I am copying my experiences from another forum and pasting it here - it gives background about my injury and the treatment i underwent ... this below post was from DeC 2011 I guess
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I thought this is the time for me to share my Regenexx-SD experiences here.
Regarding my Injury :
I had a cartilage damage due to intense sports activity in my right knee during July 2009. Since then I had two surgeries
1. Partial Meniscetomy - Dec 2009 - 20-30% of medial mensicus was removed
2. Cartilage debridement - Mar 2010 - 2X2 CM of cartilage in medial femoral condyle region of right knee was shaved off due to cartilage delamination.
I did not find any relief after the surgery, infact surgery made things worse. I was asked to use single crutch while walking since weight-bearing on the right knee became very difficult. As a result I've been using this crutches for the last 2 years.
Crutch usage made things to worsen more, my other joints were impacted as well because of this crutch, My hip, left shoulder, left knee, left hand wrist started to pain. Before my knee injury and surgery I was perfectly healthy and no other complaints
After long hard thought, decided not to undergo any further surgery and definitely don’t want to end up in getting a knee replacement surgery, so was looking for other alternate treatments for joint conditions and for regeneration of cartilage also ways to preserve the health of remaining medial meniscus.
To manage pain, I started with Acupunture, Acupressure for some time but that did not help with pain/swelling much.
In the knee Geeks forum, I was following the thread posted by GB and Irentat about Prolotherapy, PRP, HGH Injections
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/index.php?topic=46074.0 At this point I wanted to thank Irentat for sharing his experiences about IAGH injections that helped to regenerate cartilage in his ankle and also for answering all my questions and thanks to GB for sharing his experiences about prolotherapy and prolozone injections.
So I thought I would give that Prolo+PRP a try, after reviewing many prolotherapy doctors I chose Dr. Ross Hauser from Chicago he had good record and had treated many patients for many ortho conditions. So I decided to have my first prolotherapy by July 2010. I was advised by fellow knee geeks friends that I should try atleast 10-12 prolo injections on the joints to see some improvements. I live in New Jersey and was travelling to Chicago every month for this Prolotherapy injections.
Initially Dr. Hauser treated with regular prolotherapy with Dextrose solution and 2 I.U of HGH solutions, after 3 injections I did not see even 1-2% of improvement in my knee. So I have requested him to do "Hackett-Hemwall Prolotherapy"
http://www.caringmedical.com/therapies/hackett_hemwall_prolotherapy.asp Which is nothing but Prolotherapy + PRP injections into the joints. I had 3 of those treatment for the next three months where the doctor injected PRP + HGH + Dextrose + Magnesium + Other Prolo solutions into my joints. Still did not find any improvements but decided to continue with the treatment, in subsequent injections doctor also added testosterone. So I had mixture of many solutions into my joints but no real improvements. That's when Dr. Hauser started treating patients with Bone Marrow Prolotherapy. I decided to try that so I had Bone Marrow drawn from my tibia bone and got injected into the damaged knee along with regular prolo injections, I had two of those Bone Marrow prolotherapy injections.
http://bonemarrowprolotherapy.com/video_direct_bone_marrow_aspiration_prolotherapy.htmlHmmm… Yes….Totally I think I had almost 10 Prolo + 4 PRP + 2 Bone Marrow prolotherapy Injections from Dr. Hauser. And also had three PRP injections from a local doctor [Dr.Sammy Masiri] in NJ but to be frank there was no real improvement in the last one year of trying all this. I forgot to mention I also tried Prolozone injection from a doctor [Dr. Andrew Lipton] in PA. I had almost 8 Prolozone Injections where they inject Ozone into the joints which is suppose to give pain relief.
