The M25 Program

Scott suffered for years with horrible burning pain in his foot and ankle. He searched for help for years but the doctors he saw were "clueless." Then he found Dr. Demetrio Aguila, a pain-focused peripheral nerve surgeon who gave him the greatest gift - a pain-free life. Watch his journey.

Angie is back after a successful surgery with Dr. Aguila that eliminated most of her pain from Postherpetic Neuralgia. Her message for those still suffering - there is hope to get your life back. Watch to learn more. “I know how it feels to just want to die, and I have a life today, a very good life today because of Dr. Aguila and I am just so happy. My name is Angie, and I have Postherpetic Neuralgia. I had Shingles in March 2020 and once the rash went away, the pain never did. It was a level 8-9 pain every single day for the past 2 1/2 years.” That was Angie before surgery with Dr. Aguila. Dr. Aguila removed the affected nerves in her face causing Postherpetic Neuralgia. Now her life is completely different. “I can walk around the mall, I can travel, I can get up out of bed, I can shower, and I can get in and out of the car.” She has one remaining problem area of Postherpetic Neuralgia. She came back to see Dr. Aguila so he could give her a shot of Iovera. Iovera is a procedure that freezes the nerves thereby eliminating her pain and confirms the nerves involved for her next surgery. “I had it done in my abdomen myopic neurologist still exist a little bit. It was easy with no pain. It buys me time and it gives me hope, it shows me that this can be fixed.” Angie will have surgery soon. This will permanently eliminate the last of her Postherpetic Neuralgia pain. “I want people who have this disease to get help because I know how painful it is. I think back when I was in pain and now I am just so amazed and happy and very grateful.” Dr. Aguila and Total Pain Solutions https://www.totalpainsolutions.net/ And on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TotalPainSolutionsbyHealingHandsofNE

Scott had two successful surgeries to relieve foot and ankle pain caused by neuromas after a trauma. Dr. Aguila resected the sural, deep peroneal, superificial peroneal and saphenous nerves. Now Scott is pain free. To show his gratitude and help others, he donated to the M25 Program. Watch and learn more.

After Shingles developed into a painful case of Postherpetic Neuralgia on the face, Todd was lonely, miserable, and in constant pain. Through online research he found Dr. Demetrio Aguila, a pain-focused, peripheral nerve surgeon. Dr. Aguila confirmed the peripheral nerves causing his pain with a nerve block that temporarily relieved the pain. Then he took Tod to the operating room where he removed the affected nerves. Now he is 75% better just five days after surgery. Tod thanks Dr. Aguila for giving him the will to live again. “My name is Tod Miller, and I am from Phoenix, Arizona Dr. Aguila: Todd Miller is another patient who came to us with terrible postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) on his face. He had pain in his face after Shingles. Todd: You don’t have relationships and you’re pretty much alone when you have PHN. It’s such a tremendous feeling of being lonely you almost feel hopeless. Sometimes I would sit for 24 hours a day and the recliner with ice bags on my head and my neck. I found Dr. Aguila through a lady in Florida. She told me about two or three other doctors that were performing this type of surgery. All roads on the internet led to Dr. Aguila. Dr. Aguila: We blocked the supratrochlear and supraorbital nerves and the infraorbital nerve, nerve that’s right here in the face and he said doc this feels amazing. Given the success of the diagnostic block, Tod moved forward with surgery. In the operating room, Dr. Aguila removed the affected nerves, trading pain for numbness. Just five days after surgery here is Todd. I’m feeling a lot better. I am more energetic and 75 to 80% of the pain has been reduced already. Dr. Aguila: There is one little spot still across the forehead. We’re going to give it time to heal to see if it goes away, but it was so much better than it was before that. I’m looking forward to walking my dog and seeing my grandson and my granddaughter on the way. Everyone told me he was such a great guy and I heard great things about him and it’s all true. He’s caring and compassionate. You know anyone who gives you his cell phone number is a good guy. Dr. Aguila: thank you Todd for trusting us with your care. Thank you for giving us the opportunity. Take care of you. Todd: Thank you to Dr. Aguilar for giving me the ability to want to live again." Dr. Demetrio Aguila Website https://www.totalpainsolutions.net/ Dr. Demetrio Aguila Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TotalPainSolutionsbyHealingHandsofNE

