Posted 3/23/2017 5:28 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Gerry & welcome to Healing Well. Glad you found us but sorry you need to be here. I have been hanging around Healing Well for a number of years & do not recall anyone having an SCS unit for rectal pain. I honestly do nor even know if a unit can be used for this type of pain. What I have seen them used for is back or neck pain or CRPS. Has your drs ever given you an explanation as to why you are having such difficulty?
My questions are have you checked into any of the websites such as Medtronics, Boston Scientist or St Judes to see if the units are for this particular pain? Is this something your dr has been discussing with you or what? Have you done a trial with one? Sorry for so many questions.
I know members in the past here many did not have any success with the units for one reason or another. I have to assume the ones they helped are living their lives.
Are you under the care of a pain mgt dr? Generally folks that are in the market for one of these units are under the care of a pain mgt dr. They do a trial to see if it may help. The old rule was if it reduced the pain by 50% it was considered a success.
There are a lot of factors to consider with these units such as; if you have a problem or a question about the unit your dr cannot help you, you will be told to contact the rep. Drs know nothing about these units, all they do is recommend them. Initially the first year or so you are are not charged for the initial tweaking of the unit, however, later on down the road when it needs to be tweaked you need to make sure your insurance will cover this. A lot of insurance company's will drag their feet for months & months with a lot of hassles in between before they will pay if at all. So, if you are needing something done quickly, you may be in for a big hassle. This costs several thousand dollars for these tuneups & yes they do need fine tuning after awhile.
The best advice I can tell you is research the units for your condition, check out the websites for the mfg's I listed here & see what you can find out.
Keep us posted. Take care.