Anyone had a Spinal Cord Stimulator for Thoracic spine?

My wife had the Nevro unit for Thoracic t9-t-10 as she is fused from ther all the way to her pelvis.

Do your research and then research somemore. These things are big dollar profit for the Dr's so they tend to push them for anybody.

They are mostly designed for lumbar as the leads are placed above the pain are so they affect the nerves before they go downward.

Make sure you find a Dr. that does a lot of implants of the brand you get and has a good relationship with the device reps as that is who will provide all of the support. Ask how long the reps have been with the company. You will be talking to them a lot, It takes a lot of tweaking to try and get the best result. They do this over the phone with you.

The implant surgery was done in an outpatient surgery center. Takes about an hour. She stayed in bed first week or so then gradually back to normal. Most pain was from the pouch they cut in for th unit.

They do a temporary one first. If you get relief they can do the permanent one.

This is my opion only from my experiance so take it as that.

They jacked the temp one to a max setting to try to get the best results in the short time of the temp unit.
Unfortunately this is not tolerated by your nerves long term.
My wifes temp was almost complete pain relief but she never attained this again with the permanent one.

It worked maybe 50% at the begining and then started decreasing over time. It was a pain to charge as the higher level of stimulation drains the battery quicker. We had to charge pretty much every night.
There is a charging pad that is in a belt you wear, but it has to line up really close to communicate or it quits. We ended up doing it in bed as trying to wear during the day was hard to keep it connected.

As pain relief decreased over time she eventually had it out. Dealing with the charging wasn't worth it.

I believe that your body gets used to the stimulaton and it becomes less effective, kinda like it's healing itself from the changes you made to it. It sees it as a foreign body and counteracts it. Just seems like the pain relief decrease over time is somewhat common. Again just my thoughts

I had a St. Jude neurostimulator implanted in 2013 for chronic thoracic and abdominal pain. It gave me about 75% pain relief, and reduced my dependence on medication. It was replaced in 2019 when the battery began to fail. The new implant was much better, but it did require several adjustments. St. Jude is now Abbot and their rep handles the adjustments, which I still need a couple of times a year. I would definitely recommend that you do the trial and see if it works for you. I have a friend that has the Boston Scientific and it has not worked for her. We do have totally different pain issues, but I don’t have a good impression of the Boston Scientific system based on her experience.

Thank you so much for this input. The rep for Boston Scientific is out of town for the next week so I can't ask her any questions but when she gets back on Nov. 4th. I have tons of questions for her. Do you have any idea where your thoracic pain was coming from? They can't find anything wrong with my thoracic spine that would require surgery. I have had 3 cervical surgeries and 3 lumbar surgeries in the past but there were definite issues with my spine that called for surgery in those areas. I have had severe pain in the thoracic area for the past 6 years and have had every procedure possible (other than surgery) and nothing else had helped. Two neurosurgeons, two spinal surgeons and several pain specialists have recommended the SCS as the only alternative.

@jlssurplus Thank you so much for your input. I am out of options at this point. I have had severe thoracic pain for the past 6 years and have done every procedure short of surgery (which is not indicated) and none of the procedures have offered any relief. I have lots of questions for the Boston Scientific Rep. when I get to speak with her. I do know several people who have had a SCS for more than two years and they are still getting a good amount of relief but I understand it can depend on the person, the issue, the placement and of course God.