New to this forum

Hi. I'm hoping that I can get some good personal information about neurostimulators. My orthopedist recently handed me off to a pain management doctor. My medical history is long and pretty ugly as I'm sure most of yours are, so I'll try to make this brief. My pain issues are primarily on my left hip (it was replaced in 2007) at which time I had the misfortune of picking up a very nasty HA MRSA infection that nearly cost me my life. After a year of PICC lines and intravenous antibiotics, it was finally controlled. Unfortunately, having had so many complications, my right knee blew and that had to be replaced. My left knee is also in bad shape, but I'm not a good risk for replacement because of the excessive damage to the muscles in the hip and a risk of another MRSA infection.

Last summer, I had to have my right foot rebuilt. A tendon had to be replaced and bones were fused. I had 2 long screws in my heel to stabilize the foot. I have had a lot f pain in that foot for the last year. The screws had to be removed in September due to another MRSA infection. Oddly, the infection was not in the foot, but once again in the scar area from the 2007 hip replacement fiasco.

I know this is long, but I'm omitting a lot of stuff. My surgeon ordered 6 months of oral Bactrin to hopefully take care of anymore MRSA complications. Sadly, this created more problems because though I did not have another MRSA infection, I did get C DIFF. That, my friends, was a whole new nightmare! It can also kill you. We finally got that under control.

My ortho surgeon now realized that surgical fixes for my knee and foot were not an option. He could no longer prescribe oxicotin for the pain and turned me over to a pain specialist. He prescribed two meds: gabapentin and opana. The opana is a narcotic. After only two visits and not being able to fix my foot pain, he asked me to seriously consider the St. Jude neurostimulator. He also told me that I would have to go on antibiotics before he could do the trial.

That is a serious problem for someone who has had a C DIFF scare. Weighing the pros and cons is extremely difficult with my past MRSA history as well. I am highly allergic to many of the stronger antibiotics (especially vancomycin) and have actually had use some really heavy hitters. I know that my foot pain is really the most pressing and fear spending my life in a wheel chair if I don't get some relief. My hip and knee pain are currently under control. As far as I'm concerned, this is for my foot. HELP! I don't know if the risk to reward is realistic. I just know taking narcotics and still experiencing so much pain is taking its toll. Thank you for taking the time to read this "book".

Cyberfrance

Welcome to H.W.Wow.You've had a rough go of it.I'm sure someone will have some info for you.

Hope you have a good day,
Rick

Hello CyberFrance and welcome to the forum. Wow, what a story you have to tell as to what brought you to Healing Well. Everyone that comes here has a story to tell that is for sure. I know about c diff I picked that up while in the hospital last December.

I will suggest that you use our search feature here at the forum and read some of the prior posts about the SCS Units. They have been discussed here at length so you should be able to get some good reading in.

We do have members with these units so hopefully ne of them will pop on & tell you about their experience.

Take care....Susie

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. Who would ever have guessed just 10 years ago that strangers would be discussing some of the most intimate details of their lives. I'll search older posts. As you can see, my real issues are taking antibiotics to even HAVE the surgery. It's a Catch 22.