Experiences on IVDD and calcinosis cutis

[Henna]

Hi!

I am new in the world of PEMF and just received my first ICES Pemf this week after excruciatingly waiting the shipment for a month (NOT because of Micro-Pulse, third parties and shipping companies can be a pain in the … ).

First I want to thank @Bob and the entire community for the exceptional sincerity and the drive to share info & help others in need. Truly appreciated and too seldomly seen these days. I do not remember how I found ICES and this forum but I am so glad I did!

First some background info:

I bought the ICES pemf mainly for my dog who has been suffering from a buldged thoraic disc for 2 years. My dog was not a candidate for decompressive surgery due to abnormalities in vertebrae structure + chronic nature of his condition (and also being on the senior side). So I have searched endlessly for treatments outside the scope of traditional medicine.

My doggie has been doing relatively OK on prednisone + acupuncture + CBD + physio. Herbs don’t seem to really help (have tried about anything one can think of). His condition is severe, our neuro said she was not expecting a walking dog after first seeing the MRI results. The buldge affects my dog’s hind legs, primarily the right leg. Despite the odds he can walk and is painless on steroids even though his right hind leg is a bit unsteady and slower. If you take him off the pred though, he basically can’t walk and is extremely painfull. NSAID’s do nothing except make his stomach upset, so I have tried to keep the dosage to a minimum and we have been going with that. I also bought a red light + NIR device wich has some positive effect.

Sooo earlier this year my dog developed calcinosis cutis due to the long term pred and that condition is a bitch. I bought the A9 pemf in the hopes that it would control the pain and help with mobility while attempting to wean him off the steroids or at least go down on the dosage. If it helps with the calcinosis as well, the better.

I have now done two days on the M setting, placing the coils horizontally over the spine or stacked directly over the buldge spot. I have tried to max out the time so I have been doing the treatment for ± 6 hours daily.

I don’t see any effect yet on the neurological symptoms, but that is to be expected. But I do think that the calcinosis has calmed down a bit and looks less irritated/the bumps are less raised.

I am thinking of doing this routine for a couple of weeks and then evaluating. Does this sound like a solid plan? Also all experiences of similar scenarios / applying pemf fir dogs is much appreciated.

I am also going to experiment pemf on myself (the usual lower back + knees problems, also chronic issues with MTSS due to my running hobby).

Ouch, what a long rant I’ll update our progress if someone is interested. Hoping to hear from experiences of others!

[TajD]

Welcome and congratulations on discovering ICES PEMF. Yes, this forum reminds me of the “old” internet where people genuinely shared content and ideas and content wasn’t produced to change the outcome in a search engine (or nowadays an AI powered answer engine).

I think your plan sounds great. I think your attention to detail is wonderful and if you can keep sharing your findings for both you and your pup that would be really helpful to the forum. I have posted multiple posts about using ICES PEMF on our schnauzer, who has since passed at over 14 yrs of age. It really, really helped him and his condition. Also smart moving on pairing ICES PEMF with red/NIR light.

I hope your doggie continues to see gradual improvement. Your doggie is lucky to have you!

[Henna]

Thanks, I have been roaming around the forum trying to soak up all the useful info and different applications that people have tested pemf for.

Our update: I can’t make any definite conclusions yet (because my pup’s condition is very varying - sometimes we can have streaks of several very good weeks, then his back flares again because of X and Y and so on…so it is not steady in any ways). BUT: the past week I have been able to maintain a very low pred dosage without it clearly effecting his clinical symptoms. Usually he starts having spasm and locking of legs with this dosage if I don’t adjust his daily activity, but so far so good … Also I think the sensation of his right hind leg improved little.

The calcinosis lesions on his skin are visibly calmer and the skin seems to be peeling/flaking a bit. I can’t say definitely if it’s primarily because of pemf or the lower pred, but his skin is definitely improved compared to a week ago. Previously I treated the calcinosis with DMSO and topical sodium thiosulphate which helped control it to some extent, but in the name of experimenting I have dropped them for now. So we will see, but I am cautiously optimistic.

Also, my MTSS was really sore yesterday evening and even waking made me cringe. I borrowed the A9 from my doggie and applied it on M setting for an hour or so in the evening. Lo and behold, it looks like I am able to go for a light run today because the pain level is now maybe 1-2 when yesterday it was more like an 8. I also did red light, but that hasn’t helped my legs this significantly before so I definitely think this was more due to pemf than red light/cold laser.

[Henna]

Update: a little under two weeks have now passed experimenting with pemf. I haven’t tested very much on myself yet, since the A9 has been pretty constantly at use with my dog… Seems like I’ll have to order another unit for myself

Results so far are mixed. Calcinosis lesions on my dogs back are in fact calmer and more flat but it is unclear whether the main factor is the lowerd prednisone dosage, pemf or combination of the two. My pup is now getting steroids every other day and the daily dosage is approx. 0,15mg/kg (which is low - the highest dosage he’s had was ~1,15mg/kg).

So far, he has been pretty steady. The right hind leg is still clearly slower but he has been pain free and able to stand and walk on his own. Some days have been better than others and he still gets occasional cramps and rigidity affecting his right hind leg due to the long withstanding nerve impingment and spinal cord injury due to the buldged thoraic disc.

Today for the first time during pemf trials he woke up painfull, won’t eat and was shivering. Started giving him pemf with stacked coils & intensity M and it seemed to help at least a little bit after 30 mins or so. My pup is now sleeping, so at least he isn’t so painfull that he couldn’t rest (we’ve had those episodes too in the past).

Don’t know if it’s coincidence or not, but last evening he didn’t get the “usual” amount of pemf… on othet evenings I have treated him for several hours or overnight, but last night skipped the routines (I am currently sick and wen’t to bed early and tired).

I’ll update again, in case someone finds this helpful.