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Anyone tried Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Pain?
Neuropathy | Last Active: Jan 31 9:35pm | Replies (410)Comment receiving replies
Hello, I’m having a pain stimulator, trial, April 15th. I have a failed back surgery and my legs hurt so bad
it’s hard to move around. My back also has pain because the cage has back out, I’m very this so this also causes pain. Have any of you or know someone who has stimulator for pain?
Replies to "Hello, I’m having a pain stimulator, trial, April 15th. I have a failed back surgery and..."
Hi,
Yes, I have a regular Stimulator (5 years ago) and a DRG (Dorsal Root Ganglion) Stimulator (3 years ago) .
I know many people that say that they get life changing results with the stimulators.
Unfortunately I was not one of them.
My trials were amazing, but when the leads healed into place they did not provide much help for me.
I just had a Medtronic Pain pump put in ~2 weeks ago and it is working very well so far (they are still titrating up the dosage).
2 pieces of advice.
1) Find out ALL your possible alternatives so you can make an informed decision (many Dr.s only work with one brand and so do not offer the others as options).
2) Be sure you get all the background on the Dr. putting it in as they may not actually be the best. (my first Stim unit was revised 3 times. then I moved to another state and I found out there was a way that they could have placed it correctly but since it takes 45 more min on the table they did not, so they did it again)
When I was advised to do the Stim units that is all I was told there were - and I may still have tried them.
However, since over the years the only med that helped was dilaudid, it would have been nice to know that there was an alternative out there that could be as or more effective.
Again, this is my story. Lots of others out there.
I am not trying to discourage you, but for the stim units it really depends on what position the leads finally heal into place and your personal nerve quirks.
I wish you the best.
Carl
Connect
Hi @user_chf56161a you may have noticed I moved your post to the Chronic Pain (https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/pain/) group, in order for your post to be seen by more Connect members who may have used a pain stimulator.
I wanted to tag fellow Connect members @jmjlove and @ealanddtc as they both have experience with pain stimulator's and may be able to share their experiences with you.
Back to you @user_chf56161a how were you able to get into the pain stimulator trial? Was it something your doctor suggested or were you able to find it yourself?