Off-Label Use Proves Great Success for Patients
Aug 31, 2022 03:16PM ● By Dr. John D. Young
Complex regional pain syndrome is a condition in which an arm or
leg has suffered an injury. Examples would include surgery, trauma or stroke
causing intense pain greater than one would expect in relation to the original
injury. The actual cause is unknown and there is no cure. Treatment consists of
pain medications, physical therapy and biofeedback, most of which is not very
helpful.
Recently, a patient who had wrist surgery a year before came to
see me. She advised that shortly after surgery, her hand would curl up and she
physically had to use her other hand to open it. Additionally, her hand felt
hot and numb and pain would shoot up her arm. Painful muscle aches would come and
go without warning. Her life was miserable. After a year of pain and torture,
the bright and vibrant woman’s mental attitude had completely changed and she
was depressed; her career as a pianist was gone and her future looked bleak.
This is the manner in which she presented to this office, with all of her depression, her career gone, her chronic pain, and decreased use of her hand and arms. We tried Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections into her hand and arm without much success. I suggested a prescription used in an off-label manner. The medical community uses this prescription on a regular basis for autoimmune disease, however, administered in a different way instead of as an IV in the arm, you get completely different results. This is called an off-label use of a drug. The FDA regulates the approval of a prescription but any doctor can prescribe a prescription drug for any reason they think it may be medically appropriate.
This is the manner in which she presented to this office, with all of her depression, her career gone, her chronic pain, and decreased use of her hand and arms. We tried Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections into her hand and arm without much success. I suggested a prescription used in an off-label manner. The medical community uses this prescription on a regular basis for autoimmune disease, however, administered in a different way instead of as an IV in the arm, you get completely different results. This is called an off-label use of a drug. The FDA regulates the approval of a prescription but any doctor can prescribe a prescription drug for any reason they think it may be medically appropriate.
Virtually every prescription we have today is used for other reasons
than what that prescription was originally intended. A woman was concerned that
a beta blocker drug used for heart disease and fast heart rate was being used
off-label to treat her migraines yet with great success. WebMD in fact says
that the off-label use of any prescription drug can be used to treat any
medical condition.
After treatment with the off-label drug, this is what our patient had to say: “I am usually a very positive, happy person but it gets difficult to keep your head up when you are in pain every day with very obscure symptoms that are difficult to treat. Dr. Young offered me a shot one day when I was in the office for a PRP treatment. After a lengthy discussion with my physical therapist, I decided to give it a try. We were hoping that it would break the cycle of my nervous system telling my connective tissue system to “clamp down”. The morning after the injection, I found myself smiling and laughing at little things as I got ready for my day. I remembered that feeling of happiness—I had always been happy before I had such a difficult year with my health problems. I immediately found my husband and told him ‘I feel like myself today!’ Over the next week, I realized I had more range of motion, my hand opened more easily and I felt stronger. But beyond all that, I felt like I had an emotional reset.
After treatment with the off-label drug, this is what our patient had to say: “I am usually a very positive, happy person but it gets difficult to keep your head up when you are in pain every day with very obscure symptoms that are difficult to treat. Dr. Young offered me a shot one day when I was in the office for a PRP treatment. After a lengthy discussion with my physical therapist, I decided to give it a try. We were hoping that it would break the cycle of my nervous system telling my connective tissue system to “clamp down”. The morning after the injection, I found myself smiling and laughing at little things as I got ready for my day. I remembered that feeling of happiness—I had always been happy before I had such a difficult year with my health problems. I immediately found my husband and told him ‘I feel like myself today!’ Over the next week, I realized I had more range of motion, my hand opened more easily and I felt stronger. But beyond all that, I felt like I had an emotional reset.
“I did not know that Dr. Young used the Enbrel
injection for depression, so I did not know to look for that result; it was a
wonderful surprise I had not expected! My hand and arm are not fully healed,
but I do feel one step closer to getting to my goal: complete healing! I can
open and close my hand without using my other hand to open and close it. Maybe
there is hope now for a condition that the medical community says is a helpless
condition.”
John D. Young, MD
has been treating patients at Young Foundational Health Center since he opened
the private practice in 2005. The author of Beyond Treatment and creator of
Young Health Products, Dr. Young’s approach is “Treat the cell, heal the body.”
Sought after because of his out-of-the-box thinking in conjunction with
integrative and natural medicine, Dr.
Young is an innovator and always offers his patients cutting edge treatments.
Young Foundational
Health Center is located at 7241 Bryan Dairy Rd., Largo. To schedule an
appointment, call 727-545-4600. Most major medical insurances accepted. For
more information, visit YoungFoundationalHealth.com.
