Experience with a Spinal Cord Stimulator?

May 15, 2008 10:21 AM

Anyone with experience with a Spinal Cord Stimulator?

After a lumbar laminectomy last September, as I detailed in an AskMe comment here, and due to subsequent chronic pain have just started a trial of a spinal cord stimulator. I'm finding it very hard to get used to both the feeling of the stimulation (though it's better than pain) and the idea of having an electronic device implanted in my body.

Does anyone in AskMeLand have experience with this, and if so, could you tell me if it worked for you, and whether you thought it was worth going through to get rid of your pain? If not, were you able to find something else that worked (and if so, obviously, what was it)?

posted by cerebus19 to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

While I have no experience with a spinal cord stimulator, I do have plenty of experience with unbearable back and leg pain.

I'm 24 and herniated L5-S1 shoveling asphalt for a summer when I was 20. For a year I was unable to stand or walk withouth taking vicodin or oxy, and even then I would walk hunched over like an old man. I also had shooting pains down my left leg and random muscle spasms in my calf and thigh. Having no insurance at the time, I was pretty limited with treatment options, and when I did finally get insurance, I tried this treatment called Vax-D. Many people who I've told about it think its traction, but it really isn't... Read about it here.

Anyway, after completing my treatment, I now walk upright, pain free. I have minor irritations of the nerve from time to time, but if I stretch my legs and back those go away.

I highly recommend looking into it. I know a lot of the people there were doing it after having back surgery that didn't completely alleviate their pain.
posted by hummercash at 10:41 AM on May 15, 2008

and the idea of having an electronic device implanted in my body.

I don't have a spinal cord stimulator, but I do have a cochlear implant. It's a bit of an odd thought, but I really like the results I've seen (and I'm a massive geek, so I like being able to call myself a cyborg). Can I ask what specifically you find unsettling about it?
posted by spaceman_spiff at 12:18 PM on May 15, 2008

This won't answer your question, and obviously I don't know all the details of your situation, but I just wanted to tell you that I had a discectomy for a rupture at L5-S1, was in miserable pain for two whole years afterward, and am absolutely fine today. I went through every conceivable kind of therapy for those two years, then in a fit of pique stopped going to physical therapy and stopped doing my exercises. Two weeks later I was much, much better and continued to improve after that (I'm back to getting normal exercise now). I think the obvious interpretation was that all that therapy was irritating the tissues. So if you only had your surgery in September, it's possible that you could still get better without an additional invasive procedure.
posted by HotToddy at 1:00 PM on May 15, 2008

My dad is supposed to get one for his RSD---maybe within a week or two. I'll follow up here when he does if you're interested. Or email me.
posted by hulahulagirl at 4:09 PM on May 15, 2008

About 12 years ago I had a friend, a man about age 70 in good health, who had a spinal cord stimulator installed for chronic severe back pain. It was total magic and made him great for about a week. Then things went terribly awry and he ended up having it removed. I didn't know him well enough to know what really went wrong, but my impression was that he was not instructed in how to use the device properly. In particular he had control over a setting for the strength of the stimulation and he'd run it at full power since it was implanted and that caused his problems.

My conclusion? Magic technology that can help, but make for damn sure your doctor explains exactly how to use it properly.
posted by Nelson at 4:10 PM on May 15, 2008

Response by poster: Can I ask what specifically you find unsettling about it?

I can't really express it. I'm a geek, too, so I thought I'd be OK with the cyborg aspect of it. But it just feels wrong so far, and I'm not sure why.

I'm going to refer your contact info to a friend...who actually WORKS in the field

Thanks, hal_c_on! That sounds really good.
posted by cerebus19 at 5:22 PM on May 15, 2008