My husband came down with Buerger's Disease at the beginning of
January. After much unsuccessful treatment, he is now recovering
beautifully. Since so little is known about this disease, I'm hoping
that if I explain his treatment plan to you, that you and your doctor
could benefit from it. We started with our local community hospital
which was NO help. We were losing ground quickly and there wasn't
much time until he started losing fingers. At that point, we began
our fight with our medical insurance company to get him into Thomas
Jefferson University Hospital (where the specialist in charge of his
case was, and still is, a Rheumatologist) and that's when things
started to turn around. Not only does a hospital like this know more,
they are highly motivated to learn. In fact, he became a celebrity
there and they were excited to have him. At our local hospital, he
was an annoyance and they couldn't wait to get rid of him. They did
little more than pump him full of narcotics for the pain. I'll bet
many of you can relate to that. So, here's the plan: Stop smoking
immediately. You choose between a cigarette and a limb. Avoid 2nd
hand smoke, go only to non-smoking locations. Get into the best large
teaching hospital you can. Travel a distance if necessary. If you
have to, fight your insurance company till they dread hearing from
you to accomplish this. At Jefferson, they gave him a 3-day intensive
IV drip containing nitro glycerin etc to open up all of his blood
vessels. This procedure is very uncomfortable, but it works. Keep
warm. Wear thermal mittens, heavy socks etc even if it doesn't seem
that cold out. If its below approx 60 degrees F, its cold for you.
And if it is really cold out, avoid the outdoors as much as possible
and dress as warmly as you can. Do not go in the refrigerator or
freezer without mittens or gloves. Avoid or cut down caffeine
(coffee, cola, chocolate) as much as possible. Try to reduce stress.
His daily medications and vitamins include: 60mg Niphedipine (this is
a blood pressure medication, he does not have high blood pressure but
somehow this medication helps Buerger's, 81mg baby aspirin to thin
the blood, Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin B Complex, Vitamic C and
Vitamin E. Hopefully this has been helpful and I wish you all much
success in dealing with this terrible disease.