My mother's close friend has been diagnosed with essential tremor. She happens to be seeing the same neurologist that i use to deal with. I was informed the other day that this doctor has been trying to push the VNS on her to control the tremors. When i was told this i informed my mother that her friend must be confusing the VNS with the deep brain stimulator. That was not the case. Her friend insisted that it was the VNS. I did a little checking around and have found that the VNS has been used (unsuccessfully) "off label" for essential tremor. Below is a portion of an article on the subject from the Neurology web site.
Conclusions: VNS was judged by investigators to mildly improve upper extremity tremor. This finding was not confirmed in videotape scoring by masked raters. VNS is not likely to have a clinically meaningful effect on ET.
http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGklF2EQRK9C8A...ract/61/10/1401 So my ex-doctor is trying to talk this elderly lady into having VNS surgery to control her tremors. Seeing as this is an "off label" use of the device her insurance will not pay for it. She will have to shell out the $25,000 + for the surgery. Surely the doctor is not looking after the best interests of his patient. I can't understand why this doctor is pushing the VNS on this lady. There has gotta be something in it for him.