Anyone had Spinal stimulator removed? Replaced?

I am wondering how you are doing now. I have a fusion scheduled for January at Mayo T10 - S1. I had a fusion in the 70’s L3-S1. I started having problems with the level above that last spring. It got so bad that I couldn’t walk, stand or lie on my back. The vertebrae above my fusion fractured in 2 places, slipped forward taking the disc with it and leaving very little room for the nerve. The local surgeon said he could stabilize my back but not to expect too much pain wise. So I went to Mayo in August and saw a surgeon who uses new hardware which is supposed to be less invasive to place. He wants to cut apart my old fusion to put the curve back in the lumbar spine (back in the 70’s it was standard to straighten the spine before fusing it) and then add the levels up to T10 because on MRI they were all failing. They plan to do a staged procedure over 2 days. I am 69 now and am worried about how my body will handle this major a procedure, Everything the surgeon said made sense to me and he really spent a lot of time. I wasn’t expecting to need this much done so I’m a little nervous about it.

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Thanks for the tip @jimhd. @katec, might you have some thoughts about removing stimulator leads or replacing one stimulator for another?

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I have NEVRO spinal cord stimulator. It has not worked in a little over a year and have been trying to have it replaced. Now I just want it removed!
Horrible experience once I started having problems all contact stopped. NEVRO and neurologist. Battery tearing through stomach and SCS causing nerve damage and I am in limbo. Be careful

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Oh gosh. What a terrible experience. I, too, had a spinal cord stimulator and kept it for 2 years. The first year gave me a bit of relief, not great, but I got no relief the second year so I had it removed last August. The stimulator was painful all the time. I'm so happy to be rid of it and I feel so much better now. You need help. I'm so sorry your neurologist isn't responsive. Is there someone else you can reach out to for help?

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That’s just it no other Nuero dr will touch me. I finally found a Nuero dr but he says before he will consider it I need an MRI well I can’t get MRI because battery is dead and they have to be able to change some settings. I can’t charge because battery has fallen further into my stomach. I am at a loss

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They do have to change your setting to mri mode. I don't know anything about it except I'm wondering if they can't do the mri since your battery is dead. And the stimulator has fallen deeper into your stomach!! The sounds like an emergency.

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Last January I had surgery to reconstruct my spine. I had had two fusions done locally which gave me a few years relief. The L1-2 disc was the only lumbar not fused and spring of 2021 I started having a lot of pain. It took six months of complaining to my pain doctor before she sent me for am MRI. Turned out that the L1-2 disc had ruptured and since the ones below were fused it had collapsed and my spine became "S" shaped. I was diagnosed with adult onset scoliosis.
I woke up one morning and could not move because of the extreme pain. Thankfully I had a medical button and was able to get help. The ER doc was awesome! He talked to me to get an idea of what the problem was then, he went and looked over my tests and notes. When he came back, he kind of was trying to come up with a description of my back. I asked if he was trying to tell me my back was a mess. He laughed and said yes that was it. He had spoken to the neurosurgeons office and was told that they would not touch me. They made an appointment for me to meet with the PA in their office. He told me I needed to go out of state to see a doctor who could help me. Since he taught over there, he knew of the doctors and gave me the name of a surgeon.
I went fully intending to turn any surgery down, I had had enough. But meeting with him and listening to how much success he had had with his spine reconstruction I decided to trust him and agreed to the surgery.
The surgery was nine hours long and the pain was worse than my other fusions. I am fused from T9 to S1. I am a year and a half post surgery and still pain free after having dealt with it for 33 years! The surgical pain is a faint memory now and I am still glad I had that surgery.
I would recommend that anyone considering surgery get information about the surgeon and be sure he/she has a good record doing the surgery.
The medical center where I was referred is part of a university so it is on top of anything new.
I do still have my spinal cord stimulator due to nerve damage years ago. I couldn't live without it. I know because when a doctor was replacing my stimulator he accidentally pulled the leads out. Went 10 days before he had everything he needed and put in new ones. That time I was on Lortab 10's and still had bad pain. As soon as he got me put back together the pain was controlled.
Sorry to run on and on but I just wanted you to know about my experience and try to encourage you.

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I had a Medtronic spinal stimulator implanted following partial spinal laminectomy to position & stabilize stimulator paddle leads. This was done March 2011. After replacement of 2 non-rechargeable batteries with a rechargeable battery in 2014, I had my stimulator & leads removed 11/5/21 because I required MRI imaging on both shoulders & feet for progressive joint disease. Stimulator was only regulated for brain MRIs. I also have degenerative disc disease and was no longer getting adequate pain relief below my hips. After 10 years of fighting my doctors, I finally had my 1st pain pump implanted in April 2021 to try to manage increasing pain in upper spine & shoulders. I have a metabolic malabsorption disorder that causes me to get no relief from oral pain meds (opioids) because my liver processes meds too quickly and never get into bloodstream before sent to kidneys.

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