Sorry I'm a little late to this party, but since I've got an SCS implant, I thought I'd add my 2 cents. Mine sucks. I did tons of research before I went through with it and really thought I was making the right decision, but now I realize it was really just desperation for relief. I did NOT have a fully successful trial, and yet my surgeon talked me into proceeding with the implant anyway, the justification being that the leads couldn't be placed where we wanted with a needle during the trial. Still, it would have been way more appropriate to implant just the lead and then do another trial instead of proceeding with the battery pack implant as well, which was incredibly painful. Now, let me be clear; my system works. It provides a "tingling" sensation to maybe 70% of my painful areas. It just doesn't relieve any of my pain. I just have tingling on top of pain.
I've heard many reports of these being successful for people. They are typically more successful for radicular pain, like leg pain radiating from the lumbar spine (my case). We unfortunately live in a society that despises effective pain medication, and therefore would much rather we implant a battery pack in the small of our backs and attach wiring to our spines than to pop a couple of pills for relief. In retrospect, I see how insane this approach is. My advice would be to attempt to control your pain with medication before all options, and proceed with surgical intervention if this isn't possible. If you go through with an SCS, make absolutely sure you have a fully successful trial before you have anything permanently implanted in your body. And, like Lassie said, don't let the SCS reps or surgeon influence your decision, which I know from experience is a very difficult thing to do. I'm very independent and a strong decision maker, and they heavily influenced my thinking. My surgeon was pitching this option to me before I ever even had an EMG. I now wonder if there was/is some "unholy" collusion between the surgeon and the stimulator provider, or perhaps the surgeon just "likes" to do this surgery because it's fairly new technology and it interests him. Either way, mine should have never been implanted under the conditions of the trial, and although it doesn't really bother me now (the implant did cause pain for probably 9 months), I'd sure prefer not to have this big lump in my left "love handle"! Hope this helps. Good luck and God Bless.
Anon