Patti, thank you for your response. I am soooo sorry for your situation... it seems to be a conundrum with no answers. I must plead ignorance to your condition. I have not heard of RSD until now. That sounds like a tough one! My condition began with two failed lumbar discs at the top of the sacrum. I had them fused 6 or 7 years ago. Since then the degeneration has moved up another level, which I had fused to the original fusion. Now the next two discs above that are gone. I have a condition that just keeps moving up the spine. I was told that 10% of people with back fusions will experience this. I guess I fall in the 10%. It should actually stop now that it has reached the top of the lumbar spine. It virtually never moves to the thoracic spine.

My paddle went in at T8. Do you know at which vertebrae they inserted your paddle leads?

I am beginning to conclude that the stimulators placed higher in the spine are the most problematic. My trial implant was more near T10-T11. But I felt too much of the sensation in my legs and also my feet. Most of my pain is across my back with only some pain down the outsides of my thighs. I do not have sciatica anymore. That was alleviated with the fusion of L4 - S1.

Stay warm and I'll be sending good thoughts.