Abby was a busy mom slowed down by constant, aching low back pain. Doctors were mystified because her spine MRIs were normal. After trying and failing many treatments she found Dr. Demetrio Aguila, a pain focused peripheral nerve surgeon. Dr. Aguila diagnosed her with superior cluneal nerve entrapment and relieved her pain in one outpatient procedure. I am Abby Rasmussen from Exira, Iowa. I had been experiencing back pain that would radiate to my side. I've got six kids and a very active lifestyle. My day would depend on my pain. I would always have an ice pack and pain pill with me even though the pill never really took away the pain. My kids would ask me hey Mom you want to go shoot hoops or you want to go for a bike ride, or you want to go play catch or things like that and I would have to tell them no I'm like sorry mom's back hurts. I saw dozens of doctors and surgeons, but no one could quite put their finger on it. I felt very defeated. Then I searched online and found Dr. Demetrio Aguila, a pain-focused peripheral nerve surgeon. He found out where the pain was coming from, felt very confident in what the problem was and that he could fix it through surgery. I was like yep, sign me up. In the operating room, Dr. Aguila removed her superior cluneal nerves. Superior cluneal nerves are nerves that run alongside the spine. When they are entrapped, it can cause low back pain. It was quick and easy, and I've had a good recovery so far. It has been a blessing to not have to worry about oh did I need to go grab pain or I need to be able to lay down before I do an activity I can just live life and enjoy it with my kids and my family and not have to worry about that anymore. To Dr. Aguila, thank you for doing what you do, thank you for being on that cutting edge and keep pushing the envelope and spreading the news that people don't have to live with that pain.

Dr. Aguila explains how he can effectively treat patients with Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN), a painful condition that develops after Shingles. Conventional thinking was that patients with PHN had to live with the pain. But Dr. Aguila has successfully operated on patients from all over the U.S. Watch to learn more about overcoming Postherpetic Neuralgia. Demetrio Aguila MD explains: “Postherpetic Neuralgia is a whole bunch of words from Greek that most people think man that's a bunch of words from Greek, I'm not sure what that means. Neuralgia is pain of the nerves post herpetic post means after herpetic means after some kind of disease that causes vesicles so like chickenpox or more specifically in this case shingles. The classical teaching is that post herpetic neuralgia is the result of these viruses that live in the nerve root okay right by the spinal cord and that they pop out over the course this one nerve to cause a rash and then you end up with chronic pain.” Dr. Aguila developed a surgical treatment to eliminate pain from Postherpetic Neuralgia. It started with one patient years ago. “He came to me in pain and said doc you helped my friend so and so with his problem that that nobody else could figure out can't you do the same thing for me? I gave him a nerve block injection to the affected nerves. I didn’t think it would work. He comes back a couple weeks later and he says to me Doc I had a few hours of relief it was awesome. Well doc you said if you turned off the nerve successfully with the injection you could turn it off permanently with surgery. When are we going to do my surgery? I said sir I don't know if the surgery is going to help you or not as a matter of fact I'm pretty sure it won't risk if you think there's any chance that the surgery is going to help then please do it he said it's kind of like chemo right there are certain chemo treatments that patients undergo and you know that the chance that they're going to be cured is really small but the patients do the chemo anyway and the doctor gives them the chemo anyway. In the operating room, I resected neuromas on the damaged nerves. To this day 8 years later he's pain free. What that taught me and what all the others that I've seen taught me is that while it's true that that virus lives in the nerve root and it's true that the rash that comes along the course of that nerve causes shingles and while it's true that the shingles causes this chronic pain in some patients, I think the conventional understanding of post herpetic neuralgia is incomplete. What the surgery confirms is that when you disconnect that nerve you disconnect that nerve from the pain generator for people with post herpetic neuralgia there is hope.” Dr. Demetrio Aguila Website https://www.totalpainsolutions.net Dr. Demetrio Aguila Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TotalPainSolutionsbyHealingHandsofNE/

Lynn suffered from a complex case of Postherpetic Neuralgia of the face after Shingles. Dr. Demetrio Aguila is trained as a plastic and reconstructive, ENT, head and neck and peripheral nerve surgeon. He offered her permanent relief from her pain with one surgery. Watch how. “I am Lynn Deary from St. Louis, Missouri.” Dr. Aguila: “Lynn came to see us because she had Shingles, and she later developed postherpetic neuralgia of the face. Now in her case, the symptoms were primarily in the cheek, the nose and the upper lip and inside the nose. That would most likely be the anterior interior superior alvea nerve. The reason I am familiar with it is because Dr. Lee Dellon n and I wrote one of the few papers in the medical literature specifically looking at the anatomy of that nerve.” Lynn went to dozens of doctors before she found Dr. Aguila. “My goodness I saw so many doctors. My primary pain management specialist and then another pain management specialist. I also went to a pain psychologist to try to deal with the psychological hackle aspects of chronic pain. The pain affected my life because I was basically a hermit. I did not want to go outside and be with people. We found Dr. Aguila in two different ways. My husband is very bright and did online research which led to Dr. Aguila. I also found him through a Facebook support group for people with postherpetic neuralgia. We decided to move forward with the surgery because we believed in Dr. Aguila. He is one of the few people trained to do this type of surgery. He has a tremendous bedside manner. He made me feel comfortable and I trusted him from the first time I met him.” Dr. Aguila: “We did an injection of the orbital nerve and the pain on her cheek got better but she still had pain in the nose. I said OK let’s go after that, so we didn’t injection for her pain towards the top of the nose and her pain got better. So, I said let’s go after the interior superior nerves, so I did an injection inside the end and she said the pain inside my nose is gone, but I still have this pain right here (inside the nose). You will have a hard time finding this nerve in most anatomy books. It’s called a lateral nasal branch of the anterior ethmoid nerve. We did an injection there and she said that was the spot we were looking for. In the operating room, I made an incision starting under the eyebrow going down along inside of the eye and the side of the nose all the way down to just the outside of her nostril. It’s a long incision. I was familiar with these nerves because I have done a lot of facial reconstruction during my training and my experience as an ear nose and throat surgeon. We did tons and tons of facial reconstruction like this in Afghanistan. I did tons of facial reconstruction like this as plastic and reconstructive surgery. As a Peripheral Nerve Surgeon, I was taught to pay attention to all the nerves in the body that we operate on. I found this supra orbital nerve, found the supratrochlear nerve and we found the infratrochlear nerve. We disconnected every single one of them and the pain is so much better. Lynn: “I want to get back in touch with friends and start doing more social activities. Thanks to Dr. Aguila!” www.totalpainsolutions.com https://www.facebook.com/TotalPainSolutionsbyHealingHandsofNE

