PITTSBURGH -- Doctors at Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital are exploring the possibility of treating a variety of diseases by turning off malfunctioning sections of the brain.

Doctors are using deep brain stimulators, implanting electrodes in the brain, with the hope of someday combating diseases from obesity to Alzheimer's.

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The FDA approved them in 1997 to treat Parkinson's disease, but surgeons are now using them for turrets, seizure disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and Dystonia.

Parkinson's patient Peter Hoey had a brain pacemaker -- a medical device which sends electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain -- implanted into his brain six months ago.

The device makes a difference within seconds of being activated.

"I don't feel anything at all," said Hoey.

Donna Martin has Dystonia, a neurological movement disorder in which sustained muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures.

"My arm constantly throws out to the right. My right foot turns completely into my left and my leg is completely turned. My right shoulder comes over to the left side of my body. My head is turned completely to the left and straight up to the ceiling," said Martin.

After 20 years, Martin's symptoms continued to worsen and she found it hard to function.

"People would say, 'Just relax.' You can't -- you can't sleep, you can't eat -- everything is a challenge," said Martin.

Martin, who runs a home salon in Smithfield, Fayette County, found it increasingly difficult to hide the problem from her clients.

"Because this shoulder was up here by my ear and this arm was turned this way. For me to cut their hair, I didn't want them to see it," said Martin.

Martin says as soon as a doctor implanted electrodes in her brain four years ago, her life changed.

"Their brain function is normal, they're locked in a body that won't let them do what their brain wants them to do and you kind of give them the key to that lock," said Allegheny General Hospital neurosurgeon Dr. Don Whiting.

Martin says without the stimulator, she's convinced she would be in a care home.

Doctors are in the early stages of experimenting with how deep brain stimulation may impact those with obesity and Alzheimer's.