If you have a headache then just use the remote control to make it disappear in a matter of a few seconds.
George Johnston, a 32-year-old British national, gets a nerve simulator implant in an Indian hospital to cure his severe headaches. Johnston claims that he was suffering from a rare medical condition called occipital neuralgia that causes severe headaches, which can also last an entire day.
Johnston works as an accountant in a bank and started experiencing headaches about a year ago. Doctors found that he was suffering with occipital neuralgia and he was fortunate that the medical condition was detected at an early stage. Johnston describes that sometimes the pain was so agonizing that he had to work from home and the pain would still not subside.
The bank accountant has a reason to rejoice as he can now control the pain. Doctors at the Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai have fitted a coin-sized sensor pad on Johnston's chest, which is also connected to the back of his neck. Moreover, controlling headaches is just a click away for Johnston.
"When I feel the pain coming, I hold the sensor pad over my chest and adjust the current, which is calibrated in milliamperes. It passes on from the pacemaker to the back of my neck and controls the headache," says Johnston.
Johnston decided to undergo the surgery in India as it was less expensive and also less time-consuming when compared to the UK. The surgery in India cost Johnston Rs 11 lakhs, which is just over £11,000. Johnston revealed that the surgery may have cost him about the double if he was in the UK.
The National Health Services (NHS), UK's healthcare service, does not cover the surgery under medical insurance. If Johnston had to appeal for the inclusion of the surgery, he had to wait for about six years before getting a response from the tribunal, which may or may have not been in Johnston's favor.
Dr. Paresh Doshi, who operated on Johnston, explains that the surgery involved very minimal cut to the muscles or nerves. The doctors placed a neuro-stimulating pacemaker underneath Johnston's skin at the back of his neck. Dr. Doshi explains that the human brain constitutes small and large fibers. The sensation of pain originates from the small fibers. A current from the pacemaker stimulates the large fibers, which blocks the pain sensation from the small fibers.
Medical experts suggest that occipital neuralgia is very common in India and advancement in medical technology provides people to get a surgery done to control their pain. However, many Indians are skeptical of going under the knife and continue bearing the pain for years.
