Can Insect Enzymes and Brain Implants Offer a Future Without Opioids?

The pain in Susan Hahla’s feet started as pins and needles, then progressed to flickering fires. Each month, Hahla found herself in a different doctor’s office, waiting for another disease to be crossed off the list: no restless leg syndrome, no rheumatism, and no, thank goodness, multiple sclerosis.

Finally, doctors at Oslo University Hospital in Norway diagnosed her with small-fiber neuropathy, a disorder caused when nerves misfire. “It gave me a good feeling that I wasn’t dreaming up something,” says Hahla, 71. But finding a treatment proved elusive. Some drugs had no effect on the pain; one, usually prescribed for epilepsy, left her forgetful and unable to walk a straight line.