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Has anyone had the Stimwave spine stimulator installed?
Hello to ALL! I have a severe back injury and even after three surgeries and several fusions, I am still experiencing severe and chronic pain. My pain management specialist is talking about a spine stimulator. After some research I located the Stim Wave. With this unit, only the leads are implanted. No wires come through. The antenna is worn like a pager on your belt.
Has anyone tried one of the Stim Wave stimulators yet? Any feed back on them?
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Colleen, I had two surgeries on the toes of my right foot. One in June 2016 and the other July 2018. Apparently, the nerves were damaged, which I now know is common on surgeries on the feet. The nerves are trying to reconnect and are in overdrive, causing a burning feeling. I've had many therapies but all have failed. I had a SCS, the Boston Scientific traditional implanted last summer. I was told that they had some success with foot problems, but now I don't believe that was true. It didn't help much and I had a little back pain with it. I had it removed after 7 weeks after implantation on August 2nd. I'm considering trying another SCS which might be more targeted for the feet, i.e, Stimwave, Nevro, PNS, Abbott's DRG, I'm interviewing doctor's and looking for people who had chronic pain in the feet, most preferably the toes and hear what their experience was.
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1 Reactionhad stem wave installed 2/25/2021 for left hip pain .it doesnt seem to e working for me .the rep adjusted it 3/1/2021,and its still the same might need more adjustment .to get it correct time will tell . good luck jerry
Good luck Jerry. It may take a few more adjustments to where it's going to help you.
I had Saint Jude Implant in 2016, it was beneficial for a while, but began to fail, even after numerous adjustments. I plan to have it removed.
Thanks Bill. May I ask where you pain was or is? What percentage of relief did you originally get? Could the battery/generator getting near the end of it's life?
The pain was located in my feet, Drs. called it idiopathic neuropathy, I used the implant for some time, as to the battery, it was tested and still was functioning. I just no longer was receiving relief from the device. They tried multiple new settings, but they just no longer controlled the pain.
My pain is in the toes of my right foot. I believe my problem is from the 2 surgeries on those toes that damaged the nerve or nerves. Part of my problem was an neuropathy in the 3rd web space where one of the surgeries was located.
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1 Reactiongot the stem wave installed in lower back for left hip pain on 2/25 2021 ,didn;t do anything so it was readjusted on3/1/2021 still not any better, maybe need more adjust ment i wiil keep tyring till they get ok. if they cant get it right in a reasonable amount time have it removed,and see a orthopedic sugeron
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1 Reaction@bill5, Sorry to hear the implant is no longer providing relief for your pain. Here are some other discussions you may find helpful...
- feet neuropathy: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/feet-neuropathy/
- Neuropathy pain.: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/neuropathy-pain/
- Ideas for pain relief from Small Fiber Neuropathy (SFN): https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ideas-for-pain-from-small-fiber-neuropathy/
Is the pain in any particular part of your feet?
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2 Reactions@martyk & @bill5 I'm sorry you're both suffering chronic pain sucks the life out of us all in 1 way or another. I'm not familiar with that StimWave SCS unit, however I'm on a journey helping my husband get his Nevro HF10 Senza SCS unit that you can not feel the parethesia when unit is on. It has 5 different Programs & 7 Levels of strength. Currently he is on Program 2 & level 2. He feels less pain in his lower back & he has a partial releif from the Diabetic Neuropathy & his Sciatica nerve pain shooting dwn his buttocks is gone. He just had the implant put in on January 18th, 2021. He is in about 70% current relief status.
It's still healing & we were told it could take up to a full year to reach optimal pain relief. Also when he was getting the implanted wires they shaved 1 if his discs in order to attach the Leads so that they will not dislodge it has to last 12yrs.
I just thought I would share with you both that you need to be patient & go with the flow. Everyone thinks that this time this will be the best thing ever. This is not so. It all takes time & don't forget it takes time for your nerves to be able to adjust to different frequencies & it's not a perfect science. Give it time @ least 6mos.
I wish you all much releif from your chronic pain issue's including neuropathy. & Don't be so hasty to run for any type of surgical procedures because once you fuse 1 section the surrounding areas will eventually need it too.
& From my own Neurosurgeon"s mouth to me he said even after the fusion surgery in my cervical & Thoracic herniated discs & discs pressing against my spinal canal, even after surgery, the Neurosurgeon told me to expect more pain & less mobility afterwards. So I got 2more opinions & they all said the same. My Lwr back & multiple herniations & severe bone on bone knee is causing me to use my cane currently & I'm walking crooked & it's causing more instability in my spine as a result. Due to Pandemic, I/we have to move in order to re-coup @home after full knee replacement surgery. But for now I must endure my own chronic miserable pains on a 5th Floor walk up.
Life can be much much worse than what we think is over the top miserable pain. Give it time & take it easy. God Bless you both.
& All who read this post I hope you feel better too.
Mimi
Blessings & much releif to all.