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

Posted by vincescs @vincescs, Sep 29, 2023

I'm curious to know what strength setting your spinal cord stimulator is set at for anyone implanted with an Abbott device that uses BurstDR technology.

I had a good trial and significant pain reduction after my permanent implant, but feel like the device has become less effective over time. I'm now 6 months post-op and feel like the device is no longer providing much relief at all.

I have a follow up appointment with my surgeon and the device rep in two weeks but want to experiment with different settings between now and then. However, I know it's possible to overstimulate the nerves and create irritation and pain at settings that are too high. My initial strength setting was at 7, then I increased to 8 a couple of weeks post-op. I briefly increased to 9 after a muscle spasm flare up and then returned back to 8.

I felt a little more confident experimenting with settings on my Medtronic device with tonic stimulation, but the Abbott BurstDR technology is more difficult to determine the delayed impact of adjustments due to the lack of paresthesia.

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Profile picture for smithki @smithki

thank you, this was very helpful for me. I have experienced some burning discomfort with my setting as I think I had the settings to high. The rep set my burst at 12 and told me not to set it to high but I don’t know what is to high so I keep it at her setting. I seldom use tonic ever since I put the setting to high and left my house for over an hour. I came home with burning in the back of my leg that took awhile to go away after turning the unit back to burst at the lower setting. You gave an excellent explanation of how you set yours, I wish the rep had been that detailed for me. The main positive for me is that my leg pain from my back is 99% better and that is huge for me. The lower back is better as well just not as effective as it has been on my leg but I am ok with that for now.
Thanks again for your excellent explanation regarding my post.

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If your leg pain is 99% improved, then you are doing fantastic. That's a great surgical outcome! If you're getting relief in Burst mode with your current strength setting, then I wouldn't mess with it. If you decrease the setting, you might be under stimulate and not get the same relief. If you increase the setting you could overstimulate, irritate your nerves, and not get the same relief. If you want to experiment with changes, you should only increase or decrease by 1 or 2 strength units at a time and then wait several days to see how you respond to the change before making any more adjustments. You can always go back to 12 after experimenting if that's your sweet spot. I only switched to tonic because I couldn't find the right Burst strength. Tonic feedback is pretty much instantaneous.

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Profile picture for jnd2023 @jnd2023

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!

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Thanks a lot for the encouragement and the advice, I really appreciate it a lot. I sure got more from you than Abbott but then again they don’t know what it feels like to have this unit implanted. I’m on my 5th week and still have this cloth band around me and being in Arizona, talk about hot but I only have 2 weeks left with that.
Thanks again

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Profile picture for smithki @smithki

Thanks a lot for the encouragement and the advice, I really appreciate it a lot. I sure got more from you than Abbott but then again they don’t know what it feels like to have this unit implanted. I’m on my 5th week and still have this cloth band around me and being in Arizona, talk about hot but I only have 2 weeks left with that.
Thanks again

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I too am from Arizona. May I ask who your doctor/neurosurgeon was?

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Profile picture for jnd2023 @jnd2023

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!

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I had Dr. Chinthagada and had my surgery at the Lazer Surgery Center in Tempee. I was scheduled with DR. Norwani from the specialty pain management but last minute he could not do it so they gave me the doctor I listed. I was concerned about this doctor, so I called the Abbott Rep and she told me he was very good and she had been a part of many of his implants.

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Profile picture for smithki @smithki

I had Dr. Chinthagada and had my surgery at the Lazer Surgery Center in Tempee. I was scheduled with DR. Norwani from the specialty pain management but last minute he could not do it so they gave me the doctor I listed. I was concerned about this doctor, so I called the Abbott Rep and she told me he was very good and she had been a part of many of his implants.

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I am pleased you contacted the rep and asked their opinion of the doctor. Their recommendations are genuine.

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Profile picture for smithki @smithki

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.

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I agree with everything you said. The rep kept texting to see if I wanted the implant. After receiving my permanent implant , no word from my rep. I had to keep calling and texting her for questions about settings etc. I wasn’t aware that it would take so long to heal from the surgery. I’m still not sure my setting is the best. When I do get ahold of the rep she tells me I’m still healing from the surgery.

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Profile picture for vikkitennis @vikkitennis

I too am from Arizona. May I ask who your doctor/neurosurgeon was?

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Dr Justin Fields. Love him!
Pain Dr is Dr Matthew Crooks.
Dr Fields did the surgery.

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Profile picture for marshasacks @marshasacks

I agree with everything you said. The rep kept texting to see if I wanted the implant. After receiving my permanent implant , no word from my rep. I had to keep calling and texting her for questions about settings etc. I wasn’t aware that it would take so long to heal from the surgery. I’m still not sure my setting is the best. When I do get ahold of the rep she tells me I’m still healing from the surgery.

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I have not heard one word from my rep. My last post opt appointment was a jam to get me out of there because the doctors were leaving early that day and the rep went right along with them leaving me in the room not understanding much about my settings. I went about 1 week unconnected to the generator on my iphone , I couldn’t change anything and it was on burst when it went down but they told me it was still on the last setting , I question that. They told me to call the tech services but they could not figure it out either. Long story short, they put the two programs on the slow turtle phone they gave me that takes so long to connect. It’s come down to me just leaving it on the low burst setting that the rep sent me home with and decided it’s not worth the hassle adjusting it. I’m on week 5 1/2 and can’t wait to get this stretch waist band that I was told to wear 24/7 for 6 weeks off. Living in Arizona with a hot wrap on is not fun I do think I have gotten relief , so it’s not all doom and gloom but I do think abbott could have done a better job following their customers.

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Profile picture for marshasacks @marshasacks

Dr Justin Fields. Love him!
Pain Dr is Dr Matthew Crooks.
Dr Fields did the surgery.

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I looked up Dr. Fields bio: very impressive. I have scoliosis and e deals with adult deformity conditions. When my spine becomes unbearable, and I cannot play tennis or travel, I have his information in my address book. Thank you for the recommendation.

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Profile picture for vikkitennis @vikkitennis

I looked up Dr. Fields bio: very impressive. I have scoliosis and e deals with adult deformity conditions. When my spine becomes unbearable, and I cannot play tennis or travel, I have his information in my address book. Thank you for the recommendation.

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Hope he can help you if you decide to use him. 👍

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