Spinal Cord Stimulator

I just had my SCS removed because it was not doing its job. The leads moved north on me twice. This is not supposed to happen, if anything they would move south. Then when the doctor removed it, he found that the previous doctor spliced the leads together, and he had to male another incision which he was not planning on doing. Needless to say, the doctor was not happy! For some reason I am in possession of the unit now. I need to figure out why he gave it to me and why!

I have a discectomy L5/S1 since 2007. Space since has filled with fat and scar tissue resulting in a failed back surgery. I have also two fusions between c5 and c7. I continually have shots in my lower back for the discectomy and in my neck for the fusions.

A year ago I had a spinal cord stimulator installed in my back for my lumbar pain. The pain that I had radiated down through my hip, into my thigh, my calf, and my toes. Almost immediately after installation of the scs, my pain reduced by about 60%. Over the year, relief has degraded to about 40%. I am in the midst of resetting the SCS so that it is focused on the areas that I have pain.

I encourage anybody who has the opportunity to get the SCS, as long as they research the medical facility and the doctor that's going to be installing it. You will need maintenance on the system for as long as you have it in. I know that some people have problems with it and a lot of people have it taken out but I encourage everybody to at least try it. If your husband needs it, he will go through a trial period where they do a test using an external stimulator so he will know pretty much what he's getting himself into.

I have pain in both my neck and my lower body so I have been taking opioids since 2007. While the objective is to reduce opioid use, it has reduced pain but I still need the opioid use for my fusions. I may look at doing a SCS in the future for my cervical and I would expect that my opioid use will decline dramatically.

There are a lot of different types of stimulators so make sure you do your research.

hi khi

im so sorry about your husband pain .

ive just had the trial beforei have the full implant.

i broke my neck and had to have metal cages put in, which left me in terrible pain all down my right side,left side not to bad .(peripheral neuropathy)

hospital phoned me today so im on the waiting list

as for the scs yes it works but because my pain is from my main nervous system its harder for me to know any difference.

i was on program one then two

in the end i needed a further week on a new program which helped me and stopped the feeling of wanting to put my arm through the window.

he needs to be on the his doctors back to be sent to the pain clinic.

hope this was helpful x

hi all,

I had the Nevro HF10/HFX device implanted a year ago for chronic low back pain and have had terrible pain around the leads since implantation. im wondering if anyone has experienced something similar to this and what you did about it.

the pain is right around the leads, like a terrible pressure. its at its worst when i lay down, but can flare for no reason at all. i often feel like my lungs are being squeezed and its hard to breathe. the device is actually working well for my low back pain or we would have removed already. I've had 4 medial branch blocks with some relief, an epidural that did not work, trigger point injections, massage therapy, accupuncture that all did not work (massage caused flare ups). Sometimes the pain radiates to my abdomen.

I felt like the stimulator was my last hope so I dont want to give up on it, but the pain is unbearable.

thanks,

meghan

Hi everyone!

Im waiting for my trial whit the scs, ive been trying many thing over the past 7 years, and its seem to be to my doc the best option. I got beteewen s1 and l4 some degenerative disc, osteortritis ans some nerve damages... im pretty sure my doc is going whit the medtronic one.

Any one had any experrience whit those?

i just had one installed one month ago---it works fantastic on my lower left back hip and knee---however the reason i went is back on right side and up in mid back and does not not touch it--may actually be worse i am hoping it gets better -----if your husband has lower back pain i would at least try because they do a temp one that is taped on very good---it works same as permanent one ---like i said it worked fantastic on my lower left side so.....