Anyone had an Abbott SCS put in? BurstDR strength setting?

I had the Abbott Spinal Cord Stimulator System implanted and Mass. Gen'l two years ago. Nothing but problems, have been back to the hospital numerous occassions and it still does not work.
I have tried to contact the Abbott Representative in Maine on numerous occassions with no success. I would not recommend either this device nor this company. Just a bad investment.

I received the 7 day trial from Abbott and I can tell you first had that it absolutely worked for me. I have a trashed back with several bulged disks, fractures, and have had 1 herniated disk and a decompression surgery on L3,4,5 that failed. My leg, hip, and lower back has been horrendous. During the trial the pain was gone in my leg and hip. One spot in my back gave me some pain but tolerable . I am set to have it implanted because after the removal the pain has returned. I absolutely recommend the Abbott implant nerve stimulator.

Hi my name is Joe and new to the group. I have had 10 surgeries on my spine both neck and back. Now as before I deal with chronic pain worse than before all my surgeries. One big reason is scare tissue. I was wondering if anyone has had an Abbott spinal cord stimulator put in. And if it has helped? And how long you have had it installed. I’m thinking this might be my next thing to try. Would appreciate any input you could share. Thank you!

I have the Abbott SCS for about 7 mos. now, and have had minimal results. I did have the trial for about 10 days and saw some improvement,but during the trial they tell you not to bend over, or lift any objects over 5 pounds. so, it's kind of hard to see the full affect. Anyway, I now have the permanent one and see some minimal relief. I had two back surgeries, one was a laminectomy, and then 13 yrs ago a spinal fusion,, with the rods and pins put in. I have had back pain and have two dropped feet since then. I get around fine but the back pain is still there. I will say the Abbott company rep. has been great. He has met with me many times to try to readjust the implant. I have now 5 different programs on the phone app and have tried them all. So, I'd say if you get the trial, try to make sure you have it for as long as you can, and give it a good try. The only complaint I have about the device is that they tell you it only need charging every 2 or 3 months,, WRONG.. It all depends on the strength settings and to get any relief you have to have the settings set higher. So, then I have to recharge about every 3 weeks.. Not a big deal,,just a pain.. Also, they a have non chargeable one ,but it only last a few years and then you have to go thru the surgery again to put a new one in.. Not really an option for me.
Anyway, I'd recommend giving it a try as most say it gives some relief.

Hi my name is Joe and new to the group. I have had 10 surgeries on my spine both neck and back. Now as before I deal with chronic pain worse than before all my surgeries. One big reason is scare tissue. I was wondering if anyone has had an Abbott spinal cord stimulator put in. And if it has helped? And how long you have had it installed. I’m thinking this might be my next thing to try. Would appreciate any input you could share. Thank you!

Has anyone had the Medtronic Spinal Cord Stimulator?

Hi my name is Joe and new to the group. I have had 10 surgeries on my spine both neck and back. Now as before I deal with chronic pain worse than before all my surgeries. One big reason is scare tissue. I was wondering if anyone has had an Abbott spinal cord stimulator put in. And if it has helped? And how long you have had it installed. I’m thinking this might be my next thing to try. Would appreciate any input you could share. Thank you!

Well I got the Abbott implant in 4 weeks ago. They only gave me 2 settings, one with a burst and one with tonic. Here is my positive and negatives.
1. I believe I am getting results mostly helping my leg pain. I can say before the implant when the leg pain came it was terrible, that has subsided.
2. My lower back and butt pain comes and goes but not as bad as it was before surgery, so that is a slight positive. Maybe I am to close out from the surgery and have given it enough time, not sure.
3. Here are some negatives
A. They did not tell me before surgery that I was not getting a rechargeable battery. Everything I read was about the rechargeable battery but after surgery they told me the battery can last 5 years or less depending on how I use it, that was a disappointment for me.
B. The rep set only 2 settings and gave me very little education on how to navigate the settings, just told me not to set it to high, well I found out what was to high when I put it on the tonic setting at about 35 or so and went to the store and the back of my leg was on fire. I had to turn it farely high to feel it and boy I felt it.
3. Another negative is the connection to the generator is extremely slow and most often takes two tries to find connection. I tried it on my iphone and lost all connection and so I had the rep put it on the phone they gave me, still connection is a turtle.
4. Here was my instructions for follow up after my second post opt.” Call us if you have any issues “ Wouldn’t you think that a company would follow the people who purchased a critical medical device like this. I liked my rep a lot but not sure if that is Abbotts policy or not but that does not seem right to me that the pain clinic/ Abbott would not at least have scheduled follow ups, even yearly would be better than none.
Time will tell if this was worth the pain of surgery and 6 weeks of basically doing no bending, lifting, twisting. My question is, how do you not do some of those things, unless you have someone do everything for you.
I really am a bit upset that they did not give me a choice of the type of battery, I don’t relish going back in to have surgery to replace a battery.

Well I got the Abbott implant in 4 weeks ago. They only gave me 2 settings, one with a burst and one with tonic. Here is my positive and negatives.
1. I believe I am getting results mostly helping my leg pain. I can say before the implant when the leg pain came it was terrible, that has subsided.
2. My lower back and butt pain comes and goes but not as bad as it was before surgery, so that is a slight positive. Maybe I am to close out from the surgery and have given it enough time, not sure.
3. Here are some negatives
A. They did not tell me before surgery that I was not getting a rechargeable battery. Everything I read was about the rechargeable battery but after surgery they told me the battery can last 5 years or less depending on how I use it, that was a disappointment for me.
B. The rep set only 2 settings and gave me very little education on how to navigate the settings, just told me not to set it to high, well I found out what was to high when I put it on the tonic setting at about 35 or so and went to the store and the back of my leg was on fire. I had to turn it farely high to feel it and boy I felt it.
3. Another negative is the connection to the generator is extremely slow and most often takes two tries to find connection. I tried it on my iphone and lost all connection and so I had the rep put it on the phone they gave me, still connection is a turtle.
4. Here was my instructions for follow up after my second post opt.” Call us if you have any issues “ Wouldn’t you think that a company would follow the people who purchased a critical medical device like this. I liked my rep a lot but not sure if that is Abbotts policy or not but that does not seem right to me that the pain clinic/ Abbott would not at least have scheduled follow ups, even yearly would be better than none.
Time will tell if this was worth the pain of surgery and 6 weeks of basically doing no bending, lifting, twisting. My question is, how do you not do some of those things, unless you have someone do everything for you.
I really am a bit upset that they did not give me a choice of the type of battery, I don’t relish going back in to have surgery to replace a battery.

@smithki - sorry you didn't get the battery you preferred. This should have been agreed with your doctor before the surgery. If it is any consolation, surgery for battery replacement is less invasive and the recovery will be quicker than for the full system implantation. And you don't have to deal with recharging in the meantime, which some people find tedious and time consuming. Any follow up visits are typically with your physician. The Abbott rep is there for you when you have programming needs or device connection issues.

Setting the optimal strength level for Burst stimulation can be challenging since there isn't a lot of feedback. With tonic stimulation, I usually set the strength just below the point where I feel the stimulation. I prefer tonic and use it 100% of the time. The only downside is it uses more energy, so I have to charge more frequently. I don't know if this would also impact battery life for a non-rechargeable.

I agree the discharge instructions and activity limitations are difficult. I wasn't sure what no bending, twisting, or reaching really meant so I had my rep demonstrate what was okay and what wasn't okay, which was very helpful. I was able to do more during my recovery period than I initially thought.