I too am glad to hear of a success story from the implant. I can tell you I haven't heard of over 3 people in all the years I have been reading about them. It is nice to hear a good report.
_________
Fancylady

Harry, I'm very sorry for your experience, but talk and demand answers from your doctor; it's your right.
I am new to this site and I'm glad I came to it. Your bad experience is good for me in the sense that I have been scheduled for an SCS implant as "last resource" for terrible, uncontrolable "permanent neuropathic" pain as a result of post- laminectomy syndrome. I have been doing some research on the 3 different systems and Bionics seems to be the best. Nonetheless, I am not still convinced that a device that has to be implanted in your deep tissue will not cause situations like yours (rejection to a foreign body). The location of your stim may be playing a part on your disconfort. I have good lines of communication with my pain specialist and he knows that I will do, am doing, research for anything that is going in my body. I had a very bad experience with my laminectomy on the hands of the director and top national ortho surgeon (80 chapters and 15 books on spinal surgery and more than 140 articles,; I walked to the OR and came out with my left side(from the waist down) paralized and a very weak right side, with constant and permanent neurological pain. My personal and professional life was completely changed. I believe that my pain doctor may have an answer and probable solution for you. Good luck and please feel better, but demand answers.

Help! What is the status of anyone who has these devices removed.

I had miraculous experience with the trial in November with Precision SCS and went forward with the implant in the beginning of January. Two days later I twisted my spine and felt like something moved. I contacted my doctor and SCS rep, there were two attempts to re-program the device, to no avail. At the beginning of February the doctor finally ordered an x-ray which shows that the part of the leads containing the electrodes are crossed. Again he wanted reprogramming tried, which I did and ended up with an excruciating headache and in bed for the past week, along with pain in the back of my ribs, which I did not have before.

I am scheduled for a revision next week, but my doctor will not return my calls so that I can ask some questions. I have been told that if I have the device removed I will suffer much more pain than I had before having the device implanted. Note that my pain is mostly in my back and left leg. Anyone have similar experiences?

Kelly,
I had a medtronics synergy implanted in January of 2000. It worked wonderfully, until about three months after implantation. I won't go into details, but like Fancylady, I had to jump through hoops to get my doc to pay attention to my complaints, and had to constantly go in for reprogramming to compensate for the lost coverage (had two leads).

In the end, both the IPG pocket as well as the upper incision at T2/T3 became painful, burned, and had intermittent "shocking" sensations from the incison site down to the IPG. It turned out that not only had the leads migrated from the appropriate spinal nerve level, they had also begun pulling out at the IPG site.

I did keep the SCS for almost two years (implanted in 2000, explanted in 2002)...but in the end it was removed due to a need for spinal surgery.

After observing other SCS user experiences over time here and on the other site, I would suggest that it may not be the device that is the problem, rather the ability of the surgeon who does the implant. One needs to make sure the doc has done many of them, and that he/she will make sure that the patient gets whatever support required to have sustained success with the unit once it is implanted.

Don't beat yourself up about twisting, as many did nothing like that and still had the leads migrate. As far as going through with a revision...I would suggest that you need to decide if the benefits of the SCS outweigh having to go through another surgical procedure.

I did find that it [the SCS] was great for neuropathic/sympathetically mediated pain, and missed it when it was gone.

Would I put in another one at this point? Nope. I am trying to manage with less invasive treatments at this point.

Your doc may also want to do a paddle implant [for the revision] in order to secure the electrodes better, but that is a more extensive procedure, although, depending on your pain/nerve symptoms, may be beneficial.

Since having my implant removed, the IPG pocket pain/burning resolved, although, the upper incision area developed some kind of neuroma, and it is numb/hypersensitive. Ironic that something done to help pain/nerve symptoms, created its own set of problems.

Again, I am not discouraging anyone from getting the SCS, as it certainly worked for me when it worked.

best of luck.

kkelly,'
I had y implant done On April 1st and with in a few days the leads had done as yours, it took some time to convince my DR to xray and when he did he found it and we did a revision and the same thing happened.
I'll say I did follow my instructions to a Tee as I really wanted this to work and was so excited about it. I have to say I was having some awful effects from this and would get shocks that would take me to my knees and then I wouldn't be able to get the darn thing to turn off, over all it was a terribly frightening experience and of course no one believed me.
Anyway the Dr and rep. offered to do one more revision and the Co. offered to supply with with these new anchors that weren't on the market yet that was suppose to be better and keep the leads from falling only the surgery was much more severe and my Dr couldn't do it I would have to go to a NS.
At that point all I want was the thing OUT OF ME!!
So I had it taken out the first week of June so it wasn't in very long over all, and the removal was not bad but now a couple of yrs later I am having a lot of problems from scar tissue that has built up in my T-spine after all it was 3 surgeries in a short time.
If I was you and plan on having it out I'd say the sooner the better before it scars in even more.
I know it's a very expensive implant too, and it is surgery no matter, so please make sure it's what you want before you do it.
Best of Luck.
Linda

