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I am looking for some information on Neurostimulation / Spinal Cord Stimulation. My girlfriend's father’s doctor has said this may be the solution to his back pain. He can not walk 50 yards without having to take a break. But yet, they can not tell him what the pain is caused by. So I guess I am wondering how they would know if it would help? His pain is in his hips and down his legs (left leg first, then down the right). I read that Neurostimulation helps with lower back and leg pain but have not heard or read anything about hip pain.
I read on one sight that you could break a toe and not even know it. This obviously concerns me in that I am afraid he could be hurting himself worse and not even know it. Has anyone heard anything like that? Also, if you can not feel the pain, can you feel anything at all? If he gets a burn on his leg or something like that, will he feel it? I realize it may seem like a silly question, but I just want to be sure he has all the facts.
I also heard there may be brands which work better than others. Has anyone heard anything like that? Any suggestions.
Has he been to a spine surgeon/neurosurgeon? Had MRIs? Physical therapy? Steroid injections? A spinal cord stimulator should not be done until everything else has failed. P.S. Google - spinal stenosis
Has he been to a spine surgeon/neurosurgeon? Had MRIs? Physical therapy? Steroid injections? A spinal cord stimulator should not be done until everything else has failed. P.S. Google - spinal stenosis
Yes. He has been through ALL of what you have named and more. His Neurosergeon is the one who is recommending it. However, with all of the info I have found, it talks about how it works etc, but not what kind of pain people felt prior and what areas in their body. Trust me, I have done my research, we have the video from the doctor etc, he is set up for his phychological exam next tuesday. But there are certain things that I just can not seem to find information on.
A psychological exam? If you havent, get at LEAST one more neuro/spine surgeons opinion. Also, see a pain mgt specialist. I am much younger, but I have had the same type of problems with my back/neck. Have they done MRIs of the entire spine? Possibly a CT myelogram? Do the MRIs show anything? Did he have surgery? What info are you trying to find (maybe I can help)?
They can work beautifully and if he's been through all you've said, sounds like he could be a good candidate. They would do a trial first, and if all went well, he would have the battery implanted. Basically it tricks your brain so that you feel stimulation in place of the pain. Patients for whom it works can sometimes just walk out of the office, pain free. It's amazing. Doesn't work for everyone though, which is why they start with a trial.
Hope it works for him...I am sure he would be so relieved to be free of the pain.
I had one put in because of some nerve damage from knee surgery. In my case it works, but to turn it up high enough to do any good I am changing the nerve pain for being electrically shocked if I stand up in the normal vertical position, some time not even able to walk.
I have had all the above tests. and i have had steroid spinal injections. The drs never told me about all the possible side effects that I have with the injections. Said they were "rare", except that i went online and found that many people had the same side effects as me. I have the cd that the company made for the neurotransmitter implant. Who do I believe? I need more input from others....
I had pain in the bottom of my left foot making it difficult to wear a shoe or walk very long distances, apparently as the result of nerve damage from some major knee surgery. I had the three day screening test, and the results were mixed. Mostly because they warn you that the test probe is just needle inserted in the proper place and not tied down. It would be tied down to the spine on the permenant implant so that it wouldn't move. They warned me not to raise my arms over my head, lift anything heavy or misalign my shoulders and hip (????? how are you going to do that when you roll over in bed and is difficult when you get in and out of a car) because it could move out of position and not be as effective. The first day was not perfect, but at least 50 to 75 improvement and made things more bearable. Of course after sleeping and moving around all day the first day, it was a little worse the second day and even more so the third. But, after all they did inform me that it was possible and why. The day the test probe was removed the equipment representative made so adjustments that brought some of its capability back closer to original. I asked the pain management doctor and the neurosurgeon if there were any other options and got response of no.
