I am reading about the relief of pain and wishing I could believe it is a solution, I had surgery last year , which was a laminectomy of L,,4,5,6 or 3, 4, 5 can;t remember which as well as baseball size chunks of arthritis. This surgery was the only one I allowed my Neurosurgeon to do, even though I have severe scoliosis and everything else with an S. plus herniated disks etc. My spine has shifted a great deal to the right side as well as protrudes , so my anatomy has changed, Looks pretty bad from the back as well as a large hard bulge next to the lower spine. No one can tell me what it is.. After my surgery I had relief and that bulge no longer hurt, now it is all back and the sciatica in the right leg is a constant unless I am laying down in bed. I am on my feet all day and running all over, I do my treadmill for 2 hours a night but cant walk down the street or in a store without intense pain. Waiting on a new MRI. I write this because the stimulator sounds like the cure for all . My mother had a lot of back issues, she had 2 surgeries that failed, or maybe it was her not doing PT or being active,, she had one of the first St, Judes stimulators put in,, the thing never worked right, a rep had to constantly adjust it.. She had it taken out and my Dad and I begged her not to put another one in.. but they talked her into the new version of St, Judes, so she had that put in about 4 or 5 years ago. I do not think it ever really worked as she was always taking percocet. and no longer walking without the walker, even after 2 knee replacements,, Approx 2 years ago,. I found she had a quarter size hole in her lower back near the spine. after months of wound care, finally one smart DR, looked at it and said the Stimulator was loaded with bacteria and infection and had to come out.. NO ONE wanted to touch her. It was my surgeon last year who said he would remove it. In doing so , the leads were disconnected . they have lead in them. it is a foreign object you are putting in your body,, he firmly believed that the stimulator ate through her back and the hole was so big and open you could see her spine.. It has been a year and a half of hell , I almost lost her at one of the rehabs where she got covid and then Mersa on the incision where the surgery was done. fast forward she had surgery to close the hole that was now the size of a nerf ball from the Mersa . fortunately she had enough loose skin to do this.. She is now healthy and gained all the weight back from being very frail.. too much weight as all she did in this Nursing home was lay in bed, very little PT and in diapers.. She did not go in any of these places in diapers.. She also did not belong on "Memory Lane" with dementia patients.. So I got her out of there and home with my dad,, his expectations of getting back the same wife went all to hell. as she is still now laying in a hospital bed in their bedroom, in diapers with a caretaker, PT , and my dad running all over, he is 87 she is 80 and lazy. I am not a believe on these stimulators and I do not mean to scare anyone who is thinking that this will take away all pains.As much pain as I am in knowing what I know I would never consider it.. You can get the same effects by getting a stimulator belt that you wear and targets the lower back as well as 10s units.. without the surgery and putting in a foreign body in your body that is not meant for these things.. NO ONE will warn you that infection is even a possibility , Think about all those wires being connected to your spine.. My mother got lucky by the grace of God that it did not penetrate the spinal column and I caught just in time. i dont even know how long it was there, my dad was putting a band aide on the hole , he cant even see that well, but never told me... I wish you all well that do have one, I also believe that anyone with them should have regular Ct's scans to check and see of the leads are connected rather than not and be sure you do not have an infection inside. after all unless you do this we can not see what is inside.. Sorry about my vent but i would hate to see anyone go though what my Mom has as well as your loved ones who must be your caretaker through all of this and I have my own enormous amount of chronic pain and my mother is a very selfish person who thinks my pain cant possibly be so bad and I should be able to all kinds of things for her,, I can not and will not.. She is probably the reason my own surgery went to hell. As I am sure you can tell I am very angry over all of this.. So I am taking a deep breath and trying to figure out where I can run away to... Best wishes to all..