Quote:
Originally Posted by kkelly
Help! What is the status of anyone who has these devices removed.
I had miraculous experience with the trial in November with Precision SCS and went forward with the implant in the beginning of January. Two days later I twisted my spine and felt like something moved. I contacted my doctor and SCS rep, there were two attempts to re-program the device, to no avail. At the beginning of February the doctor finally ordered an x-ray which shows that the part of the leads containing the electrodes are crossed. Again he wanted reprogramming tried, which I did and ended up with an excruciating headache and in bed for the past week, along with pain in the back of my ribs, which I did not have before.
I am scheduled for a revision next week, but my doctor will not return my calls so that I can ask some questions. I have been told that if I have the device removed I will suffer much more pain than I had before having the device implanted. Note that my pain is mostly in my back and left leg. Anyone have similar experiences?
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Kelly,
I had a medtronics synergy implanted in January of 2000. It worked wonderfully, until about three months after implantation. I won't go into details, but like Fancylady, I had to jump through hoops to get my doc to pay attention to my complaints, and had to constantly go in for reprogramming to compensate for the lost coverage (had two leads).
In the end, both the IPG pocket as well as the upper incision at T2/T3 became painful, burned, and had intermittent "shocking" sensations from the incison site down to the IPG. It turned out that not only had the leads migrated from the appropriate spinal nerve level, they had also begun pulling out at the IPG site.
I did keep the SCS for almost two years (implanted in 2000, explanted in 2002)...but in the end it was removed due to a need for spinal surgery.
After observing other SCS user experiences over time here and on the other site, I would suggest that it may not be the device that is the problem, rather the ability of the surgeon who does the implant. One needs to make sure the doc has done many of them, and that he/she will make sure that the patient gets whatever support required to have sustained success with the unit once it is implanted.
Don't beat yourself up about twisting, as many did nothing like that and still had the leads migrate. As far as going through with a revision...I would suggest that you need to decide if the benefits of the SCS outweigh having to go through another surgical procedure.
I did find that it [the SCS] was great for neuropathic/sympathetically mediated pain, and missed it when it was gone.
Would I put in another one at this point? Nope. I am trying to manage with less invasive treatments at this point.
Your doc may also want to do a paddle implant [for the revision] in order to secure the electrodes better, but that is a more extensive procedure, although, depending on your pain/nerve symptoms, may be beneficial.
Since having my implant removed, the IPG pocket pain/burning resolved, although, the upper incision area developed some kind of neuroma, and it is numb/hypersensitive. Ironic that something done to help pain/nerve symptoms, created its own set of problems.
Again, I am not discouraging anyone from getting the SCS, as it certainly worked for me when it worked.
best of luck.