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Anyone tried Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Pain?

Neuropathy | Last Active: Jan 31 9:35pm | Replies (410)

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@bkruppa

We considered this for my wife's chronic pain with the pudendal nerve. However, before any procedure like this I wanted to know about all the positives and negatives that I could get which unfortunately the manufacturers of these stimulators would not provide. Questions like what are the more serious side effects and frequency of these side affects? What affect does the the probes have on surrounding nerves that still have to perform their specific functions (all are being stimulated?) Has this device been tested on the particular nerve that you are dealing with?

The doctor that we spoke with at Mayo didn't have many positives to say about this procedure. My researched also uncovered some possible (don't know the percentages) serious side effects and as it turned out a neighbor around the corner from us developed as a result of having this procedure performed on him. So given that there were too many unknowns my wife opted out of having this procedure. However, do not take this as your only input to make a decision. Do your own research and most importantly try to get as many inputs from patients as you can as I find that source to be most valuable.

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Replies to "We considered this for my wife's chronic pain with the pudendal nerve. However, before any procedure..."

My doctor recommended a spinal cord stimulator to relieve the nerve pain in my arm and hand. After two years of trying other things nothing else has worked. I have done a lot of research and have pretty much decided not to have the surgery for a trial. From what I read stimulators are fairly successful at reducing back and leg pain., but I couldn’t find anything which said they help with arm and hand pain. I also asked to speak with another of my doctor’s patients with arm or hand pain who was helped by a spinal cord stimulator. That never happened. Finally, two other doctors said that very few of their patients were helped by them. Based upon all of this plus my out of pocket cost, I decided it would be best not to do. I think it is the right decision.