Hi Johnthepainter,
Welcome to the group. I had my scs implanted in 2003. It worked for a while and I really liked the way it felt. I had a really bad fall and one of the leads slipped out. They had to shut it off. The lead is sitting on a nerve. I think that if i didn't fall, it would have help me alot. But it never took away the pain to where I could go with out meds. I went without meds for a year but had to go back on. The two together was great. Now I am trying to decide if I want to have the whole thing taken out. Its kind of painful at the site that the lead is on the nerve. If your wife decides to have this done, I hope it works for her. Please tell her I wish her well.

Sue K.

I half thee SCS but broken sense 1st days. If I turn it on it shockes me liked hart attack. Pain is thru roof. Mine is sown in place so it can't move. Doc said gonna be a big problam gettin it out. I scared of crippln for life or even death. I put if off for 3 yeards now out of pure fear. No doc can tell me that surjerie will be good. Lord help me. I no scare you. But I play Devil's Advocate. My doc for serjery was a pinhead. He shouldn sew it into my spinal but he did. That is my misfortune. Your wifes will be more better.

Chin Up!!!! Mark

Dear Wicked and SueK--Thanks for your input and comments. To all those who have responded to this thread thus far, a great big thank you as well. Please keep more comments and opinions coming.

johnthepainter

Hi John,
I wanted to welcome you to the group.This is a wonderful group you have found. I had a scs implanted in my right abdomen and the leads put in between my shoulder blades. I was implanted with them on December 17, 2006.I had a temporary one in for three days prior to that to make sure it was going to work first. It was wonderful. It had taken away about 60-70% of my pain.I thought this is the way to go. I am on cymbalta 60mg once aday,trazedone 50mg once aday. My family doctor tried to take me off the cymbalta after being on it for 2 and a half years and I had major withdrawal symtoms. That very same time I went through major muscle spasms non stop. I shut my scs off and it took 15 minutes to a half an hour to get them to stop. To double check I turned it back on and the spasms started up immediately.So I shut it down again and contacted my pain doc. They told me to restart the cymbalta and gave me 90 pills of skelaxin 800mg to try and help with the spasms. I am now out of the skelaxin. They also told me to turn my scs down. I told them if I turn it down it won't do me much good. Well I did as they said and have been back on the cybalta now for just over two months and I have not had much luck at the spasms going away. They told me once I got the cymbalta back in my system that that should help with the spasms. Suprise it has not yet. I turned my scs down from 1.10 to .90, get if I am lucky 30% pain coverage, and still deal with the spasms. I use to run my scs constantly and now run it very little because I can't handle the spasms and the really bad burning sensation down my entire arm. I don't know to this day if the spasms and the burning sensation I am having is related to the scs or not but in my opinion I think it is because when I have it off there are little spasms but a lot of pain. I guess all I can say is each individual is different in how they react to different things so how it reacts with me or anyone else may not be the same as how it reacts with your wife. I am not trying to scare you or discourage you in any way, I am just telling you the experience i am having to this day. Good luck with everything you do and it is good to see a spouse stick by there partners side like you are doing. You don't know how many people wish they had a spouse like you. You sound like a wonderful person. Keep up the good work and make sure to tell your wife she how lucky she is to have someone in her life like you.Keep on smiling and keep your chins up.
If you have any further questions you can contact me by email or if you or your wife just want to talk go ahead and email me.

Tracy

Dear screwballpookie,

Thanks so very much for your current experience with your scs. If anything, Marilyn and I have learned in dealing with her RSD over the past 10 years, it is this disease is perverse. Symptoms, reactions, meds, etc. seem to apply more individually than applicable to a group in the same boat.

We want to examine a range of personal experiences with scs devices in order to surmise how Marilyn may adapt or not adapt to such a unit.

We have much faith in her pain doctor. He has been with her since 1995 and knows the case well. We are indeed fortunate to have such a good man managing Marilyn's situation.

