[emilys gramma]

has anyone been evaluated like this?

frank had a catheter placed almost two weeks ago, giving him good shoulder relief (no relief for his elbow, forearm or hand tho) with roprivicane, but it became dislodged and will be replaced tomorrow morning at U of M hospital.......i am to change the iv bag, and the tubing.....(i am NO NURSE either........stuff like this make me pass out!!!)

he is being evaluated in three weeks for an scs ..........anyone know what that entails? they told us it was to see how he will react to being pain free????///// duhhhhh, first thing he would do would be jump up and down and say IT IS ABOUT TIME.......(altho i doubt he will be totally painfree) and i am shocked that he will even contemplate doing this procedure.........he is at the breaking point from the pain.

anyone know what the eval will be like? they told us it will be about three hours....................

[misreable]

Hi Claudia
Good luck with your eval--sure hopes he gets some relief-I also live
in Mi. also been to Cleveland Cl.Are they pretty good there(U-OF-M) ?
have you been to any dr.s around GR, area if so who is there any one
that you can suggest? Would be wonderful if this helps him-I can under
stand him trying this---change the IV bag veery hard to do. They spund
like they are trying to help him.

GOOD LUCK
SUSAN

[emilys gramma]

where in michigan are you>/ we are downriver area.................frank goes to U of M university of michigan hospital/ pain center.....dr. chirivauri is his doctor........

he is very happy with the care they are giving him.......altho i think they are promising wonders and s*** blunders with the scs....they say that he won't need any more pain meds..????/ but it is HIS decision........

if you are near grand rapids, i have no clue or any names of doctors for pain...........

i go to henry ford in detroit for my rsd....dr. kim is my doctor.....

[Jomar]

Hi Claudia,
I don't know if you ever saw beths posts about her getting a SCS-
I did a search for them-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/se...searchid=40568

it might give you some more knowledge on them and the process.

[emilys gramma]

thanks but the link did not work

[LisaM]

I attend a scs class at my pain doc's office, cuz he suggested that for me. However, it's not really right for my lifestyle, so I couldn't go thru with it. During that class, however, they explained what the psych evaluation was for. It's not really to see how you would react "pain free" - but basically to see if you are ready for the scs MENTALLY. They evaluate for three things:

1). Anxiety
2). Depression
3). How you convert anxiety into pain

As you know, many people feel worse when they feel bad mentally. Therefore, they want to make sure there are no signs of depression evident, so that your husband is going to be able to give a good and fair representation of the pain relief he gets from the trial, without interjecting his feelings of anxiety and depression into his opinion of the scs's pain relieving ability.

IOW, they want to know that mentally, he's able to discern the difference between the pain his body feels from his RSD, and the pain his body feels from stress, anxiety and depression, and that he doesn't convert his anxiety/stress into pain. Cuz if he DOES, he won't be able to tell the doctors whether or not the scs is working.

They also want to make sure that when your dh says "my pain is a 9 today" that it's REALLY a 9 for the PAIN, and not a 6 for hte pain, but the additional 3 is coming from his "mind" - that his anxiety or depression is converting those negative moods into pain, making him "think" he's at a 9 on the pain chart. Basically that some of the pain isn't 'in his head' if you KWIM

You are also going to see that some people are going to be against the scs. When I posted about going to the class, there was a huge outpouring of "don't do it" posts (but that was on the old board). What I'm going to say is, do your own research, and make your own decision, because the scs has been a lifesaving device for many people. There are some people that it has worked tremendously for. There are others it has not worked for at all. There are some for which the trial worked great, but once the permanent one was implanted, it didn't work at all. There are some who had bad side effects and got worse.

What works for one person, may not work for another, so do not let the negative things frighten you away. For every bad news report you hear, there is a good news report to be found, so do your own research. Make your own decision.

There are a LOT of restrictions after the implant, and if you follow the restrictions TO THE LETTER, there is a much better chance of the scs working. In the class I attended, I brought up the negative things I heard, and they stated the largest rate of failure was to those who did not adhere to the restrictions (such as no overhead movement, which is the hardest one to follow). Yet, many patients blamed it on the failure of the scs. That is a pertinent factor, or so I heard in the class. Those limitations he has after the implant, if not followed to the letter, will make the leads move and his pain relief will not be ultimate.

And...they don't always expect 100% pain relief. They said in the class that they shoot for 50%. That's also what I read. If your husband is shooting for 100% he will be disappointed. Very few people with the scs go totally off their pain meds, and do still need breakthru meds.

Good luck sweetie.

[jcherry]

Hey Claudia.. I had to have an eval several years back and they gave me a questionnaire to fill out that had a bunch of questions on it, and then the doc talked to me and asked me questions to see how I would be able to handle having the scs or the pump implanted. It did seem like it took forever, and I'm sure I am leaving things out because you know if it was past yesterday I forgot..LOL

Tell Frank good luck and and I hope it goes well.. I do hope that he gets some good relief with the scs.. I didn't get much relief from it so wasn't a candidate for the scs and they wanted to do the pump, and I had the surgery scheduled but could not go through with it. Now I am so glad I didn't because the methadone gives me more relief than anything else I have ever tried.

Take care and good luck to the both of you..

Love ya,
Janet