The surgeon had expressed some doubts if it was a good solution for me, but not real strong and no other suggestions. I told him we can't function like this, so let's try it. We did the permenant implant and things seemed to be about what the first day of test were and improvement originally. They informed me that overtime it scares in and things change, but supposedly can be adjusted. WELL, the adjustment they can make are minimum, the only adjustment is really to turn the output up. In my case, after nine months in order to turn it up enough to reduce the pain in the bottom of the foot, I get an electrical shock up my entire leg all of the way to the spine and possible all of the way down to the other foot. This is not very comfortable and makes it very very difficult to walk. Also, when you are riding in a car and are jostled around from possibly a bump in the road the results are a shock. Their suggestion is to turn it off when driving and not a bad idea when riding either.
The other thing that they aren't exactly truthful about is insurance paying for it. In my case, Aetna only covers it under certain conditions and there is a fine line between yes and no. The doctors office check and supposedly cleared it with the Aetna. By the time the surgery was done and the bills reached Aetna, Aetna requested the diagnose reports and determined it didn't meet their criteria, and it was in their opinion experimental. Therefore I am in the process of trying to get Aetna to review it again and change their opinion. Otherwise, I am facing approximately $80,000+ in medical bills and the thing is becoming less and less effective.
I have some minor looseness backward and forward in the knee because the surgery was to replace the ACL and PCl tendon, which control that positioning. I expressed concern immediately because it causes minor instability. He said it was within the medical accepatable range. I had an appointment with a different knee surgeon the other day to see if he could suggest a different neurological group about the pain. He was shocked and made it clear that this was not acceptable. So, tomorrow I have another appointment with their top surgeon on knee tendon replacement and may have to go through more surgery because he thinks that it is the root of the nerve problem in the first place.
Bottom line is the medical profession doesn't seem to be full truthful about anything. At the moment, I rack doctors with used car salesmen.
Good Luck
Quote:
Originally Posted by cfk1948
I have had all the above tests. and i have had steroid spinal injections. The drs never told me about all the possible side effects that I have with the injections. Said they were "rare", except that i went online and found that many people had the same side effects as me. I have the cd that the company made for the neurotransmitter implant. Who do I believe? I need more input from others....
Something that I forgot to mention in my reply. If you already have back problems or other nerve problems in the area, the shocking up your leg, for what ever reason it occurs, agitates that problem and can make it worse or something else that you have to deal with. I have a sciatic nerve problem at the hip from a fall 17 years ago that gets agitated when I stand for long periods of time, particularly over several consecutive days. Previously I was taught to deal with it by stretching the ham string as much as I could and holding it continuously for several minutes several time during the day and it would settle down. That doesn't work anymore.
Good Luck
Quote:
Originally Posted by cfk1948
I have had all the above tests. and i have had steroid spinal injections. The drs never told me about all the possible side effects that I have with the injections. Said they were "rare", except that i went online and found that many people had the same side effects as me. I have the cd that the company made for the neurotransmitter implant. Who do I believe? I need more input from others....
i could be happy if the pain in my leg would stop. I can live with the back pain , its not as bad. The more i hear about this process and this foreign object imbedded in my body, the more i don't want it.
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This can turn into a cruel joke
I had pain in the bottom of my left foot making it difficult to wear a shoe or walk very long distances, apparently as the result of nerve damage from some major knee surgery. I had the three day screening test, and the results were mixed. Mostly because they warn you that the test probe is just needle inserted in the proper place and not tied down. It would be tied down to the spine on the permenant implant so that it wouldn't move. They warned me not to raise my arms over my head, lift anything heavy or misalign my shoulders and hip (????? how are you going to do that when you roll over in bed and is difficult when you get in and out of a car) because it could move out of position and not be as effective. The first day was not perfect, but at least 50 to 75 improvement and made things more bearable. Of course after sleeping and moving around all day the first day, it was a little worse the second day and even more so the third. But, after all they did inform me that it was possible and why. The day the test probe was removed the equipment representative made so adjustments that brought some of its capability back closer to original. I asked the pain management doctor and the neurosurgeon if there were any other options and got response of no.