In my last visit to chicago Dr. Hauser requested me to undergo the following tests
1. Electrolyte panel
2. Food sensitivity test
3. Vitamin D Panel [25-OH vitamin D]
4. Hormone Panel
He wanted to understand my body condition whether it is in anabolic state or pro-healing mode for natural healing with prolotherapy injections.
http://www.caringmedical.com/media_blog/Vitamin_D_and_Chronic_Pain.htm The reports came out showing that I have low levels of Magnesium, very low levels of vitamin D and moderate levels of some hormones. He advised me to avoid certain foods for sometime, asked me to take some supplements and requested to apply Testosterone topical cream. As per Dr. Hauser advise am following very strict diet
1. Low GI diet for the past 4 months
2. Also avoiding foods containing wheat, soy, egg, gluten, sugar, processed foods, high fat contents, caffeine, carbonated drinks etc
3. Taking Mutlivitamins/MultiMinerals/Phyto Nutrients.
4. Maintaining body PH balance between 6.5 and 7.
5. Regularly doing Stationary bike twice for 25-40 minutes.
6. Stopped using ICE for swelling after prolotherapy and stated using INFRA-RED heating unit and TDP Light therapy lamp.
http://www.activeforever.com/p-1701-thermotex-infrared-heating-pad-platinum.aspx http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NCWW6U These are the supplements list that am taking regularly.
Glucosamine/Chondrotin
Collagen Type I, II and III
Hyaluronic acid
Magnesium 500mg
Resvertrol 500mg
Vitamin C 1000mg as ascorbic acid
Krill Oil tablets
Vitamin D3 - 5000 I.U
DL-Alpha Lipoic acid 600mg.
Multivitamins/Multiminerals/
Phytonutrients
WheatGrass/Barley Grass/Oat Grass
[li]
While I was doing all these, Parallely had set up a telephonic consulting with Regenexx. I spoke to Dr. Ron Hanson, sent all my medical reports/MRI and everything. Dr. Hanson rated me as a Good Candidate for the treatment.
But am not really convinced and comfortable to go ahead with regenexx treatment after telephone consulation so decided to have a in person consulation with Dr. Hanson, I travelled to Denver, met Dr. Hanson and he evaluated me thoroughly, answered all questions and suggested the following.
1. SFMA [Selective Functional Movement Accessment Technique] Evaluation, to understand the mobility of my joints
2. IMS [Intra muscular stimulation] for the joints
3. Regenexx-PL
4. Regenexx-SD
5. Regenexx-SCP.
After in person consulation I decided to go ahead with Regenexx Stem cell injections and had scheduled during August 2011.
I went to Denver and stayed in Broomfield for almost 10 days to complete the treatment. I really liked Dr. Ron Hanson, he was a very caring doctor answered all my questions during in person consulation and also all my email queries were promptly answered. Even small doubts/clarifications was prompty answered through email despite his busy schedule. He took good care during bone marrow draw, Pre and Post Injections. In fact I passed out after bone marrow draw, and was unconscious for almost an hour. Am not writing this to scare anyone...bone marrow draw was totally painless, only the pressure of needly piercing the bone will be felt and nothing else. I passed out after bone marrow draw completion and when I tried to get up from the procedure table. Proper hydration of your body before the procedure will help, I did hydrated myself well by drinking enough fluids but still I passed out . May be I was weak after all those Low GI diet.
After 10 days of my treatment I returned back to NJ and strictly followed the Post-Op instructions that was provided. I was advised to continue with the LOW GI diet.
4 weeks after Injections I was advised by Dr.Hanson to start PT using SFMA technique, and I have started PT since last week. Am into my 5th week now.
Result of the treatment :
After trying hard all these I haven't yet seen any marked improvement though am not sure if its bit early to decide on the efficacy of the treatment but there is little bit of improvement with weight bearing part thought am still walking with a crutch and also wearing the knee brace so I cannot be affirmative on this one.
But knee stiffness has gone down a bit though not completely, I had considerable swelling on my knee after the injections on top of the original swelling I had due to injury. Now after 5 weeks swelling due to injections was very much reduced but original swelling still persists. I think I have to wait some more time to make sure am on the right path to recovery. Due to last 2 years of crutch usage there are lots of stiffness on my hip, ankle and back and also considerable wastage of muscles in my quad, hamstring, hip region that inhibits my mobility. My PT is working hard on these, I think I still have long way to go to regain my full strength back on these muscles and to walk normally
I also wanted to thank Scooter72 on this forum, who has offered some good advices by sharing his experiences and also for answering all my queries that helped me a lot and to remain confident during these tough times.
