Summary
A Jamaican-born Florida resident living with multiple sclerosis and confined to a wheelchair had been suffering from chronic lower back pain for over 11 years. Despite submitting his MRI to three or four different doctors, he was repeatedly dismissed — some refusing to treat him because of his MS, others keeping him on pain medication without addressing the cause, and none accurately explaining what was wrong. After discovering Deuk Spine Institute through a Google search and watching Dr. Deukmedjian’s YouTube videos — which he said felt like they were speaking directly to him — he sent his MRIs in and underwent the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® for herniated discs at L4-5 and L5-S1. The morning after surgery his 11 years of constant back pain were completely gone, he was taking no pain medication, and he was smiling for the first time in years — with plans to eventually visit his father in Jamaica now back within reach.
Transcript
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Good morning. I’m Dr. Deukmedjian. I’m here with one of my patients who underwent the Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. He had back pain for over 11 years. He’s in a wheelchair because he has other conditions affecting him, but he’s agreed to share his story about his lower back pain that he’s been dealing with for 11 years. Do you still have that same pain in your back this morning?
Patient: No, not right now.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Gone?
Patient: Yeah.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: What was life like for you before you had the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® surgery?
Patient: It was just difficult doing anything, you know — trying to just move around in general. It’s like constant pain. Constant pain. Like, couldn’t do anything.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And do you have that pain right now?
Patient: No, I don’t have it. It’s gone. No.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Are you taking pain medicine?
Patient: No.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: No pain medicine?
Patient: No.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Are you happy about this? Can we see a smile on your face?
Patient: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Now, you have an accent — where are you from originally?
Patient: It’s American.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Jamaica?
Patient: American. But I live in Florida now.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Which do you like better?
Patient: You know, they’re kind of neck and neck. I like the weather — the weather is pretty much the same as Jamaica. But I think I’ll give Florida the inch. Jamaica is nice too, though, you know.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Yes, of course.
Patient: But you know, a lot of things going on down there right now.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: When was the last time you went to Jamaica?
Patient: 2013.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: So a long time — 12 years ago. And with your back going to be fixed now, you think you might go back to Jamaica?
Patient: Yes, you know, eventually. I took a trip down there — my dad is still there. We keep in touch over the phone or whatever, but it’s not like seeing them in person. It’s something I have in the plans.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Now, why did you choose Deuk Spine Institute to have your surgery?
Patient: You know, I looked everywhere. Did a lot of MRIs with other doctors. Some of them didn’t think surgery was possible. They looked at the MRI but didn’t think surgery was possible for me. Some of them just wanted me to stay on the pain meds because they just thought surgery wasn’t really an option.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Did you feel like they were treating you that way mainly because you’re in a wheelchair with your condition?
Patient: Yeah. One of them was saying that with my condition — with the MS — it’s like they just don’t even look at anybody that has that. And I was like, you know, I have my MRIs already, but they wouldn’t even look at it.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: So basically you’re in a wheelchair with MS and these doctors are blowing you off because they don’t want to deal with a patient who has a complicated problem.
Patient: Yeah. Well, that was just one of them, you know. The other doctors — I think maybe three or four doctors looked at my MRI. And they just decided, some of them didn’t want to take a chance with MS. They didn’t know what was wrong.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: They didn’t tell you what was causing your pain, did they?
Patient: No. Not directly.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Because they don’t know.
Patient: They pretty much just wanted me to stay on the pain meds. I tried physical therapy, chiropractors.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: You tried everything — because you didn’t want to give up on yourself.
Patient: No. Even though the system didn’t give you an option to fix your back until now.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Yeah. The pain — you’re dealing with the MS and that’s its own problem. Having the pain on top of that — who wants to deal with that?
Patient: You know?
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: So why was Deuk Spine Institute different for you?
Patient: When I saw your videos — there used to be a laser spine institute in Tampa. For some reason they locked down, and I wasn’t sure what was going on. I just typed it in on Google and your name came up. I was like, man — who is this guy? I said, I wonder which state he’s in. Because when I watch your videos, it’s like you were talking to me. A lot of the stuff you were saying is what I’m going through. Other doctors never really said that. I’m like, man, this guy is talking directly to me. So when I found out you were in Florida, I said, I’m definitely sending you my MRIs to see what you can do for me. And it wasn’t a hard decision.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Are you happy you had the laser surgery yesterday?
Patient: Definitely. Definitely. Definitely.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Yeah. We found that those two discs — L4-5 and L5-S1 — were definitely causing your pain. You had tears in the back wall and the herniations were not big, but they were small bulges, and that’s all you needed to have all that pain. We found the inflammation, used the laser to clean up the inflammation and the tear, and now your discs are going to heal beautifully and you’re going to do fantastic. That pain is going to be gone forever. Anything you want to say to your fans out there?
Patient: Yeah — if anybody has back pain, I know Dr. Deuk does neck as well. Just give him a try. Send your MRIs because he has a lot of knowledge — a lot of stuff that other doctors might not tell you. You don’t want to live with that back pain or neck pain. Whenever you can show him your MRIs, he’ll go through it and explain what’s going on. Take it from there. You’ll be a happy camper after that.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Well, thank you so much and we’ll see you again back tomorrow.
Patient: Okay. You’re welcome. All right. You have a good afternoon.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: All right.
DEUK LASER DISC REPAIR®
This patient underwent the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® at Deuk Spine Institute for lumbar disc herniations at L4-5 and L5-S1 that had been causing constant, debilitating lower back pain for over 11 years. Despite living with multiple sclerosis and using a wheelchair, Dr. Deukmedjian accurately identified the source of his pain through a thorough MRI review — something three to four other physicians had failed or refused to do. Using a minimally invasive laser approach, Dr. Deukmedjian cleaned out the disc inflammation and annular tears in an outpatient procedure requiring no hospitalization and no narcotic pain medication, with complete pain relief achieved by the following morning. Patients with complex medical histories who have been turned away elsewhere are encouraged to submit their MRIs for a complimentary MRI review and virtual consultation with Dr. Deukmedjian at Deuk Spine Institute.