My mom recently had a medtronics cervical SCS implanted. Initially, she had a good result and it relieved some of her neck pain. However, after the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving, she is now feeling random and sudden "zaps".

I've been reading online about possible causes of these spontaneous shocks and the general consensus seems to be that the leads could either be damaged of migrated. She has actually gone in to her doc and had xrays done. He states he cannot find any problem with the leads and wants to remove the SCS completely. It makes me feel like he's sold the system and been paid for the surg and now doesn't want to deal with it anymore.

She doesn't want it removed and feels that it was helping her before the recent change. I believe she has even had it reprogrammed and it still isn't working properly.

Any suggestions?

I forgot to mention. I think she has the paddle leads instead of the regular ones.

Mine is Boston Scientific, and I have paddles rather than leads. Never have had a sudden shock. If doc is hot to trot to remove it, seems a second opinion would be in order.

Mark56

Fils,
First, welcome to the forum! Tho I am terribly sorry for what brings you here!!
Something indeed sounds 'amis'....aka NOT RIGHT!
Seems complete RUBBISH for her Dr to want to take out the system this soon! Seems pre-mature to say the very least, especially since the unit was working fine at first!!
There could be a number of factors......scar tissue forming, migration, or just a bit of simple adjusting to her program settings.....lowering the amplitude....

Does she notice these 'shocks' when she moves her head a certain way?
Or while she is in a certain position?

This Dr needs to be accountable for his work!! And (unless infection or something drastic as such) there is NO way he should be suggesting to take the unit OUT!!

I 'second' Mark's suggestion and get a second opinion asap.....
For the meantime, maybe just have your mom turn the unit clear down or even 'off' it need be........

Please keep us posted!
Caring
Rae

Thanks for the responses!

She as it "installed" on Sept 16th and just recently had the shocking experience.

I'll have to verify, but i think it's doing it even while off. I told her to just let the battery drain and not recharge it in the meantime.

We finally got somewhere by speaking to the Medtronics rep and they have an emergency surgery scheduled to remove the unit. She asked them if they found anything wrong while she's under if they would just fix it instead of removing it. They say yes but who knows what theyll really do.

He also states he is the only qualified doctor to examine the unit. Which I find very hard to believe in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Saying something to the effect of "since he put it in, he's the only one that can remove it"

From what we can tell the shocks seems to be fairly random.

I'm not sure on the specifics but this is all part of a workers comp case in which she was robbed and beaten while at work. So I'm not sure how much we'd have to argue in order to get authorization for a second opinion.

Just wish there was an easy fix!

Surely, you Mom has a Workers Comp lawyer working her case as I do. Ask them regarding the second opinion, which, given the seriousness of the situation should be admissable. Workers Comp is often fraught with at least second opinions when the Carrier wants to dispute the opinion of the original doc they will demand a second opinion by a Department Independent Medical Examiner, aka DIME. The corollary should easily be doable, just to make sure for your Mom that the procedure is necessary, appropriate, therapeutic, and possibly even a fix. Next call to your Mom's lawyer, and if she doesn't have one, then it takes only a call to some trusted lawyer you do know to find the right tiger to be in your corner.

Really,
For your Mom's betterment,
Caring,
Mark56