I had the med-tronic spinal cord implant procedures done at the beginning of November 2006. My original injury was a result of an accident where I fractured my L5 and suffered three herniated discs at L3-L4, L4-L5 and L5-S1. After 7 surgeries I was still in a great deal of pain, taking 80-100 mg of oxycontin a day. After the surgery I described to my wife that the sensation was similar to being able to turn off the worst headache with a TV. remote. I hated being on drugs all the time because I felt that I was living in a fog. It has been 4 months now and the only problem that I have is pain where the wires come out of muscles in my back and snake around under the skin to the battery, which is located just under my left rib cage. At times it feels like someone is stabbing me in the back with a pencil. However, this is nothing compared to the pain I use to deal with. I am happy to announce that I only take Tylenol for my aches and pains. The fog has been lifted. My neurosurgeon told me that it will take time for the body to adjust to the foreign objects and to give it time. He also indicated that, for him, there appears to be a correlation between using this implant on patients who suffered trauma compared to people suffering pain as a result of degenerative disc disease. It makes sense to me because if your back parts have progressively gotten worse, who is to say that the implant would make it stop? What’s people’s opinion on this? rcs_kingston@yahoo.ca

Hi,
My husband had this put in last year, with in a month he was running high fevers, he would lay down and it looked like someone had dumped a five gallon bucket of water on him. ( we had to change sheets and dry his pillow everyday) He ended up in the hospital and they told me he had infection somewhere and it could go to his heart and kill him.. I was terrified. We told his dr we wanted the stimulator out that his body was rejecting it.. He told me that was a matter of opinion He asked my husband if he wanted him to try and rearrange the leads..(boy did I hehe) anyway.. we told him no to take them OUT ... well guess what.. a year later hubby had to have a ct scan done.. he is still running low fevers all the time..we got our results back
and the dr took the stimulator out but left the lead wires in.. I called medtronic for a allergy test kit both the box and leads are made of the same stuff.. we are going to another doc this week to do the allergy test..hubby has not been right since they put that box in.. I hope no one else ever has this problem..and yes they did do the temp one and I saw puss coming out of one of the leads.. told them and they told me that was just crust it wasnt puss.. ( I have four grown kids and dont have a clue what puss is imagine that).. whew I feel better, thanks for listening

I would go to a Dr. that would take the leads out if I were you. I don't understand why they left them in, in the first place. If you don't want to have another put in, there is no reason to have the leads left in place. I had mine taken out after several months when the Dr. done another back surgery and my problems are all gone. With the puss and all, it is plain to see he can't leave it in. It just has to be the reason for infection.

In my case, the surgeon did tell my family, if it was to close to my spinal cord he would not remove them. I was fortunate, and he removed them. It was another doctor though. He did contact the one that put it in before, he removed the leads. They do have to be careful or you could become paralzed.
I have never heard of a case quit like your husbands, but you can become allergic to the leads where they join the battery. That was my big concern. I too am allergic to metals. I really feel for your husband. Good luck having this taken out.
Blessings,
Billie

Angelray,
I'm so sorry that your DH and you have had to go through all this, how sad..
I can't believe some of the crap they do and get by with.
Now your DH's leads will be even harder to take out as now they have scarred in for a year...
I hope that he is able to get them out and get rid of the infection and fever,
I can only imagine how hard this must be on you all.
I know of one girl that had the implant don and she got infection where the leads went in and it was so bad the infection was pushing the leads out, it was awful, she really had a hard time.
I wish you all the best and please let us know how DH does.
Linda

Hi,
Hubby goes tomorrow to see if he is having a reaction to those thingys they put on his back. I hope and pray it tells us something. I feel like my world has fell apart with him as he is in so much pain all the time.. He says things he should not be saying and he doesnt realize he is tearing me up inside. I know it is hard to hurt all day and all night. I watch him walk the floors and cry he is in so much pain. Every doctor we went to or sent his reports to could not help him.. finally we found a doc that said he could help him and that is going to fall thru.. they said it would still cost us 12,000 facility fee plus 900 of the 20 percent of medicare... plus 600 a piece for airline tickets and 75 a night for motel.. Does anyone know if there is any programs out there anywhere that can help with surgery? I have tryed to look and see what I can find but my mind can not consintrate. Can someone help me look for something when anyone has any free time , Please? Thanks so much
God Bless...Angel
so glad I found someplace where people know what I am going thru