Boston Scientific or Medronic Spinal Stimulator Implant System
Posted , 2 users are following.
Which one should I go with? I had a Medtronic implanted in 2015. Since the implant I'm suffering from severe acid reflux. If I turn it to a lower setting it defeats the purpose of the implant (still helps but wouldn't be worth the surgery since I still need to supplement with lighter pain medication). Just so you know a bit more, my abdomen vibrates along with all the other targeted areas (abdomen was NOT targeted). Does or did anyone have the same, slight or similar symptoms? If yes, can you please tell me what you did to alleviate?
1 like, 1 reply
allaroundanne janice13733
Posted
The purpose of the implant is to help with your pain, not to completely relieve it. It does that for some people, but certainly not all and for a whole lot of patients, they are left on a lesser dosage of their pain meds and consider this to be a success. As for stimulating unwanted areas, this is just part of the nature of the beast. They can try to control this with their programming, but nerves sometimes run close to each other and you can't help but hit other nerves that are nearby the one you intend to hit. Thus you get your abdomen vibrating or the acid reflux. If you get that with one SCS, chances are you will get that with all, it's more a function of your anatomy than the particular SCS I would think. You may have a difference with lead electrodes versus paddle electrodes because the way the energy is dispersed is different. Unfortunately, you really can't do a "trial" of the paddles, they have to be put it by a laminectomy, which is major surgery. So, you have to be really serious in wanting them. I do have a burst mode Abbott that when I turn it up to high even in burst turns tingly on me with the current running down my legs to my toes. It's really annoying and reminds me of how awful it must have been when that was how it was all the time for the early SCS patients, LOL we shouldn't whine!