This is concerning a Spinal Stimulator for relief in my back and legs and feet....

Hartdawg said...
 Sorry to be back to back but I wanted to reply and also ask Bionic Woman something.

How well are you exactly doing.....how much is your pain reduced and how much of your life did you get back.

Just as a bit of background I didn't mention before: I have degenerative disk disease and neuropatic pain from herniated discs/failed surgeries at L4/L5/S1.  My pain begins in my lower back, goes through my hips and buttocks, and down both legs to my feet.  My SCS covers all of those areas.

Before my SCS, my pain levels were 7/8 on an average day.  I was basically bed-bound because just about any level of physical activity would send my pain shooting right off the charts.  A trip to the store or an appointment with the doctor is just about all I could handle, and that required a huge effort and lots of medication.  With the SCS in place, my pain levels have dropped to 3/4 on average.  There are still times when they shoot up quite a lot higher, but I've usualy done something   to deserve that!     One nice thing about the SCS in those situations is that it's instant relief when I turned it up, rather than taking a pill and watching the clock, waiting for it to "kick in."

In the few months since my permanent SCS implant was placed, the difference is unreal.  I haven't completely gotten my life back, but I'm well on my way!

A big thing for me was that I was able to reduce my medication intake to 1/4 of what I was taking before the SCS.  When I'm very active, I need a bit more medication, but it's still much, much less than I was taking before.  I think a big part of that is the fact that I spent nearly 2 years in bed and my body just needs time to recover.  about 2 weeks after my surgery, I was able to get up and start doing some simple exercises that the pain had prevented before.  I began walking on my treadmill daily and doing some very simple exercises (tippy toes and knee bends, mostly) just to get my muscles used to moving again. It wasn't some shining glory kind of moment, to be sure!  I was very weak, so in the beginning my treadmill walks were about 3-5 minutes before I was too tired to go on.  My exercises were about 5 repetitions and then I was beat!  After my 1-month check-up,  I started PT aquatic therapy and have been slowly getting my strength back.  On my non-therapy days, I've continued a variety of very carefully selected exercises. 

For my 2 month "implantiversary," I went out with my family and had dinner, then we went to see a movie, which I was able to sit comfortably through for the first time in 4 years.  On the way home, we stopped at Barnes and Noble, where we shopped for some books and had  coffee in the cafe.  It sounds ridiculously simple, but that was the first time in a very long time that I was able to enjoy being out with my family, without having to drug myself into oblivion to get through it, and having to face the aftermath of pain later on.  The SCS covered it all. 

I'm still plugging away at PT and trying to be patient with my body, although sometimes I'm not very good at that patience part.  I've still got a ways to go before my body will be completely recovered, but I'm making very good progress.  I absolutely expect that I'll be able to wean off the last narcotic medications and return to work  in the next few months. 

Post Edited (BionicWoman) : 8/8/2008 3:37:30 AM (GMT-6)

Bionic, this is great to hear, like I said, its great to have hope again.  I like you and PA Lady have my worse problems at L4/L5/S1 and also have another herniation in C5, they say its bad, but it makes my arms numb at times and rarely achey pain in shoulder but nothing I'm to worried about, at least nothing compared to the Lower stuff.  I have never used a Tens Unit at home except about 4 years ago, and it was mainly to deal with muscle spasms.

I have bad pain in my low back and many times in both sides of my rear end and down the back of my legs and behind my knees.  All that changes its intensity a lot and most times I have no idea what causes it to really flare up.  I also have bad bad bad pain in my feet, especially my heels.  And when I prop my feet up to ease the burning, I end up with terrible pain in my butt bone.

I would love to have the success you have had Bionic, to get my life back for me is great , but to get back where I can consistently be there for my wife and kids just means more to me then anything in the world.

I called reps from Med and Bost. Sci. and talked for a long time.  I found out my Dr. really likes using the Medtronic, but the Bost. Sci really sounds like it would be a bit better for me.  The Bost. Rep said that if I talk with my Dr and its okay with him , that even during my trial he can come down and hook his device to the other leads and just see which seems to be better.  I don't know if its a big enough difference and am not sure about getting the Dr to "install" something in me when he is so use to the process of implanting the other.

