Hi all, I'm new here as far as posting. Been reading the forum for maybe a month. My wife and I both have had the spinal cord stim implants during this last year. Mine is a WC issue and I've had all the same problems as most. My employer was paying my WC bills and stuff right up until my pain doc said he thought I should think about trying a spinal cord stim. All payments stopped and I've been fighting ever since. Wages have been cut, and now they put me off work saying they had no jobs with in my restrictions. Being union I'm getting disablity pay but a months check that way is less then one weeks pay before the injury.
But I better get to my question now or this may look more like a novel the a question. I'm about 8 weeks out after my implant and doing pretty good. It helps me be able to walk more without as much pain and I'm not taking as much pain meds. Can anybody tell me if they think time will make it better or if it's more or less the best I'm going to get. I know everybody is differant but just wanted some idea what other have seen with one of these. My doctor has not talked about what my permanent resrtiction maybe so I don't know what he may be think of in terms of time to see how well it may get. I can say from what I feel right now most will not change too much. Just being able to walk alittle more without as much pain, and being able to reduce the amount of meds I'm taking is a very good thing but I'm thinking work is not going to like that at all. So I just wondering if anybody that has had this done has seen improvement over time or if the most comes right after the surgery. Hopesome body can understand me.
Welcome Manly!! I haven't had the Implant done,I'm Ineligible due to Severe Scar Tissue Issues, but there a Few on Here that have had the Implant done Lately, and I'm Sure Someone will be along Soon to Help! Again Welcome, and Have a Great Day!!
My implant has helped 90% with my nerve pain in my legs and has knocked down the pain level in my back. I know that medtronics only says that this will help with the lower back but not completely. And I understand it takes a good deal of time for this to heal. My work has said I can't return until I'm 100%, which I know will not happen. And I know they will change that somewhere down the road. I'm just wondering from a real person that has had this done if they have seen things improve over time. And I mean anytime from a month to years after surgey. I just wonder how I might feel down the road. Employment will work out in one way or another, I just want to get better over time. It sucks to not be able to do most of the things you use to be able to. I know it seems like most people with WC injuries spend more time fighting with the company then anybody should have to.
Manley,
There are some on here that have the implant. Hopefully they will see your thread and respond. You can also do a search on this forum for SCS implants and some threads should show up from AQA as well as others. Good luck and welcome to the forum.
Manley I am 7 weeks SCS post op. I am back to work as of last monday. I will and can tell you that my first week back to work was hell. I work in Retail I am on my feet 10 hours a day and between 50 to 60 hrs a week. I meet with a SCS rep last Friday and had her tweak it so I would have more stim in my feet since I am on them all day. The SCS covers my pain about 90 to 95 percent when I am at home. When I hit the concrete at work every day I last about 2 to 3 hours before I am miserable. I do not know what brand you have or how high you are turning yours up. I turn mine up to about 5.50 and boy can I feel it. It makes me stand straight then LOL but I am still miserable on my feet. It is all concrete that causes me issues with it.
Good Luck with your and let us know how it works maybe we can learn from each other.
I had a SCS implant in Dec. of last year. I understand what you mean about being able to walk more and taking less pain meds.. The SCS is not a fix all cure. My nerve damage is to the lower back, left leg, left foot and loss of strength to the calf muscel. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. There are others here that also have a SCS. They will be along soon.
I had mine implanted 6 months ago. I have had some of the same response as the others have mentioed...most of my leg pain is gone but my lower back is not getting much help with it. I would guess that after 3 months, I was at my best and things really did not change much more. But, it did allow me to start P/T, which in turn made my ROM better, and due to that, less pain.
If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks for the help. I understood it was not a fix as much as its just like a helping hand. I was just wondering if anybody has seen more improvment over time. Like 6months to a year or two after. I've tried to read most of the posts on here but just didn't see anybody talking about that. Like I said my wife and I both now have one. She is about 4 months out on hers and doing pretty good. She has allot more problems then this will help with, but what it is suppose to help with its doing good.
I'm not complaining on how well mines working because I would do this again if I had to because it has helped, I just wanted to know if it could get better. We are still working with medtronics to tweak the programs around. I'm the kind of guy that wishes I had their training manual so I could understand more about what they can do with the programmer they have.
I have not had any changes since it was inplanted. Do you have control over the pulse and the bandwith???? If not you would want that feature. After my incision site healed and the skin had scard around the generator. That was it as far as it getting any better. The only thing you can do is what you are doing, having the rep. change the programs until it is where it does its best.
Take Care
I have control on the rate and bandwith on the main program. I do have it set up with three differant programs. I can only change rate and bandwith on program one. Not sure if they also change it on two and three. The local rep is really good at taking the time to help out as much as possible. Mine does help with the lower back just not as much as I wish it did. But then they didn't say it would help with the lower back as well as the legs so I can't say to much. Like I said live is better with it. Wish I was done with the WC stuff. Have a hearing next month to get my back pay since they cut my wages after saying it was not work related. My pain doctor did a slam dunk in his depo about what he see's and why the IME doc is full of it. But I know work is fighting this hard. I've been followed three or four differant times and made sure they knew I saw them each time. Wish they would submit those reports because it would show I'm hurting and not doing anything I shouldn't. But then they would have paid good money to prove my case!! Would be funny.