Neuropathic pain, chronic pain due to damage or injury to the nervous system, is notoriously difficult to treat. This type of pain can occur following brain or spinal injury, post operatively, post stroke, post infection ( shingles) or most commonly due to diabetic nerve damage and of course in MS.

Standard painkillers have little impact on the condition and even very powerful opiate analgesics can seldom control the pain completely despite considerable side effects. The standard response to neuropathic pain is to use drugs which affect nerve conduction such as the anti epileptic drugs carbemazepine or gabapentin. The side effects of these are often unacceptable and even the newer drug pregabalin , is not well tolerated by many patients.

Anodyne therapy is a non drug treatment for neuropathic pain which has become well established in the US and other parts of the world. It is a revolutionary new method of pain relief which utilizes a natural healing process in the body and has very few side effects. Anodyne therapy involves the use of monochromatic infra red light which is delivered from a pad which contains several infra red light diodes. The infra red light penetrates the skin and is absorbed by the haemoglobin in the blood which then releases a substance known as nitric oxide. This substance, NO for short, acts a natural pain killer, reduces inflammation, improves blood flow and even kills infection. The pads are placed over the painful area for 30 to 45 minutes and the effect on pain typically lasts two days.

Anodyne has been granted the C E mark for Europe (2005) and has only been introduced into the UK this year. The Essential Health Clinic is the only clinic in the UK which has access to this treatment at present and we have had a very good clinical experience which Anodyne. In the US Anodyne is used in 5,000 clinics mainly for treatment of diabetic neuropathy due to limitations in practice dictated by the FDA. In essence, they demand that a treatment can only be used for a specific condition once efficacy has been proven. As a consequence the research so far has been predominately in the area of diabetic neuropathy. 15 research papers have been published showing the efficacy of this treatment. One paper, published in Diabetes Care in 2004, was a double blind placebo controlled study which showed that after 12 x 45 minute treatments there was a 45% improvement in pain and 46% improvement in sensation. Additionally there was a 70% improvement in balance in the active group but no improvement at all in the placebo group. Anodyne is also used in the management of diabetic ulcers and bed sores which have been difficult to treat by conventional means. In some cases ulcers that have been open for several years have healed within months of treatment with Anodyne.

In the UK we have greater freedom in the range of conditions we can use Anodyne for and have already treated some patients with MS neuropathy. It is early days and typically the patients have only had one treatment, but already we can see that this could be a breakthrough for some patients and definitely requires further investigation.

As the effect usually only lasts a couple of days, it would be impractical for patients to visit our clinic indefinitely for treatment and most of those who have responded well normally  choose to purchase a home unit and treat themselves indefinitely at home.

We suggest at least three treatments with Anodyne in the clinic to assess response and if suitable thereafter treatment at home.
The cost of treatment is £80 per session with the first session involving a medical  assessment. A home unit costs £1590 plus VAT. You can buy online here

To gain relief from this most distressing symptom and to be able to reduce and stop the current treatment will be a major step forward in improving the quality of life for many MS patients in the UK.