I was wondering if those who have a St Jude stim have any issues with programming ? .. or have trouble finding a good programming Rep to tweak the unit??
I post in the t.n. forum here and am in contact with other who have stim implant for face pain . some have medtronics ( I do ) some boston sci ya know a few different makers ..ect so Wanted to ask St Jude peeps if getting the unit.. programmed/ tweaked with a rep is an issue , or hard ??????
Thanks for the input of your opinion and thoughts.
PEACE
BMW
edit to say I did find the Rep thread . just lately it seems for face pain St Jude programming Reps are not so good not so good at all it is possible that scs ..we call it PNS still to new ? ? yet other companies arent having issues it is to ,amen at last , get fda approval sometime this year as treatment option for us .

I just HAD to pop in and say hello! It's great seeing you again!
I don't have St Jude (like you, I'm medtronic) but there are several folks here who do have St Jude, so I'm sure you'll be getting feedback soon.

btw thank you for all the help you provide over at TN. We all know how scared people are when they come to these forums wanting to know more about these units. You have a wonderful way of making people feel ok about things.

TTYL

Rae

Hi Burntmarshmallow

I have a St Judes SCS implanted since August 2010. I live in Ireland. My rep's, Ive had 3 in total have been very good so far. I dont have any issues with them. I suppose the only issues I would have is that I dont always gets the coverage of the areas I need, but thats not the fault of the Reps!

When you say 'hard' do you mean hard to reprogramme? if thats so then maybe the programmer isnt responding to the IPG? Unfortunately last Feb 2011 I had a faulty batteryand I had to have it replaced with a new one, 6 months after it was implanted initially!!!! Eventually I was reimbursed......but everything has been working perfectly.

I have just had another retweak on Thurs and at first I thought the new programme he gave me was good, but now Im not so sure, but I do have two other programmes which are working well, they were also retweaked too.......

Overall, I would say that I dont have any issues with the Rep or the unit

Jackie

Well by issue and hard ,... I mean , when one shows up for the apt with Rep for programming /tweaking of the unit and the Rep has never programmed one EVER before or the rep has never programmed one for the face / jaw
(t.n. ..Trigeminal Neuralgia) which i dont think would matter as it is bascily the same I mean your programming a StJude stim it should matter where the leads are back leg or face shouldnt matter right??????????? it is the programs and unit that matter . so I just have noticed the few folks on my end who have had St Jude implants for T.N. recently (witnin the last 8 months the lot of them) have been not so lucky with the reps and the programming/ tweaking. while others with stim by other makers are not having this issue.

I DO NOT have any issues with my stim its medtronic I have had mine since 2002. one lead to my lower right jaw . I am Great have my life back and just trying to help others find a way out and back into some kind of decent life without ugly face pain.
Thanks so much for your reply Jackiey may your stim provide everlasting relief . blessings to you.
PEACE
BMW...Tina

I have a bos sci unit for abdominal pain. I have a group of three reps I can call at ant time and can get an appt. in a day or two at the most. I have found that they seem to have trouble getting the stim to the correct spot. They spend alot of time programing. I found one rep was able to address the pain area during my trial while a different rep at implant had a much harder time. Maybe some areas of the body require much more effort to address the pain area. Maybe face and stomach are not as common and require more effort. Just a thought.

Good luck.

Sandy K

Hey there! I have a St Jude stim, well actually two (cervical and thoracic). I have three reps that cover my area and have not had a problem scheduling a programming appt. I just call and see when one can meet and then email my doctor so he can make sure we have a room to use at his office. My reps also seem to be very knowledgeable. I had the same rep in the OR for the trial, the permanent implant and then when the thoracic leads were changed to paddle leads. The other two cover the area if he is not available.

I wish the cervical stim would reach my face as I have RSD in the right side of it

Nanc, do you think there would be anything more specific regarding an SCS for face pain, such as in the Trigeminal Neuralgia forum?
Check out this link:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread124048.html

I need to gain a better understanding of how the stims are used that way.
Maybe there IS something that can be done for your face pain (?)

Rae

Hi Rae! I will check it out, thanks for the tip (and link). When I talked to my rep about it, during programming, he couldn't get it to work on my face. It will go up the back of my head, but not to my face they thought it might help my headaches, but no such luck. Btw, getting my first Botox injection Thursday for my migraines...hope it works!!!

Nanc

Yep, Calewark even had leads implanted in the face for the purpose of delivering stim there.... give her a shout!

Mark56

I'm hoping for a good outcome on the botox. Please let us know how this goes ok! I'm really curious.

Thanks
Rae