When Daybreak Steiner awoke one morning with joint ache so extreme she couldn’t even raise her arms, she knew one thing was flawed. Although she didn’t understand it on the time, she was experiencing signs of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune situation that may set off debilitating flare-ups. And it wasn’t till she found one thing often called vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) that she was lastly capable of finding lasting aid. Right here, her story of overcoming joint ache.

Steiner’s signs got here on quick and exhausting

Steiner, a 58-year-old speech pathologist from Massapequa, New York, was going about her regular day-to-day life when she was overcome with intense ache one morning in January 2009.

“I literally went to bed one night, like every other evening, then woke up in the morning and couldn’t raise my arms,” defined Steiner. “I was in terrible, terrible pain. It was hard for me to move.”

Regardless of the ache, Steiner tried to go about her day as greatest as she may. She hoped her discomfort was from one thing extra benign, like sleeping in a bizarre place or straining a muscle, and that it will fade by itself in a couple of days.   “My husband helped me get dressed, and I went to work and did the very best I could,” Steiner mentioned. 

Her household historical past clued her into rheumatoid arthritis

Whereas Steiner was at first confused about what may very well be inflicting her signs, she quickly realized that her household historical past gave her a clue as to what may need triggered her ache.

“While I was shocked that this had happened to me, I did have a feeling that it could be rheumatoid arthritis,” Steiner mentioned. “I have a significant family history for rheumatoid arthritis, as well as other autoimmune diseases.”

Inside two weeks, Steiner was capable of get in to see a rheumatologist, who ordered varied assessments. “Technically I was in pain without knowing exactly why, but it was established pretty quickly that it was something rheumatologic, based on my history of other autoimmune conditions and a significant family history,” Steiner mentioned. 

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Conventional meds didn’t ease her arthritis signs 

In March 2009, after X-rays, MRIs and testing 18 tubes of blood, Steiner lastly obtained a solution for her signs. She was identified with rheumatoid arthritis and began taking methotrexate, a drugs used to deal with inflammatory situations akin to psoriasis, arthritis and even sure kinds of most cancers.

However methotrexate alone wasn’t sufficient to alleviate Steiner’s debilitating signs, so her medical doctors added biologic medication to her therapy plan. Based on the Arthritis Basis, biologics assist cut back joint and organ-damaging irritation brought on by arthritis and different inflammatory ailments.

For Steiner, utilizing biologics was an advanced course of. “Whether they were shots or infusions or pills, either they didn’t work at all or they worked for just a few months,” Steiner mentioned. “And the thing is, it takes six months for them to kick in. So you wait,and then it works for a few months, and then you have to wait another month or two for it to be completely out of your system.”

She described the expertise as irritating and painful. “I was not getting the relief that I needed so badly,” Steiner mentioned. 

Understanding rheumatoid arthritis 

“It’s an autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the joints, and you have redness, pain and swelling in the joints, often of the hands, but on other joints as well,” says Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Analysis and writer of The Nice Nerve: The New Science of the Vagus Nerve and Find out how to Harness Its Therapeutic Reflexes. 

“The hands and larger joints can be affected, elbows, knees and wrists,” he says. “The inflammation that occurs in the joints can also affect other organs. And so, in addition to the arthritis component of rheumatoid arthritis, the complications of inflammation can affect other body systems, like the kidneys. It’s a serious condition.”

Dr. Tracey says whereas there are various theories about what causes rheumatoid arthritis, there’s not a transparent consensus that medical professionals agree on. 

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Steiner determined to strive vagus nerve stimulation

Whereas biologics had been failing her, Steiner, who may be very energetic in rheumatoid arthritis social media teams, got here throughout a medical trial for vagus nerve stimulation and commenced researching it. As destiny would have it, she not solely learn in regards to the trial on-line but in addition noticed an indication for it in her rheumatologist’s workplace.

“The signals traveling in the vagus nerve are like the brakes in your car—they stop inflammation.” —Kevin J. Tracey, MD

Shortly after, Steiner determined to enroll in SetPoint Medical’s medical trial. This concerned getting an implant that sends electrical impulses to the physique’s vagus nerve, which performs a task in every thing from irritation to digestion to regulating your coronary heart fee.

“It did not seem any more scary to me than any of those meds that I was on. So I decided to give it a try,” Steiner mentioned. Steiner’s implant was positioned in July 2023, and she or he started receiving stimulation just some weeks later. 

She mentioned the process took round an hour. Whereas Steiner was underneath basic anesthesia, a small, wi-fi system in regards to the dimension of a multivitamin was implanted alongside her left vagus nerve in her neck.

“I went to the hospital in the morning, and I was home by lunchtime,” Steiner mentioned. “Then all I had to do was just change the bandage for two weeks. It really wasn’t a big deal.”

What’s vagus nerve stimulation?

Dr. Tracey, who performed an instrumental function in vagus nerve stimulation analysis, shared that though Steiner and different medical trial individuals could also be using the therapy for the primary time, he and different researchers have been finding out this methodology for the reason that 90s.

“The fundamental discovery we made in the 1990s was that the vagus nerve signals travel from the brain to your immune system, your spleen and other organs,” says Dr. Tracey. “And the signals traveling in the vagus nerve are like the brakes in your car. They stop inflammation.” 

Dr. Tracey says the kind of vagus nerve stimulator positioned in Steiner in SetPoint Medical’s medical trial known as an immunoregulator and is extraordinarily small.

“It’s in this little teeny device,” says Dr. Tracey. “You have a battery, you have an ASIC, a computer chip, you have the contact points—the lead wires that touch the vagus nerve—and you have antennas to transmit signals to the doctor’s tablet.”

When the system is turned on, it begins sending common electrical alerts to the vagus nerve. “Once the wound is healed, you can’t see the device,” Dr. Tracey says. “It’s underneath the muscles in your neck.” 

Vagus nerve stimulation improved Steiner’s arthritis signs

Together with her hopes hinged on the tiny pulse generator implanted in her neck, Steiner was amazed to find that she started noticing enhancements in her rheumatoid arthritis signs inside per week. 

Steiner now receives vagus nerve stimulation for one minute every evening whereas she sleeps. More often than not she doesn’t really feel it, however when she does, it’s transient and doesn’t intrude together with her relaxation. “It’s a strange feeling,” Steiner mentioned.  “It is not at all painful…..and it’s only for one minute. You can handle anything for a minute.”

Two years after she started receiving VNS, Steiner says she has skilled no unwanted side effects. As a substitute, she has solely skilled aid and a renewed sense of freedom from rheumatoid arthritis ache, and has no intention to take away the system. 

“There were times where I spent the entire weekend in bed or on the couch, because all I could do was go to work every day and do my thing there,” Steiner mentioned. “And now I’m exercising. I’m going out. I’m living my life again.”

Find out how to stimulate your vagus nerve naturally

Whereas the trial Steiner enrolled in is now closed, there are different methods you may stimulate your vagus nerve in the event you’re searching for aid from inflammatory situations akin to RA. There are over-the-counter handheld gadgets, such because the Truvaga Plus, that you just place alongside the vagus nerve in your neck for a couple of minutes a day to assist stability your nervous system and help vagal tone.

You can too observe vagus nerve stimulation by means of easy (and free!) treatments akin to singing or respiration within the scent of sure important oils. See our round-up of how one can stimulate your vagus nerve naturally right here, in addition to simple vagus nerve workouts right here.

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This content material just isn’t an alternative to skilled medical recommendation or prognosis. All the time seek the advice of your doctor earlier than pursuing any therapy plan.