Posted , 4 users are following.
I had the implant done in September and am still trying to find a good setting. i now have a lot of pain in right leg which I did not have before the implant. Why?
What is over stimulation? when you say turn it down does that mean a plus or minus?
0 likes, 3 replies
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Laura3333 Provolish
Posted
It means a minus the level you are on now. It depends what make you have, I'm having a st judes trial, and they have only one setting, the nevro has three at a time. My rep said overstimulation is bad as it irritates nerves and can make the pain worse.
Seafarer123 Provolish
Posted
Depending on what kind of implant you have, you may have two different tools on your remote control to change how your stimulator works. For example with the Nevro HF10, you will have one button that controls the "program" you are on, and another button that controls the "power level" that you are on. Whenever you have over-stimulation you should always turn the power level DOWN. Do not necessarily change the program, unless you know for sure that the program you are changing to has never caused you over-stimulation problems before. Changing programs but staying at the same power level setting may just continue the over-stimulation. You want to turn the power level DOWN, meaning from Power Level say, 4, down to Power Level 2 (your tech should have taught you which direction on your remote increases the strength of the stimulator and which direction decreases it. Always turn it to the level that decreases power when you feel over-stimulation).
Another important point - depending on how long you have left the over-stimulation build up (and sometimes people continue to allow the over-stimulation for upwards of several days, because they aren't sure what is happening to them), you may actually need to turn the stimulator OFF completely, and leave it off for as much as 2-4 days. Over-stimulation means an over-excitement of your nerves, and they need time to calm down, sometimes with no power going to them at all. The general rule of thumb is - if you have allowed the over-stimulation to continue for several days, you may need several days of reduced or zero power for your nerves to calm down.
And one more thing about over-stimulation (I experience it extensively and have for over a year, so I have a lot of experience with it) - over-stimulation can occur in two forms: it can amplify your existing pain problem (say for example, the sciatica down your leg, it can make it worse), or it can cause a never-before-felt pain in an area of your body that you might not think is related to a stimulator in your spine. I have had over-stimulation pain down my legs, in my calf, in my groin, under my ribs, in my solar plexus and in my shoulder blades (but rarely two locations at once - typically it's only in one of those locations at a time). And in all cases I was sure it was over-stimulation because as soon as I turned down the power level, the pain decreased and then went away after a few hours (or sometimes after a few days).
Hope that helps - feel free to ask any follow-up questions, I've had a lot of experience with over-stimulation, and occasionally the pain it has caused has been even worse than my already existing pain!
Provolish
Posted
Thank you for sharing. When I woke up this morning my entire right leg felt on fire. I could hardly walk on it. I did go down one light (I have a Nevro Sensa implant) and this evening it feels better after some gabapentin. When would you increase a step? or go to a different program? I've only had my implant four months and still trying to find a comfortable setting. Had very little instruction.