The amazing Dr. Baumbach - another life-changing diagnosis?

[rosedee]

I plan on writing in detail about my experiences at the Alphaklink a fortnight ago, but for now just want to add here my experience with Dr Baumbach. He spent from 6pm to 10pm giving me the most thorough neurological examination I have ever had. Without sight of my scans and x-rays (Dr Zeegers was very insistent I not show them to him!), he identified all the areas of my spine at which the scans had shown any pathology.

One of the important aspects of the assessment for me was Dr Baumbach's demonstration of the impact of my cervical spine pathology on my lumbar problems. This means, finally, an understanding and explanation of why for 30 years whenever I've had an acute episode, my walking has always been a "very strange" and defining feature (the speed of a toddler and as stiff as an automaton when I try to go faster and very painful), which has always either puzzled clinicians or been met with marked scepticism. Not only is Dr Baumbach an impressive diagnostician, he is very patient, kind and courteous.

As a result of my trip to Germany (planned in 4 hours flat!!), I will no longer be having 4 major, separate surgeries at the same time. And for this I owe Mark a huge debt. He was pivotal in facilitating my German consultations and in stopping me making the 2nd biggest mistake of my life (1st being my first lumbar surgery in 1982). The depth of his knowledge and understated empathy, together with the strikingly unusual respect he has earned from the top surgeons and doctors, make him a unique resource for patients.

[Maria]

Mark,
I think I'm going to try to get over to Germany this fall to see Dr.B before I do anything. I'm having symptoms that I've not had before and would like a workup that is as thorough as one can get ~

Working on details to be able to get over there...

[JeffreyD]

Maria,
I absolutely want to encourage you to see Dr. Baumbach.
Some of you on this forum know a little about my adventures over the many years I have dealt with severe spine problems. Dr. Baumbach is worth the trip and worth every penny (I mean euro).
God Bless,
Jeff

[Lyndsay]

I think that is incredible, fantastic even that there is a Dr out there who is so dedicated to his patients! I only wish I could go out & see him myself! I'm only in the UK so not too far from Germany but some how I don't think BUPA will cover the cost, sadly!

Rosedee, I'm interested in how you managed to get out there so quick & look forward to reading your account of your trip

Lyndsay x

[Jim M2]

Extremely rare to hear of such people as Dr. Baumbaugh. They're not making dollars by dedicating so much time to individual patients. Dr. W (Whitworth) is another one. And let's not forget Mark Mintzer. I dare say most of Mark's patients are off-track or out of options after experiencing our dysfunctional health care system with it's time-driven, careless doctors. They end up under Mark's guidance where a way is found. Much could be written about this.

[paindoc]

This is actually a very common problem seen particularly in patients with inguinal hernia repairs, and sometimes after spine surgery in the upper lumbar/ lower thorasic spine (the following nerves originate there). The ilioinguinal nerve and genitofemoral nerves can be entrapped by scar tissue after the surgery.I'll bet that scar from when the patient was 5yrs old was most likely a hernia repair. As a former surgery resident, I was able to perform hernia repairs often and now as an interventional pain doc it is easy to see why the problem is so widespread. During the surgery, the ilioinguinal nerve has to be reflected out of the surgical field. This is often done using hemostat clamps, which sometimes find themselves clamping the nerve and not the tissue surronding it! Also, because the problem is so common, there was one attending who used to cut the nevre to "deinnervate" it, so that entrapment pain could not occur. As an ill-informed surgeon, this made sense...cut the nerve and the patient can't have any pain right? WRONG!!!! The proximal end of the neve grows neural "buds" that will constantly fire looking for the distal end which is no longer there. This "firing" causes even worse pain in many of these patients.I'll bet I don't got 2-3 weeks without seeing a nerve entrapment like this, and the answeris to cryo the nerve. This seems to work the best without damaging the nerve itself. Sometimes a revised surgery is in order for an enterapment, but the thing that seems to work the best is placing a spinal cord stimulator lead underneath the skin along the path of the nerve.