I've had it for 26 years, so I know what you're going thru. It's absolutely miserable.

First, when you lay down, make SURE you have pillows under your knees, when you're on your back. And make SURE they're high enough to take the pressure off your spine. When you lay on your side, you MUST have pillows between your knees to keep the spine aligned. Do NOT lay on your tummy. That really screws up the spine. Also, believe it or not, heat draws blood to the heated area and causes more inflammation to the heated area, causing more swelling & pain. ICE reduces swelling & inflammation and thus reduces the pain. My neuro sent me to "back school" after surgery and that's where I learned this. Make sure when you use ice that you wrap it in a towel and never put it directly on the skin. It does "hurt" when you first put it on, but believe me it WILL help the pain and does keep it at bay for awhile. Use it for 20 minutes every 2 hours. It does work.

I don't know what meds you're on, but for the burning/stinging/zaps/ & neuropathic type pain, topamax is great for that. I find it is better than Neurontin (Gabapentin) as it doesn't cause the water retention weight gain or the "loopiness* that Neurontin does. In fact I even lost weight on Topamax. Lyrica helps alot too with the pain although it makes me very sleepy.

Sciatica is just awful. The continual pain from that is something I just can't describe. Before my doc got my pain undercontrol, which was just recently by the way, I thought I was going crazy. 26 years of that was just too much! No other doctor would even TRY to work as hard as this doc has.

I wish you the very best. I hope the SCS works for you. I didn't have any luck with it, but most people DO. So I'm sure you will too. It's a SNAP with the trial, and even the implantation is a snap. There's no problem with the whole thing. It's really simple so don't worry! God bless & please take care. If you have any questions, just ask. Hugs, Lee