Nerve damage and neuromodulation

Hi Catnan

Thanks for reaching out to us here at Macmillan. My name is Joanne and I’m one of the Cancer information nurse specialists.

I can see that you’ve joined our Melanoma Forum and I hope that you’re finding it a useful source of support and information.

I’m sorry to hear that you are experiencing ongoing pain after your surgery for melanoma.

Dealing with ongoing pain after cancer treatment can be a real challenge and support from communities such as Life After Cancer can be useful.

The type of nerve or neuropathic pain you are experiencing is potentially due to nerve damage from your surgery. In some cases nerves will fully heal and repair themselves, however some people may continue to have longer term issues.

Initial treatment approaches include medications which can improve and alleviate the symptoms alongside other approaches to the management of chronic pain. The benefits and outcomes of these medications may vary from person to person.

Your surgeon feels that referral for Neuromodulation is appropriate at this stage.

This type of approach to pain control is reasonably new and is an expanding area of medicine. Neuromodulation refers to the use of medication or technology to interrupt and alter the pain signals in your body. Neuromodulation can involve small devices or electrodes that are surgically implanted in the body and can work on the spinal column or on your peripheral nervous system. It is generally carried out by specialist pain teams in specialist settings.

As nurses on the support line, we don’t have access to your individual healthcare records so you should contact your surgeon again and ask for details and location of the team that he will be referring you to.  They will be able to provide specific information on the type of treatment that is being considered.

I have included the NICE Guidelines on Nerve Stimulation Treatments for further information and thought it might be useful for you to have a look at this extract from the Lancet Medical Journal regarding some of the research that has been carried out in this field of medicine.

This type of information can be helpful when you are making decisions about whether or not a treatment is appropriate for you.

I hope this information is useful.

Please do get back in touch if we can offer any further advice or support.

Ref JH/DC

Thank you! I have today been given a leaflet from my surgeon which explains everythin, many thanks for your response