Also, I have a great friend I grew up with who I noticed at my appt with the Dr is one of his nurses, so I called her yesterday afternoon and talked with her for a long time about the whole process and she really gave me a lot of information.  Also, one of the reason they like using Medtronic is the rep is here rather than 2 hours away for when I want to come in and try different programming.  I'm really anxious about this and hopeful...for those who on here who are Christians, I would greatly appreciate your prayers.

Thanks so much again for everything,

Hart

Oh, the pain of de-feet!  I've always had such a hard time explaining to others' about the foot pain.  My feet ache constantly, and I have the added bonus of burning on the bottoms.   The bottoms of my feet are the only place I have that burning sensation.  Everywhere else is an aching and/or cramping sensation.  It's so hard to explain to someone how you feel the worst cramp of your life in your calf or butt, but the muscle is pliable and soft.
 
Before my SCS, they tried a TENS unit during PT but it never went any further than that because it wasn't effective.  Every time the therapist turned the settings up to get the stimulation deep enough, the muscles would spasm and cause even more pain.  I also noticed it made my skin itch, which seemed strange. I don't know if that's normal or just one of my idiosyncrasies. 
 
Age is definitely a factor with the surgery, especially if you're like me and have to have the laminotomy, but age isn't everything!  I'm 36, so I'm "young" by my doctor's standards.  When I go to PT, I share the pool with a lovely lady who also has the SCS implant, and she's 77!  She puts me to shame on a regular basis with the amount of things she can do!   She's been one of those unexpected blessings in life.  If a stimulator or anything else seems like something worth exploring, don't limit yourself based solely on your age.

The implant itself doesn't bother me that much.  In fact, I rarely even feel it, because it's not that big.  According to the documentation I have, my implant is 2.1 inches wide, 2.1 inches tall, and .4 inch thick.  It's located in my left side, toward the front of the "love handle" area.  I'm a lefty, so it's on the left to make it easier for me to use the remote control.  I admit, I was a bit miserable after the surgery because I usually sleep on my back or my left side.  It took about 8 weeks of healing time before I could lay on either incision, but now it's fine.

My paddle covers the vertebral spaces at T7 and T8. But, it's not just the technicality of where the paddle sits; there's also a huge portion of the control that comes from the ability of the rep to program the implant.  Regardless of which brand implant you get, if you get a bum programmer, you're sunk!  I lucked out and got an excellent rep that will meet with me as many times as I call, to get the programming just right. Right now, I have 3 program groups and don't anticipate needing any more programming for quite some time. 

I have one group of programs I use primarily when I'm up and moving around.  Within the group I have: program 1, which covers from my waist to the bottom of my buttocks; program 2, which covers from the mid-buttock through both of my knees; program 3, which covers both legs from my knees to my ankles; and program 4, which covers both feet.  With that group, if my back/hips/buttocks aren't bothering me, I can turn the stimulation down/off and not feel the tingles in that area.  At the same time, if my feet are absolutely throbbing, I can turn up the intensity as much as I want, without having my entire body 'light up,' for lack of a better description.   

I have a second group that I use primarily when I'm laying down or sleeping.  Within that group I have: program 1, which covers my waist to buttocks; program 2 that covers my left leg, from my mid-hip to my foot; and program 3 that covers my right leg, from mid-hip to my foot.  That allows me to turn my low back up and down, while controlling my left and right legs independently of each other.  My rep created that program because I found that when I laid down, I tended to have greater stimulation on the side I wasn't laying on.  We have no idea why, but in this program group, I can lay one side and balance out the other. 

And finally, I have a third group that I use primarily when I'm sitting in my chair. That group has: program 1, which covers my waist through to the bottom of my feet, much like a pair of panty hose; and program 2, which covers from my waist UP into my shoulder blades and wraps around to my underarms.  That program was actually an accidental discovery, but I opted to keep it because on the rare occasion, I do get pain between my shoulder blades while I'm sitting at the computer. My remote control holds 25 groups, so there is plenty of room, even for rarely used programs.

I supposed I've babbled on enough for now.  I was very nervous in the beginning, but I've had such excellent results, it's hard not to talk about it!  I think if I would have only had 50% of the results, it would have been worth it to me.  Right now, my biggest problem is the patience it takes to let my body recover and I continue to get scolded at my doctors appointments, for taking on too much, too soon.  I never expected I'd receive that kind of reprimand ever again, so I just smile and take my wallops.