Hello,

I had DBS surgery last December. I have been on disability for 12 years and that has not changed. I have been able to cut way back on my meds which were causing me too many trips to the ER to be flushed out and restarted on a different drug regiman. This happened twice. I lost 6 days out of my life. I chose to have the surgery in order to cut back on my drugs. Using cutting back on the amount of drugs I take, the surgery, for me, was a roaring success.

I would not recommend anyone to wait to the extreme point I had to before having the surgery. I talked to the manager at Medtronic who has been on the project since day one for 14 years (fortunately, I live within spitting distance of Medtronic headquarters) and was told the success rate is higher for those who have the surgery only a few years into the disease, espiecially young onset Parkinsonisans. If you wait as long as I was forced to (I had to fight hard to be allowed to have the surgery) and you wait until you have been on carpidopa/levodopa long enough where you can't tell if the dyskenisias are caused by the wearing off or the levodopa kicking in, the surgery will not be as beneficial.

No one can answer your question, because the reaction to the surgery is different for everyone. You are setting income for your measure of success or failure. I wish I had that opportunity. I am afraid the only way for you to find out is to step up to the bat and take a swing. Maybe you will hit the ball maybe you won't. But either way you will be a winner! You will have defeated fear.

Best Regards,
Vicky