Thanks a lot for your thoughtful and descriptive report on your own specific situation. We both hope your symptoms improve.

johnthepainter

just one more comments re te scs, have the doc and leave it in for the full 14 days to get a better idea of success, but the most important thing about an scs is finding the best installing doc you can get your hands on. my 1st one i was niave and thought that since he did them all the time he must be really good. when i had problems following the procedure everyone else i talked to who had the same procedure had the same problems. on the second implant i went into the dr office at around 10 am because that is when the office usually full (and it was) and i spoke with everyone in there. 99 % said their response was great 1% said it had made things worse. After speaking with the doctor having him answer a list of questions i had prepared i felt pretty comfortable but that 1 problem patien made me causcious. when i went back into the lobby and sat down while i was waiting for a follow up apt a woman i has spoken with earlier in the lobby quietly told me that the man with problems may have had some needed adjustment but on the 2nd day before calling the dr he went down to the local bar got hammered and fell off his chair. i wouldnt have believed her but when the guy fell he refused an ambulance and instead had a friend drive him in and she happened to be there for an appt. the guys friend complained that the office didnt have a tv because he was missing the football game because his "idiot friend couldnt hold his liquor and fell right out of the stool". any concerns i ad about the doc evaporated.

Hi John,

I grew up painting, my whole family were painters lol.

Anyways, I know of another place that has lots of people with spine troubles, and there is alot of information on SCS to be gleened from there. You might want to put a similar post as this one on that forum.

Here is the link

http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/...play.php?f=251

It is the BT1 forum, but lots of folks keep the spine forum jumping over there.

Dear Wakegirl and Gamer,

Thank you both for taking the time to respond and share your experience. Gamer--I used to belong to the brain pastry site but somehow messed up the registration process and have never managed to get re=registered. I do for a living--interior/exterior etc. etc. If you can think of a way to get me registered at the site you linked i.e. Brain Pastry, please share it with me so I can research this topic more there.

Wakegirl--Your suggestion to question actual patients is an excellent one. My wife has been seeing the same pain doc for years now. He knows her case quite well. I thought it would just naturally follow that he would be the doctor installing the unit if Marilyn decides upon that option. I will have Marilyn do a preview similar to yours and poll patients her pain doctor has done. A very valuable contribution for us. Thanks so much.

johnthepainter

Hey John,

You might try creating another account with a different email account, and dont use the same name user name that you had before. I like the way you are going about researching this. From the pictures it seems it warrants some information gathering.

I was raised in a family of painters, with my grandfather being the local union rep. Not everyone was union, but I did go union. Did all exterior and interior from houses to commercial stuff, even did a few years on the sandblaster. Boy was that fun. Always had the beach in my pockets and hair LOL.

I do hope you and your wife learn all you need to make an informed decision, and most of all that she be happy with the outcome. I know from experience that pain can drive a person to hasty decisions, and it seems you are avoiding that trap. I wish that I could be more help then this.

Dear Allen,

Thanks again for your suggestion on re-upping on the Brain Pastry site. I'll try your suggestion for registration.

I recently took on a partner who is 20 years my junior, full of vim and vigor, and a darn good all around painter. A real plus is his skill at the more artistic endeavors now being done by "house painters." I am an old fashioned guy using old fashioned techniques. Some might say outmoded. My partner is teaching me all kinds of stuff I never knew and has opened up some different areas of income for us both.

Being in a small community, unions are non-existent for the trades people mostly. Professional painters are few and far between. The commercial builders, however, do use Union folks sometimes for the larger projects.

Unfortunately Allen, we are not new to the RSD Puzzle. We research major medical decisions very carefully. We try to be as objective as possible without inventing the wheel all over again. We regard highly the opinions of others and their direct experiences.

When the information is gathered and the options weighed, Marilyn will determine what she believes to be in her best interest. My role is to provide the information for her to consider. Of course, she will speak to others personally about the SCS experience if and when the time draws near to install such a unit.

Thanks again for your input. Perhaps you can forward your personal email address and we can talk painting stuff too. It would bore the heck out of most.

johnthepainter