Cold Laser: has anyone tried cold laser for pmr pain?

nothing about auto immune disorders.... I shall contact the makers I think.

thank you.    I was thinking in terms of  the devices manufactured for home use which range in price from 100 to 400 pounds in cost.  Pretty steep unless they are effective!

I think Annaba has provided valuable information information on this.  Certainly more than I knew!  

anhaga 

receive 

 

Thank you Anhaga.  The device I am looking at combines low laser with light therapy.  So I now see how the light works on the cytokines.  Still have to find out what the laser bit does if anything.  

Does it mention the depth it works to? More are available for dermatological use - where it is superficial. That sort of therapy is available all over the UK quite easily. It is the sort for muscle therapy that is difficult to find and very expensive.

I imagine it is the laser part that achieves the depth of therapy that would be required for any effect in muscles. 

The one I have been looking at is the plug in clinical Terraquant which is supposedly good for muscle therapy and pain relief (in addition to the dermatological and diabetic  uses). It has different programmers and depths depending on treatment goal.   There is a plug in clinical  Terraquant and a much cheaper rechargeable battery home version with less options.

Too much to hope anyone offers a money-back guarantee trial period!

That's thie thing exactly - the reason each session lasts the length of time it does is so that the light has time to penetrate to a fairly significant depth.  I'm told I'm particularly responsive because I'm thin, one good thing about inability to regain my lost weight!

Right!!!

how long do your sessions usually last?

My appointments are forty-five minutes, of which half an hour is spent with the lights.  I think the length of treatment depends very much on what one is being treated for so if you were getting treatment for a serious medical issue, like the woman shown on a television program about alternative and new methods of treating illness, who was treated for brain damage from an accident, the sessions may be considerably longer.  

I started when I was at 8 mg, about to reduce to 7 mg, and went twice a week for a while, then once a week.  Last summer I started going  about every fortnight, and have with a few hiccups carried on with that to now.  I tried going once every three weeks, but at that time it wasn't enough, and a couple of times I felt the PMR a bit more active and went for an extra session in the intervening week.  During the eighteen months of treatment I've reduced my dose from 8 mg to 2 mg, and am feeling confident enough to attempt a new (.5) reduction starting about now. 

And what is done with the remaining time?  Do you rest or have manual therapy?

We talk about how I've been, if I have some other issue, like the shoulder I hurt when pushing snow off my vehicle a few weeks ago, we talk about that.  Sometimes she gives me other therapy, various techniques to straighten my back, etc.  In fact her standard appointment time is 1/2 hour but for some reason she gives me 45 minutes.  I'm not questioning this!

Noting Artfingers comment about laser at the chiropractors.  I need to clarify that the treatment I get does not work at all in the way a massage or such would work.  There is no immediately obvous effect.  It is more subtle.  An analogy - say you are anemic and a bit tired all the time.  So you take iron.  You are not going to feel energetic immediately.  Your cheeks are not going to get rosy right away.  But over time your colour returns and your energy levels pick up.  When I get LILT if I feel anything at all it is more tired and I've learned to always go to a nearby cafe and have a small snack and tea or coffee before commencing my trip home.  But more subtly the inflammation-causing substances are reduced.  The next time the body releases its load of cytokines, there aren't as many.  Over time the tendency towards becoming inflamed is reduced.  And I get better and better.  It isn't a cure, and has never claimed to be for PMR, but it does claim to reduce cytokine activity and this has been studied and shown to be so in rheumatoid arthritis, for example.  I consider myself a bit of a guinea pig, and because I am fortunate in being able to afford this treatment (and the location where I receive it is a very pleasant trip by foot and ferry so a double benefit) I've been able to use it enough that I believe it has enabled me to successfully reduce to a very low level of pred.  Certainly I've noted several occasions where I've felt unwell enough to want to increase the pred but instead, after a LILT treatment, within 24 to 48 hours I've no longer felt I needed to do so.  This was most apparent in early days when my dose was between 8 (when I started the treatment) and 3.  I was at 3 mg after about fourteen months of treatment wc

sorry, stupd computer - was finishing comment by saying: which by PMR standards is considered fast.  And although there have been little hiccups since nothing at all like what people call a flare, and generally speaking although slower now the progress continues. LILT hasn't been the whole answer, but I think it's been a big part of it. 

Sorry, that funny computer glitch threw me off.  I was at 3 mg after 14 months of PREDNISONE treatment - approximately seven months after LILT treatment started.

so they have been beneficial if you have managed to taper without flares.... although maybe you were tapering carefuly enough to prevent the flares.  I may try and see how things o.

sounds worth a try.....

quite right too!