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Nerve Pain, to me, is an unbearable source of misery.What causes it, I believe, is the brain sending signals, (nerve impulses), via the spinal cord and peripheral nerves, to areas of the body that are in distress due to any number of reasons. My nerve pain was caused by an injury in which I tore my rectus abdominus muscles and nerves off of my ribcage. The pain I feel is a sharp stabbing pain right in the middle of my chest, which radiates around my side to my spine. My entire left upper quadrant is effected. Will it ever go away? Not in my case. I was on massive doses of narcotics, have had every form of treatment available,unsuccessfully. Then finally I had a 3rd Spinal Cord Stimulator implanted, which was extremely successful. This implanted device was made by Boston Scientific, unlike my previous two, that were made by Medtronics. The new implant works so much better than the previous ones that I was able to take myself off all of the narcotics that I had been dependant on for almost 10 years. The unit acts as a substitute for the pain impulses that are sent from my brain. When I have the unit turned on, I feel a tingling sensation instead of the pain where my injury sites are. It is only a masking of the pain signals. But it feels soooo good as opposed to my typical sharp stabbing pain that I normally feel. This unit is rechargeable, and I can use it whenever I want to. But the battery in the implanted unit will run out someday, an average of 7-10 years depending on how much I use it. When the day comes when I try and turn the unit on and it doesn't work anymore, then I'll have to go back on meds until I either have another unit implanted, or some other device may have come out by then which will be more effective. Until that day comes, I can omly hope that this unit will work as well as it has been working for me since it was inplanted. I'll deal with it when it comes. Until then, I am enjoying not being dependant on medications and take one day at a time.