I had a Medtronics implanted May of 2005 and love it. After a trial implant of one week that was very successful for SOME of my neuropathic pain I elected to continue with the regular implant. What a blessing! I know it is not for everyone and certainly not for all types of chronic back pain. The success is not only determined by the type of pain, but the skill of the doctor implanting the leads and generator.

My SCS virtually eliminates my pain in the buttocks and the back of my thighs, however it does NOTHING for the pain in the lumbar region. I think I remember some doctor referring to my lumbar pain as "mechanical". Probably not nerve pain, but I just don't know.

As far as I am concerned, my SCS implant was very successful! Sorry for all the problems everyone has had with their SCS implant.

Dutch45,
What great news I always enjoy hearing that they help someone.
Thanks for sharing.
Linda

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

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

I have talked to you by email before. My mother found an attorney who is willing to take her case on a class action suit. Anyone else who is interested can email me at sherylrx3@aol.com. She had a SCS implanted and it shocked her. made her pain worse. she has a crooked spine and I think the leads must have gotten twisted. There are a lot of things in addition. Plus she is 64 yrs old. She has fibromyalgia. That is pain all over. I don't know why they thought a SCS would help her. She has terrible pain in the battery site. The thing never worked at all. It cost a lot of money to put in and to take out. The pain doctor who put it in promised her she would be able to go on vacation and travel and do things she hasn't been able to do in years. Imagine the false advertisemen!

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.