I went back to my PM Doctor today, we talked about the injections into the pinched nerve not helping at all and he said he was going to up my Lortab 5 from 2 a day to 3 a day which is still not alot, he also said that I was a canadate for Neurostimulation, he said it travels in the area where pain signals travel and electrical impulses can be directed to cover specific sites where I am feeling pain. I asked him what it would feel like and he said it would feel like seltzer water going down my leg or like a massage and said that it will releive 50 to 75% of my pain so I could go back to college and work. I was just wanting to know a couple of things from anyone who has one of these for back or leg pain as I have both...First, tell me what the trial is like, do they do this in their office or is the trial done by surgery? Second..I know the perament one is done by surgery but is it an inpatient or outpatient procedure (do you get to come home the same day?)...Third..What does it feel like to you, does it really feel like seltzer water going down your leg or a massage? Forth.. How much pain relief do you get from yours, is it really possible to get 50 to 75% relief? And last.. Do you still have to take any pain medication after this is done or do you even need it? I want to know all about this, anything you could tell me would be great, I have to make a decision within 4 weeks from today if I want to do the trial, so please give me some information, I want to know all the good and the bad stuff with this procedure.
Thank You,
Brian
Hey Bryan, I'll let the sparkies tell you the specifics of the stims, It does seem to me it's a mighty big leap from Vicodin to a NS. There are lots of phylosophies and things to try with pain intervention and management. Not just a life on opiates. Not to try some of the other modalities available seems pretty radical and invasive and commits you for years to this thing. Thay can also damage nervesIt's a wire awrapped around the nerve which neds to be implanted for the test. Thif the trial goes well, they implant the internal stim an you control it wit an external device. Medtronics makes it , so check out there site and don't except one docs opinion as gospel. It's only an opinion.
As far as promising relief, He doesn't know. You do a trial to see if it does. A succesful trial is one that relieves 50% of your pain, but how about adjunct modalities to help deal with the rest. Your not on alot of meds and there are alot of treatment options for nerve pain. nerve pan is tougher than say somatic pain but if you get several surgeons opinons, I'll bet they are all different. I just can't see The NS being the next step.
Have you tried a Tens unit "external E stim? Have you tried TINS. TINS is where they place needles similar to acupuncture needles into the effected areas, attach leads to override the pain signals.
How many anti D's and anti seizure meds have you tried. If neurontin, Tooamax, Lamyctyl, Dilantin and about a dozen other anti seizure meds could disrupt the pain signal, I think I would rather take the med than have surgery which can have great complications. Particularly in a young person that may grow or change size or mass greatly in the next few years. I'm not the 148lb wrestler I was in school anymore.
JMO
Good luck, Dave.
I had a stimulator implanted for my pain. I have a herniation at t-6 and t-7, which causes pain wrapping around my chest wall. My trial was a success, so I went on to have the permanent one installed. For some reason, they put me to sleep for that surgery and when I woke up, all the stimulation was going toward the left side, and my pain is mainly on the right side. So a couple of weeks later the neurosurgeon suggested implanting a larger lead. This surgery involved more tissue dissection, and I now wish I had not done it because now I have pain not only wrapping around my chest wall, but also in my upper back, which I did not have before. My pain management doctor thought that the wires might be irritating me, so he took the stimulator out, but left the lead in, as he didn't know how to get it out. He said if I want it out I'll have to go to a neurosurgeon. None of the doctors I've been to since seem to know why my back now hurts. Shoreline, none of them told me that the wires could cause nerve damage, but now I believe that is what happened.
Bryan, in answer to your question about how the stimulation feels, it feels like an electric current running through your body. I believe that if my second surgery would have been successful, I would still have the stimulator today. I agree with Shoreline, though, that it is a huge leap to go from Vicoden to NS. I was on Duragesic patch and Roxicodone at the time of my surgery. I wish you luck in whatever you decide to do.
Kayley
Research all you can regarding the implant device, surgery, possible nerve damage, etc. My PM dr. had me watch a tape, showed me the unit, etc., and due to my first surgery being performed in the back of my neck, too much scar tissue had built up; therefore, the lead wires could not be inserted. So, if you've previously had surgery, make certain you ask about that. Secondly, I agree with the others; there are so many advanced techniques, specialists, meds, etc., that this may be quite a leap. Let's say for example you'd find relief from a duragesic patch, this could hold off such surgery for maybe up to a year or more. This would give you time to research and pray other options would be developed. Between my first and 2nd neck surgery, my PM dr., was all for implanting a morphine pump (I was 35), after many tests, meds, therapies of all sorts, a second opinion offered a 2 level fusion due to two ruptured discs. There I would have had an internal pump with drugs like morphine for what reason? While I still have chronic pain, its because of all the nerve, tissue and muscle damage; all which cannot be corrected via surgery. I wish you the best in researching. Let me know if I can be of help.
I don't really understand why he made this leap from 3 lortab 5 per day to Neurostimulation. I told him the Lortab was not helping the pain at all and asked about putting me on a LA pain medication or the Durgesic Patch, he said I would have to get up totaking 8 lortab a day before he would give me an RX for the Durgesic, because he said the Durgesic 25mcg was like taking 11 to 12 Lortab per day and if he started me on it now it would really make me sick, so he said with my condition of having low back pain and pain that goes into my hip and down my leg from a pinched nerve that this Neurostimulation would be something to consider, he gave me a book on it and told me when I come back in 4 weeks that I would have to decide if I want to do the trial or not. I have been having back pain since 1997 and have been on Lortab, Percocet, Fiorinal #3, Tylenol #3, Ultram amoung others and I am SO TIRED of this back pain, I just want it controled so I can go back to work and college, so if anyone can give me anymore information that would be great....
Brian
Need Info On Neurostimulation 
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