Has anyone ever had a spinal nerve stimulator implant?
I want to know if this procedure is worth trying. It is called a spinal stimulator implant. It stimulates the nerves and is supposed to block the pain signals. Thank you
If you have been through this treatment, what are your results?
Thank you
We have a new thread in our forum where a lady who has a neurostimulator implant has offered to answer questions about it. You can check it out here: http://forums.healthcentral.com/discussion/chronic-pain/forums/a/tpc/f/7251032/m/13310024
(Note: If you've never been to the forum before, you'll have to register separately from your registration here on ChronicPainConnection. You can, however, use the same e-mail address and password if you like to make it easier to remember.)
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Just had one place in on Friday, getting it removed today. I have not noticed much difference in the pain with the stimulator on. This was the last thing to try and help me with severe nerve pain--was hoping to cut down on medication with this device...but it didn't work for me.
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Annie
Friday, October 16, 2009 at 03:39 PM
bzerm01
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 01:17 PM
The stimulator has helped much of my pain.
I have had the stimulator implanted permanently for 3 months and have been able to stop my fentanyl patch totally. For the past 3 weeks I have had some new pain begin in my feet from my neuropathy and I have an appointment with my pain Doctor but I am still not in nearly as much pain as before the implant, so everyone is different with these stimulators. I would say to have your mother try the implant trial for herself as that is the only way she can tell for sure if it will help her.
I had one placed, about three weeks ago, i do get relief from it, just the healing of surgery sucks.. pretty harse.. but after a good week and a half pain comes down.. it shouldnt be that bad , i didnt get my meds approved by insurance after surgery only a small dose of perkacet. but overall healling and feeling good , It does help.
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I am very familiar with these devices as I work in this field. To answer your question - is it worth trying, I'd say yes it is. This therapy has been around for about 30 years, and uses very similar technology to cardiac pacemakers. For some patients the results are life-changing. It is unfortuate that not all therapies work for all patients though. With this therapy, the doctor can adjust it and target it to specific spots, and patients can tell almost immediately if it's working properly, as opposed to drugs that have delay-effect and leave you guessing. Some of the stimulators allow patients to make small adjustments too. Stimulators can be programmed to adjust for time-of-day (for example, sleeping or laying-down) also.
Best of luck in your treatment.
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I have had the trial spinal nerve stimulator and for me it did not work on the nerve. It did help with the muscle spasms in my back but I opted to not have a permanent one implanted as it did not work on the nerve. If you can get a doctor to prescribe a TENS unit for you it will give you some relief on the muscles only. Different things work for different people. If you do try it and decide it does not work for you please, please TURN THE MACHINE OFF before they remove the trial implant. They did not tell me this info and thought I would die before the doctor pulled live wires from my spine.
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This disturbs me deeply. My mother suffers from back pain, and has gone through the mill of painkillers. About seven years ago, they put a morhine pump in her back, and that took most of the pain away for six years, and she was able to cut back on the oral meds. Unfortunately, the tube where the medicine comes from grew a cyst there, pushing against the nerves in her spine and causing loss of leg function. When it was finally found and removed, the result was lasting nerve pain shooting down her legs and permanent damage to the fuctionality of the leg. Lately, she has been considering a nerve stimulator, and it saddens me that it did not work for you. The likelyhood of it working for her as well suddenly seems slim.