I had a SCS implant put in on April 5th for severe sternum costochondritis and have yet to be able to use it. When I had the trial, it was 100% effective. It felt like a miracle that I was able to go hiking, do housework, basically everything I've had to give up for the last two years. Now that I have the permanent one though, they can't seem to program it correctly to give me any relief.

I've been extremely disappointed. The St. Jude's rep was wonderful during the trial. They followed up, answered questions, happy to help. Now that I've got the permanent implant I can barely get phone calls returned, etc.

At what point do I know that this just isn't going to work and needs to be removed? Do they just throw away the data they use about programming during the trial? They kept asking me then which programs helped and which ones didn't while I was in the trial, but now never refer to them. Do I just have to keep reprogramming every week? Is this normal?