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Comparison of Spinal Cord Stimulators from Boston Sci., Nevro
I've lived with severe chronic pain in my legs and lumbar spine for the past ten years. Was on opiates for 8 years until I attended & graduated from Mayo's 3-week Pain Rehab Program in 2018. That program helped immensely and I got off 5 meds I used to take, including morphine and hydrocodone. Unfortunately, in the last year my spine health has worsened. I now have a toxic mix of scar tissue (from a dural tear during a microdiscectomy), stenosis at multiple levels, bulging discs and scoliosis. I am now scheduled to do a trial of Boston Scientific's "Wave Writer" SCS on August 10, 2020. Unfortunately my doctor did not guide me in the selection of this manufacturer/model. I did my own research. I considered doing trials of Nevro's HF-10 and Boston Scientific's Wave Writer. Finally decided on the Wave Writer.
I'm posting here to ask for people's knowledge of and/or experience with these two SCS's. Please reply if you can share any information. Thanks!
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@vijay26
Which TENS unit do you use?
@anzura222 definitely do your research on your own. My doctor had me get the Medtronics scs and it’s been great. I haven’t really had any major problems and mine allows MRI’s. Every few years they come in to change my settings because my body gets used to them, along with a broken piece on my remote, and needing a new charger cord, but those are just minor. As for pain… my sciatica is gone. Works great for that. I still have muscle and joint pain, but the shooting nerve pain down both of my legs is gone. My main problem is it only works for where it’s implanted for me. So I only have the nerve pain relief for about the waist down. I still have everything going on with my cervical that it doesn’t touch. I don’t know if people have them implanted in their cervical and they work the whole spine or maybe it only works a certain ways down, but mine doesn’t give full spine relief. Also, I have the rechargeable one that lasts longer than the non rechargeable. Mine is supposed to be good for 9 years while the others are only 2-5 I believe. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about others that got them, but I never had anything serious go wrong. Definitely do your research though. I would look into the HFX stimulator though… it does high and low frequency, while a standard SCS only does low I believe. I am looking to possibly change to that one next.
@jgei2407 I have the NEVRO HFX .
I was told initially by my pain clinic’s nurse practitioner that the SCS for my lumbar area will not treat my cervical area as well, that a second SCS would have to be implanted to treat that specific area.