In this video, we meet Mike another patient with Postherpetic Neuralgia of the face. Mike was in horrible pain and despite seeing dozens of doctors could not get relief from the PHN. He flew across the country to have surgery with Dr. Aguila, a pain-focused peripheral nerve surgeon. This interview is 30 days out from surgery and Mike is already 75% better. He calls this a miracle. “Hello, my name is Mike, and I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. My story began in October 2018 when I suffered a severe attack of shingles. Unfortunately, it took three visits to the emergency room before they were able to diagnose what the problem was, and my left eye was severely damaged by the shingles. I ended up having to have emergency cornea replacement in my left eye and suffered from PHN postherpetic neuralgia on my left forehead. Over the years I went to many different neurosurgeons and neurologists to try and get help. I tried every medication that you could possibly try and unfortunately it wasn’t getting any better. In fact, it was getting worse. Sometimes the side of my head would just be blood beat red, and I would get horrible headaches. Somehow YouTube figured out that I was interested in PHN and they sent me a video of Dr. Aguila in Nebraska. I looked at his videos and I was super impressed. He seemed like he was very empathetic and very knowledgeable and the fact that he was a veteran made me feel better also because I’m a veteran. In surgery Dr. Aguila removed the supratrochlear and supraorbital nerves. The procedure was done, and I immediately felt better. I knew I made the right decision. I’d say I’m about 70% of where I was prior to the procedure, which to me is a miracle. Dr. Aguila says it will progressively get better as time goes on. I can truly say this has been a life altering procedure for me. I don’t know what life would be like if I had to keep enduring the amount of pain I was in before the surgery. I would encourage anyone in my situation to go out and meet Dr. Aguila.” Dr. Aguila and Total Pain Solutions https://www.totalpainsolutions.net/

Nancy suffered for years with Occipital Neuralgia pain. She had many different kinds of treatments and surgeries, but nothing relieved the pain. Then she found Dr. Aguila, a pain-focused peripheral nerve surgeon. Not only did Dr. Aguila eliminate her pain, but Nancy did not have to pay for her surgery. Instead she donated community service hours through the M25 Program. Watch her incredible story. “My name is Nancy and I’m from Houston, Texas. I’ve been suffering from occipital neuralgia for about seven years. It has been so difficult. I had surgery with another surgeon before meeting Dr. Aguila but only had relief for 18 months and then after that, the pain came back. I lost my job and it has affected my family life so much. I have been to see so many different doctors - pain management doctors, neurologists and so many others. They all had their opinion and I tried so many different treatments. I had surgery on my neck. I had fusion on my neck. Then I had shoulder surgery. There was nothing else for me. A doctor wanted to put a spinal stimulator in and that was going to be it. But I knew there had to be a better way. I found Dr. Demetrio Aguila through a Facebook support group. I flew to Omaha, and he spent two hours with me just talking to me about everything I’ve gone through and all the treatments I’ve tried and all the surgeries I’ve done. He was so compassionate. He listened to me, and he didn’t rush me.” In the operating room Dr. Aguila disconnected the greater and lesser occipital nerves on both sides, trading pain for numbness. “It’s only a few days after surgery, but I already feel so much relief compared to the other surgery. Also, Dr. Aguila doesn’t prescribe any kind of narcotics or opioids and I found comfort with that because I know with those medications there is a possibility of addiction. I am feeling a bit of nerve pain, but that is normal, and the nerves are getting settled. But I am progressing every day. Also, I did not have to pay Dr. Aguila anything because of the M25 program. I’ve never found a doctor that offered something like that where the surgeon fees are covered by volunteer hours. I have family and patients that I have seen donating hours towards my surgery. I appreciate Dr. Aguila so much for his surgical skills and his M25 program. If all goes according to plan and I feel very optimistic. I would love to donate towards that program once I start working again. I will be forever grateful for the M25 program and Dr. Aguila.” Dr. Aguila Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TotalPainSolutionsbyHealingHandsofNE Dr. Aguila Website https://www.totalpainsolutions.net/