DEFIANCE, Ohio — The numbers of the opioid epidemic are staggering.
Data has found more than 37 million Americans are battling substance abuse. Nearly one in four are opioid users.
It's an epidemic that that touched countless lives, and is continuing to grow.
One medical center in northwest Ohio however, is looking at ways to help, by offering an alternative pain treatment aimed at preventing new addicts and relapses.
Earlier in the summer, Integrated Medical Group in Defiance, Ohio had one of its employees suffer a serious accident, and although she was prescribed opioids for the pain, the practice's owner also offered her something different to ease the pain and help with the healing process.
What started out as a fun Fourth of July celebration quickly became dangerous, as some of the night's fireworks failed to launch high into the sky, instead, exploding near and injuring Rehab Technician India Ulshafer on both legs multiple times.
Ulshafer had 2nd and 3rd degree burns all over her legs.
Immediately, Dr. Megan Parks, co-owner of Integrated Medical Group, began looking for help.
"If we couldn't have found her something, I was trying to fly her out," said Dr. Parks.
The answer Dr. Parks found was purified amniotic fluid, a regenerative treatment.
"It follows FDA guidelines and it has growth factors. A thing called angiogenesis, which is new blood flow," said Dr. Parks. "If you looked at one of the pictures, it was white because there was no blood flow. So it actually created new blood flow and healing properties when we misted this on it."
She said the process is simple.
"Basically had her clean it right before and then we sprayed this on that area. Then, we just covered it with lotion and kept it hydrated and she had no pain," said Dr. Parks.
"I was living on hydrocodone every four hours, I needed to, just to be able to just lay there without being in excruciating pain. And since yesterday I've taken two ibuprofen every eight hours," said Ulshafer during one of her treatment sessions.
Unfortunately for some people, accidents like this can mark the start of an addiction. In the U-S, approximately 2.1 million people have an Opioid use disorder, with 130 people dying daily from overdoses.
Mikaela Taylor, Vice President of Bright View Health's Clinical Services, said alternative treatments can be a good for anyone. But, pain treatment is not a simple path, because addiction or not, everyone is different.
"There's nothing wrong with taking medication. The taking of the medication itself is not a bad thing. You're just wanting to make sure that you're not putting yourself in a bad place where you're using that medication and self medicating and going down a path that can take over your life," said Taylor.
Overall, less than 10% of opioid users become addicted. So, Taylor says giving yourself grace and arming yourself with the proper knowledge about medication is important. But, she agreed it's not always easy.
"The blow of, you're going to need skin grafting. You're going to be in the hospital," said Ulshafer. "I mean, it's a dramatic change. Especially from how active I was before."
Feelings like these, can lead to spiraling.
"That's a totally normal human, emotional response. All of these things happening at once and we can over load our nervous system, and the fact we might know how to cope with that. So I think the best possible thing to do is to seek out help," Taylor said. "Recognize the people that are equipped and help you navigate through that so you aren't stuck."
Therefore, alternative therapies and open conversations are important, especially when faced with long-term opioid use. Ulshafer said family and employer support, along with regenerative treatment, which targeted the pain and injury, made a world of difference.
"That's truly given me my life back, more than I could even understand. I was off work for ten days. So I've been back since the 13th of July. I was looking at being off work for a minimum of 30 days, if not more. With skin grating, doctors appointments, all of those things," said Ulshafer.
But India was back at work only a few weeks after her initial injury. She said her wounds are healing very nicely and she can walk without assistance or feeling pain.
Parks said deep second and third degree burns like Ulshafer could have taken months to heal along with a lot additional skin grafting. But that was all avoided thanks to the regenerative treatment. For more information on this treatment, reach out Integrated Medical Group for the full details, here.
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