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Pump Can Make Multiple Sclerosis Patients Feel Better

Cleveland Clinic Doctor Promoting Device To Patients

UPDATED: 11:53 a.m. EDT May 24, 2002

A Cleveland Clinic doctor is trying to spread the word to his multiple sclerosis patients that they can change their lives for the better in just a couple of hours.

pump

NewsChannel5's Alicia Booth reported that one Streetsboro, Ohio, woman is very grateful for the chance to feel better.

For Michelle Morris, multiple sclerosis is manageable. But the side effects from the pills she had to take were not.

"It was very difficult, because my brain is telling my body to do things, but my body doesn't cooperate," she said.

Her brain was also telling her she was tired -- all the time.

A device called the baklofen pump would become the answer to her prayers -- but that's not what she thought at first.

"You're going to put that inside me?" she said. "I don't think so."

But Dr. Francois Bethoux, a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic, was very convincing. He hopes to spread the word about the pump, because he said that it is very underused.

"Many people don't know that they can benefit from the pump," he said. "Some doctors don't know exactly what the pump is about and who is a good candidate."

It turned out that Morris was perfect for it.

"The difference is just astonishing as far as what it's done for my life," she said.

Doctors surgically put the pump into the patient's abdomen, which takes about an hour or two. But the best part of the pump is that the battery lasts five to seven years, so the only thing the patient has to worry about is refilling medication.

Once the baclofen pump is inside, a tube attached to the pump directs the baklofen to the spine area -- exactly where it needs to go. That, in turn, cuts down on stiffness and spastic movements.

A computer controls the procedure, but it's no simple feat. Bethoux has a whole team of doctors coordinating the efforts.

Although it's a lot of work, for people like Morris, it's worth it.

"I just has given me back my life," she said.

Not all multiple sclerosis patients are candidates for the pump, but Bethoux said those who are enjoy a much better quality of life.

The doctors at the Mellen Center of the Cleveland Clinic are specially trained to operate it, NewsChannel5 reported.

For more information, click here.




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