading “normal” lumbar MRIs, Dr. Deukmedjian worked closely with the patient to precisely localize the source of pain before treating it with minimally invasive laser debridement through small incisions. The procedure required no hospitalization and no narcotic pain medication, with referred pain in the piriformis, heel, shoulder blades, and chronic headaches completely resolved within 24 hours. Patients with longstanding, widespread, or difficult to diagnose back pain are encouraged to submit their MRI for a complimentary MRI review and virtual consultation with Dr. Deukmedjian, the world’s only physician currently offering the thoracic Deuk Laser Disc Repair®.