Anyone tried Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Pain?

@mlross4508
I think it's been a year since I could get scrips dated for the next two months. Now I have to send my PCP a request every month for morphine sulfate contin and Klonopin. He can now send an electronic prescription for my medications that are controlled substances. I used to have to call the doctor to get a renewal, then drive to town, pick it up, and hand deliver it to the pharmacy. It's so much simpler to have the doctor send the e-prescription to my mail order pharmacy. I still have to sign for it when Fed Ex delivers it.

That's the way it works in Oregon.

I sure hope the rest of the U.S. can do what Oregon is doing!

A sad part of this opioid problem is that those of us that need them have to fight to get them and be inconvenienced doing so. About 20 years ago when they first proposed these restrictions, I wrote to the Administrator of DEA, with whom I worked when she was a federal prosecutor, and told her of the difficulty my father would have getting to a doctor every month (he usually had 5 refills). I rec'd a reply that they weren't going to institute the proposed changes. Well THEY didn't but they also didn't see the truck coming down the road. Now we're stuck with this for the foreseeable future.

I'm near Washington DC, I get prescriptions filled in Delaware and Virginia, I went to pick up the Tramadol last month and they only gave me 7 and said that my insurance company now only approves 7 a week and I would have to come back every week and get 7 more. Such inconvenience. This insurance company knows that I only take 1/2 of a tablet whenever nothing else works - I have never refilled Tramadol in less that 5 or 6 months. Insurance companies aren't doing this to 'save us from addiction', they have figured out that if they take every opportunity to harass all of their clients, some clients will skip refilling medications and the company will save money. This real/or/phony 'opioid epidemic' gives them an excuse to hold up everyone's pain meds. Peggy

What was the make of your scs?

@donw200 I don't know whom you're asking, but mine is a Burst DR, originally from St. Jude, now from Abbott.

Jim

Hi @jimhd, I'm so pleased to be reading your posts! I've wondered how you were doing. So good to hear from you again.

I was supposed to go into the hospital this Friday and get a trial stimulater put into my back but I chickened out. The 1 week prep and 1 week recovery was not do-able for me, plus, the last 2 times I was hospitalized it was a nightmare - they way over-stepped their bounds. I'm afraid they won't take care of me. Peggy

I'm sorry you've had difficulties with hospitals. My trial and the permanent implant were done at a surgery center as outpatient. I don't know why one would have to be admitted for either procedure. Do you like the surgeon? Do you have experience with him/her in the past?

I never met the surgeon until I was in the little cubicle pre op, and have never seen him since then. I won't be having him do anything else for me. I should have done some research. Maybe that wouldn't have helped.

The hardest thing for me was having to do next to nothing for 6 weeks after the implant. I had no pain to speak of. I'm thin, so there's no cushion to pad the generator and even now, two years later, it can be a little uncomfortable lying on that side, or sitting in some chairs. It doesn't hurt at all. I had the doctor put it on the left side of my back, above the belt line.

Is it possible to look at other surgeons who would do it outpatient and not in a hospital?

One thing that disturbs me is that an Abbott tech is the only one who sees me whenever I need to have the generator adjusted. I've read that in some cases either a doctor or a nurse is always present, and if I had it to do over again, I'd ask a lot more questions, and probably interview any doctors in the area who do the procedure.

I read in the literature from St. Jude that occasionally a patient might spend the night after the implant, but it certainly wasn't necessary in my case. St. Jude was the originator of the Burst DR stimulator, and soon after I got mine, Abbott took it over. I chose the Burst DR because it advertised that it's MRI compatible. Well, that isn't quite true. I went to get an MRI a few months ago and the controller said "MRI not advised". I am not happy about that. Supposedly the company is working on an update that will make it MRI compatible, but it's taking them a lot longer to do that than the tech promised. The neurologist wants to see a brain MRI that's higher resolution than ones I've had in the past.

I guess my lesson is to better learn patience.

Jim

Peggy, I read that your pharmacy fills Tramadol for 7 days. Your doctor must write NON ACUTE PAIN on the Rx. This is the new Federal standard for Chronic Pain. Then you can get 30 days supply. Awful, isn't it?

What preparation was required? I've had two trials and two implanted. My second implant I had problems because of the Jackson table and the throwing around of my body. I did spend two nights in the hospital.