Has anyone tried the HF10 Spinal Cord Stimulation Device?

tomorrow, April 16, 2021

@pita99 please send an update after your appointment.

I wish I could say nice things about this device. My wife has a kidney stone removed in sept. of 2018. They used a robot to go in and get it as it was too large to pass. When she woke up her right leg hurt. The doctor said it was restless leg and gave her some pills. That didn't help. We were in the midst of moving from one state to another. Once we got to our new home and got a doctor she felt it was restless leg too, when that didn't turn out they sent her to a neurologist and they did a nerve conductivity test and felt it was a problem with her L5 S1 nerve group. MRI showed that her spine was fine and no pinched nerves. We have tried physical therapy, chiropractor care, wave stimulation, injections in her back, nothing helped. So we found this pain doctor and he felt that the only thing left is the nerve stimulator. We did the test and got some good results but then it stopped, they checked and the test leads had slipped so they recalibrated the machine and we got good results for a day or so then it stopped as the leads slipped again. We felt that once the leads were permanently installed it would work. So we have the HF10 installed. We had to wait 10 days till the incision healed up before they would activate the machine. Once it was turned on we did not get any relief, so they had us increase the strength, try another program setting and each time you have to wait 3-4 days to see if you get any results. We went to one setting and it seemed to help a lot for about 6hrs. then her leg started spasming out of control. We decreased the strength setting and this helped some but she still had Spasms so they told us to turn it off and wait 2 weeks to flush out her system as she might have been over stimulated.

We then saw another nerve specialist and he did a much more though nerve conductivity test than the others had and said it is not her nerve. He thought it might be a hip problem and got us in to see the hip specialist and he does not think it is her hip but the muscles and tendons in her right groin area. We are going to have an MRI done on it but have to wait a month to get in and have it done. If it shows that this is the problem then we will see a urologist for treatment. In the mean time they are sending us to a pain management specialist to get her on a regiment that will lower her pain till we can get her treated.

the doctor that put in the stimulator thought this was a good idea and we have left it off thinking we were going to have an MRI very soon. so we may try turning it back on to see if we can get some relief. It has been 2 ½ yrs of non stop pain.

so to answer one question yes the HF10 is MRI compatible with the newer machines and Nevro will work with the imaging people to make sure the machine is set up properly and will check on you afterwards to make sure the stimulator is ok.

Would I recommend this. Right now I would say NO but we will see what happens over the next several weeks. I am just disappointed that it did not give us anywhere near the results we got those few days during the test when the lead were in their proper place and we have not been able to duplicate the results.

@2streets hello and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I am sorry to hear that your wife's results haven't been quite what she and you were expecting from the device.

Members such as @pita99 @olaf49 @scruffy1 and @gran61 have all shared varying experiences and may be able to share more with you.

Over the coming weeks, will you please come back with updates on your wife's experience and pain to see how things progress?

I will be glad too update you. We talked with the company today and since it is going to be a month or so till the MRI we have agreed to turn the stimulator back on with it on a different program. They say it takes 2-3 days to notice any difference. we are hoping that this will help till we can see a pain specialist this coming Tuesday. I do have to admit that the for the most part the company representatives have been kind and helpful in trying to get the results we want.

@2streets thank you for the post/information. I have been dealing with back issues for 30 years. I did a trial with the HF10. It worked well with one program, but with covid no elective surgeries so that is where I am.
I'll be reading your updates so again, thank you.

We turned it back on last night at a lower strength setting so far no results. I think they have ruled out nerve damage n think it is muscular or tendon deep in the groin. Pain has gotten so we are at the ER right now

I'm sorry to hear that the pain led to your needing to go to ER last night. What did you learn? How are you doing today?

Does this work on colorectal post operation pain?

patrick17 which company makes this. my doctor is advising get DRG by Abbott. I may need it for knee & leg pain. I like to do my research so I will look into HF10 . I was told the normal spinal stimulator , say by Stemwave will not help me.But I never heard HF10