91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Watch CBS News
Health

South Jersey man says he got his life back with deep brain stimulation therapy for Parkinson's disease

By
Stephanie Stahl
Stephanie Stahl
Stephanie Stahl is an Emmy Award-winning health reporter. She can be seen daily on CBS News Philadelphia and Philly57.
Read Full Bio
Stephanie Stahl,
Casey Kuhn

/ CBS Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- New research is underway to determine if an implant that helps control tremors related to can also help those patients sleep better.

Deep brain stimulation has been revolutionary in treating Parkinson's and now researchers at Penn Medicine said its uses could very well be expanding.

It's a typical tremor caused by Parkinson's disease but for 63-year-old Bill Stockl, it's now under control.

"I think it's amazing," he said.

The South Jersey construction worker said it took years to figure out what was wrong. He just didn't feel right but all the tests were normal.

"The not knowing was bad, you can't fix anything if you don't know what the problem is," Stockl said. "After a while, I felt the problem was in my head because everything was coming back fine."

But there was a problem in his brain.

At Penn, he was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson's, a neurodegenerative disorder. Wanting an alternative to medications, Stockl decided to try deep brain stimulation.

17pkg-ss-parkinsons-impact-frame-1191.jpg
CBS News Philadelphia

"It's been a revolutionary tool in our pocket," Dr. Pavani Vaswani said.

Neurologist Vaswani said the stimulation is targeted to the part of the brain that causes Parkinson's. That happens with tiny wires being surgically implanted.

The wires are internally connected to a battery that's in Bill's chest and the stimulation is on all the time to keep his symptoms under control.

20pkg-ss-parkinsons-brain-implant-transfer-frame-1879.jpg
CBS News Philadelphia

"It's been absolutely phenomenal," Stockl said.

The father of four said the implant is also helping him sleep better, which is often disrupted because of Parkinson's.

"It's magic," he said.

"We don't know exactly why this happens," Dr. Casey Halpern said.

Helpern said research is now underway to determine if deep brain stimulation can also be used to treat sleep issues for people with Parkinson's.

"50% probably report an improvement in their sleep quality and they feel more rested after deep brain stimulation," Helpern said.

Stockl said the therapy has been a game-changer.

"I got my life back," he said.

Stockl also has a fitness group they call themselves the "Unshaken."

Exercise is also known to help with Parkinson's.

In:

© 2024 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
const link = doc.createElement('link'); link.rel = 'stylesheet'; link.href = '/fly/fly/bundles/cbsnewscontent/css/cmp-banner.min.css?v=296763317a51cab90faa73f1bb146d5c'; doc.head.appendChild(link); doc.body.innerHTML = CONSENT_MESSAGE; } else { el.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', CONSENT_MESSAGE); } }); } function hidePrivacyMessage() { // Remove from the main document document.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); // Remove from inside any iframes document.querySelectorAll('iframe').forEach(iframe => { const doc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document; doc.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); }); } function activateGatedScripts() { // Handle both new format (cmp-gated-script) and old OneTrust/Ketch format (optanon-category-4) const gatedScripts = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('script.cmp-gated-script, script.optanon-category-4')); // Activate scripts sequentially with a small delay to avoid timing issues let delay = 0; gatedScripts.forEach(function(placeholder, index) { setTimeout(function() { // Skip if already processed if (placeholder.hasAttribute('data-cmp-processed')) { return; } placeholder.setAttribute('data-cmp-processed', 'true'); const newScript = document.createElement('script'); newScript.type = 'text/javascript'; // Try new format first (data-cmp-src), then fall back to old format (data-src) const src = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-src') || placeholder.getAttribute('data-src'); if (src) { newScript.src = src; } else if (placeholder.textContent) { // Inline script - just copy the content newScript.textContent = placeholder.textContent; } // Handle new format attributes (data-cmp-attrs) - for both inline and external scripts const attrs = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-attrs'); if (attrs) { const tempDiv = document.createElement('div'); tempDiv.innerHTML = '
<\/div>'; const tempAttrs = tempDiv.firstChild.attributes; for (let i = 0; i < tempAttrs.length; i++) { // For external scripts, allow defer/async. For inline scripts, skip them (not valid) if (src || (tempAttrs[i].name !== 'async' && tempAttrs[i].name !== 'defer')) { newScript.setAttribute(tempAttrs[i].name, tempAttrs[i].value); } } } // Copy other attributes from old OneTrust format for (let i = 0; i < placeholder.attributes.length; i++) { const attr = placeholder.attributes[i]; // Skip attributes we've already handled or don't want to copy if (!['class', 'data-src', 'data-type', 'data-cmp-src', 'data-cmp-attrs', 'data-cmp-processed', 'type', 'async', 'defer', 'src'].includes(attr.name)) { newScript.setAttribute(attr.name, attr.value); } } placeholder.parentNode.replaceChild(newScript, placeholder); // If external script, manually trigger window.onload handlers after it loads // This handles widgets that use window.onload for initialization if (src) { newScript.addEventListener('load', function() { // If page already loaded and script set a new onload handler, trigger it if (document.readyState === 'complete' && window.onload) { const originalOnload = window.onload; window.onload = null; // Clear temporarily to prevent loops originalOnload(); // Execute the handler } }); } }, delay); delay += 500; // 500ms delay between each script to allow full loading }); } cbsoptanon.onScriptsReady(function(cmp) { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (!allowed) { showPrivacyMessage(); } else { activateGatedScripts(); } }); cmp.ot.awaitInitialConsent(function(consent_model) { cmp.ot.addOnConsentChangedHandler(function() { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (allowed) { hidePrivacyMessage(); activateGatedScripts(); } else { showPrivacyMessage(); } }); }); }); });