Need advice asap!!
 

Hi everyone! I am hoping to get some advice from others about my situation. Hoping that maybe there is someone else out there that can relate. I went ahead and got a SCS implanted in January. Long story short, my surgeon closed up shop and left town 10 days after surgery. I ended up having issues with the generator moving and found another doctor who relocated and anchored my generator correctly in March. Things were going along ok until I went to the courthouse to renew my license plates and one of the officers wasn't paying attention and zapped me with the security wand. That ended up frying out my SCS. So, in June, I had the whole thing removed and a new SCS implanted (quite painful). So, I had 3 pretty intense surgeries within 6 months. I have not really been able to figure out if the SCS is working for me or not as I've had so many complications. On top of that, my second surgeon never followed up on my third surgery, so I've now had to switch to a third surgeon (this time I went for a major university hospital) who I will be seeing on Thursday. Because of no doctor followup, I've been without any of my medication for approximately 6 weeks. Luckily, I had some backup pain meds left but because I hardly had any left, I've had to seriously reduce the pain meds I normally take which has resulted in severe migraines from the pain and stress, requiring ER visits to relieve. I am still unable to sit completely on my behind due to pain, when I lean back against things, it feels like I am leaning against two metal bars and I am in more pain now than I ever was. On top of that, for the past five years, I have had a major flare from my CRPS every November. I cannot even imagine being in more pain than I am now. At this point, I am almost immune to Percocet and Vicodan. I get extremely ill from Oxycontin and Morphine makes me sleep for 18 hours a day. I've been trying to do some research on my own and I am wondering if a pain pump would be my next option. Has anyone out there gotten a pain pump and had good results? Am I the only one out there that has had such a nightmare with SCS? I have accepted the fact that I will probably never have the life I once had, but at this point, I have no life. I need to find some kind of relief somehow (and I need to find a good doctor). Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi Shelby
 

and Welcome! In a word, yes, there have been successful pain pump situations out there, and on this board, bobinjeffmo has had success with his pump as I recall, although he has not participated much at all this past year.

I am so very sorry you have endured the horrific difficulty with the SCS situations you have lived. As for sitting, I use my cushion for sitting myself as I suffer from permanent nerve damage below the waist, combining SCS and my cushion as the means by which I live without pain meds.

I hope for you the sitting becomes more tolerable once your body settles down from these horrible painful episodes.

Prayin for ya,
Mark56:hug::grouphug:

Shelby....
 

Oh my you HAVE been thru alot! :hug:

At the moment I can't seem to think beyond the cop who zapped you, ruining your SCS :eek:. I sure hope you were compensated somehow for that! That would certainly be a liability issue (I would think):eek:

Also, I am appauled that Dr #1 implanted your unit and then up and left, leaving you with little or no follow up care.

The thing with pain pumps is that they require constant monitoring from your Dr (monthly refills, etc). None of your SCS docs seem to have very much commitment ethics, unfortunately. If you are able to find a good Dr who is in this for the longhaul, the pain pump may just be what you want. Like SCS's, you can do a trial run first.
Mark mentioned Bobinjeffmo, who is a firm believer in the pumps. Here's a post from him explaining his testimony.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post701979-14.html

I'm so sorry that you've been thru this nightmare, on top of battling CRPS.
If you can fall in with a 'good' Dr who really cares about your situation, there's no doubt that you could get your quality of life back.
You've been through alot Shelby. It's about time SOMEbody embraces your predicament and helps you get on a new track. Don't dare give up on this! Eventually you will find that certain someone.

I hope you stick around and keep us posted. There's alot of great info to be had here and we can track down more posts on pain pump experiences.

Caring,
Rae
:grouphug: