Neurostimulation--- To do or Not to do??? That is the question !!!!!!

Truthfully if you like the feeling of a tens unit then do it. But after a couple weeks it got very irritating to me and I could feel my pain around it. I still do use my when it gets unbearable which I can use it right now bc they think I may have a small leak so I'm working on my second week of bed rest. But I think it might actually be doing a bit better today. Headache is a bit better. But it really depends on if u like the feeling of a tens unit.

I was given this decision couple of years ago and decided against it. I would have to agree with what proudmom2x said in that if you cannot tolerate a tens unit then you probably will not have a successful outcome.
Secondly, its surgery and I don't heal up good from surgery and usually have problems bandaides make me itch and it doesn't matter if its latex free or not the itching drives me nuts that I get infections..
So if you have any medical conditions that can make it more complicated.
Don't go into this surgery thinking you will be painfree, as then you will be let down...
To me this inplanted devise is more of thinking that it will mask your pain and for that then it might work for you, but its in no way a cure all.
And my final decision to sway "no" was if you need a mri ever again you will have to inform your mri techs as this can interfer with the quality of image and it could cause some burning pain ( I said could) while getting a mri .
So this is just a few other things you do need to consider and they might not effect you like it does me...
Personally I think they should do more testing on these type of devices..
Oh, one last thing you need to ask your doctor is that if it is stitched in place and if it needed to be removed, how complicated that could be?
Make sure to ask this doctor anything and everything so that you can make the decision that is best for you and if your neuro can't answer your questions, then that's not the doctor or surgeon for you...you need to have 100% confidence in your doctor..it is surgery, might be considered minor, but it is surgery.
I was also to chicken to get it done as well and my psychologists would never have approved me through when I was given this choice two years ago...
Hope this helps and good luck to you...
Others have had good luck with these...

Ponylady, stay with your idea of not making a quick decision on having an SCS unit. Be positive this is a road you are willing to travel.

If you will use the search feature here at the forum at the top & type in SCS units you will find a lot of information from various members that had a negative experience with the implant of the unit. The reason I suggest reading these posts are because these are the very things that can go wrong with the units. Like all things we try to relieve our pain there is nothing that has a 100 percent guarantee.

Ask the dr & the representative if you can have future MRI's if you have a unit put in. I know before an MRI was out of question because of the metal.

One of our members named Skeye had one put in although her situation for hers had nothing to do with her back or neck. She has had success with her unit but something she just brought up a couple of days ago is her unit is not helping much right now & she is thinking she needs to meet with her representative to have it tweaked. But, it costs I believe she said around $7,000 to have this done & she has problems& hassles with insurance paying for this. I think that is outrageous for these companies to charge this sort of a fee on a piece of equipment that they get paid for dearly at the time its implanted.

The other thing I dislike about these units is if you encounter a problem with the unit, forget about getting your dr to do anything for you. He will tell you I don't know anything about them call your representative. Then you get stuck playing tag with a representative. We have read about how the representatives have refused to help the patient. But when the good dr was trying to sell the patient on getting one of those units he knew everything about them.

If you decide to get one be sure that your dr will continue to rx pain medication to you. We have seen lots of folks get cut off their pain meds because the dr says that unit takes care of your pain.

You have a lot to think about just don't make a hasty decision or let a dr try to sway you one way or the other. You will do a trial before anything happens.

It is a tough surgery from what others have reported. This has come from people that have gone through neck & back surgery. Several has said if their dr had been honest about the surgery they would not have done it.

You have lots to think about so take your time & do your homework.

It's definitely something to take your time over. When they work well they are wonderful - when they don't, they can be a nightmare.

SCS is nothing at all like a TENS... the latter causes me incredible pain, but SCS has made an enormous difference to my life despite the problems I've had with it over the years (lead migration, multiple surgeries, premature battery failure, poor healing/reopening of incision sites). For me, a TENS unit feels like I'm being burned or shocked...the SCS in contrast is like a gentle rolling massage. But for all that it's wonderful in what it does do for me (almost no allodynia - no "burning skin" - can wear long pants and socks, which I couldn't do before, also helps my sciatica a bit, though that wasn't its intended purpose, just a rare win for me) it doesn't hit any of my deeper pain - I have morphine in my pump and still take oral meds (topiramate, meloxicam & oxycodone)

I found it a really easy surgery - though as Susie said that's definitely not what a lot of others report. I needed no post-op pain relief beyond a couple of days panadol. Second time round was much harder - but that was more due to the dr having to break down scar tissue to remove a damaged lead & causing some nerve trauma in the process than any other surgical pain. I found it much tougher psychologically than physically - getting the leads in the correct position to provide pain relief means you're either awake through the whole thing, or woken midway through - and because I have trouble with local anaesthetic (need large doses, a long time for it to work, and even then it doesn't work as well as it ought) I felt quite a lot :(

I've personally had almost all good experiences with my reps - and the very best from my current doctor. It might sometimes take a few days or a week if I need to see my rep, but I can always get in touch with them quickly - and don't ever have any charge for adjustments. Susie - is that charge just for a programming adjustment do you know? Seems disgusting if it is...as you say such a huge outlay on the units and tech initially, and not much better if its for a lead adjustment. My health insurance here has covered each of my three batteries & all my lead replacements - but know they're in the realm of $35,000-$40,000 here. I've had a few reps with them (ANS/St Jude) over the years and all have been good. Have always found Medtronic reps to be fantastic too.

On MRI - there's at least one on the market (either BS or Medtronic - or could even be both now) that is approved as MRI safe.

If you have any questions I can help with, feel free to ask :) my email ought to be linked under my name at the side there too.

Laura

I'm missing it somewhere Susie...but reading what others have written here in the past I don't doubt what you're saying in the least! Though it always astound me that we're in such similar countries, similar cultures, speaking the same language (and in this case the SAME parent companies involved too...!) yet so many of you as CP patients in the states seem to be treated like dirt compared with here. It's not plain sailing here either of course...I spent my first six years before finally being diagnosed being told I was a faker (actually - the words used were "hysterical, hypochondriac teenager" ...) and I've had more than one run in with doctors other than my own since - but I'm fortunate I think not just with my SCS but with our whole system here. Though if our prime minister gets his way our medical and welfare systems could be very quickly going the same direction as yours are :-/