After three lumbar fusions, a laminectomy and six rounds of corticosteroidal injections, I am at the point where my diagnosis is "Failed Back Syndrome."
My pain specialist wants to try one more round of injections, and if that doesn't help with the severe lower back, right hip and right leg pain, he says I am an "ideal" candidate for a pain stimulator implant -- this one the Abbott Labs Burst DR Spinal Cord Stimulator. Abbott's version comes with a battery that lasts up to 10 years and requires no recharging.
Just googling around on the subject of stimulators, the things certainly seem to come with risks, helping some as promised and injuring others.
Anyone out here on AR with first-hand experience with these devices?

As a C3-C4 fusion patient (1973) I have a bit of understanding of spinal pain. Thankfully, I am pain and complication free ever since. But your situation sounds light years beyond what I dealt with.

The only experience I have of the devices is a business partner's son is a surgical rep for Abbott's device. The stories he tells are compelling and would give anyone hope for a pain free life. The surgery is pretty involved obviously, but seems folks report immediate relief.

Hope you can find a solution that works for you. Living with chronic pain SUCKS!

Take care and God bless!

I truly hope you find relief Bill, back pain is debilitating and utterly awful to live with.

I have a radiculopathy in my neck, C5/6 i think. Neuro surgeon recommended taking the crushed disk out and fixing the vertebrae together as the pain in my arm was making life difficult.

I also knackered a joint in my lower back & lived with increasing pain from that for almost 30 years. Steroid injections didn't work so they did something which involved killing the nerves in the joint and it was like a bloody miracle. No lower back pain since.

Not quite first hand...

My patient’s experiences have been “positive” in that they report improvement.

However, none of them has had the level of improvement that the company claims.

The best one said maybe doubling the good days and pain was about half as bad. She got rid of a couple meds and reduced usage on others, but also found CBD products at that point and isn’t sure which is the bigger deal.

The rest have not regretted them, but really hasn’t changed their day to day activity level or gotten them off of pain meds.

Bill,
I will add you to our prayer list. May God bless you with relief in some form or fashion.

Bill, I've had this one for four years and it helps...some
https://www.bostonscientific.c...ecision_spectra.html

Before you do it, ask these questions:
1. Can it be reprogrammed if necessary.

2. Can it go through an MRI without exploding?

3. Where is my nearest company rep?

Understand that you have to recharge the back (internal) battery and the remote control battery about once a week.

Remember, it scrambles nerve signals so don't plan on driving while it's active.

If I had to do it over again, I'd have real second thoughts.

Gentlemen, thanks for the replies.
I have been to the rodeo a time or two and am keeping a tight rein on my hopes for relief.
Joe, Abbott claims their unit is not only MRI safe but has a battery that runs up to 10 years without recharging. I have a lot of homework to do.

I surely and sincerely hope it works well for you.

Bill, I didn't read the no recharge part...too eager to reply, I guess.
Does it have an external remote control, or does it just run all the time?

My coworker had 2 of them, the second one failed, He was told he had no recourse visa vie law suit. Now he has a pain/drug pump instead.

I'll find out what machines he had.

I have 3 joints fused together.

At any given time I have some discomfort, sometimes it does get very painful.

I was told I need an operation, which I have refused.

I hate doctors, and unless it is absolutely necessary, I will stay away from them.

It gets so bad some days I cannot put my trousers on, or move my neck.

My doctor says the only thing stopping me from being disabled to some extent is my never stopping.

I am always doing something, and seem to go on and on.

Last week we went on a boat, with all sorts of activities.

By lunch time I was the only one out!

Everyone was cooling down in an air conditioned room!

I was the oldest at 70.

The rest are non over 50, and most were 18-19!!

Bloody lazy lot if you ask me!

I remember those days, couldn't even put my shoes and socks on some times...or get in/out of my cars...

I have known 4 or 5 people with them from what I have seen of their actions.

I wouldn't except as the very last resort.

Saeed, I may be retired but I have a part-time job at our county shooting range, stay reasonably active -- enough to have a lot of 10,000-step days on the Fitbit. Will try a four-mile hike at 9,000 feet this morning. Nothing special, but I tend to keep moving, too.

Keep on moving, Bill.

I had a complete lumbar fusion a year and a half ago. While it fixed some problems it made others. Steroid injections have not helped those either so I deal with the pain night and day. I too refuse to give up and keep active all day. Getting up in the morning is the worst for me. Lying down seems to cause significant issues. I can barely walk when I get up but things improve as the day wears on.

Last night I heard one of my dogs making a fit in one of the barns so I knew he had a predator trapped in there. I had to get up and get the rifle and a spot light. Barn is uphill from the house and each step was misery but I killed the offending critter despite the slow walk up there. Prior to the fusion I could not have done that.

Best wishes with the device. It might work real well for you. That you won't know unless you have it installed. Keep us informed.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

I hate doctors, and unless it is absolutely necessary, I will stay away from them.

Wise move. In the US alone over 250,000 people a year are killed by medical errors. This according to a recent study by John's Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD. 100,000 or more a year are killed by hospital acquired infections (CDC). Adverse drug events seriously injure 2 million and kill 100,000 a year (CDC). So about a half million Americans a year are killed by medical screw-ups. Stay out of hospitals and doctor's offices at all costs unless absolutely necessary to maintain proper health monitoring. Makes you wonder how many Covid-19 hospitalized patients are killed by the virus or from the staff?

Ann, so sorry to hear you are on the same road as I am. I did the hike today near the little Sacramento Mountain town of Cloudcroft, NM, and every step hurt, but it beat sitting home with a similar pain level.

Sorry, you're in pain Bill (+Ann). My wife has major back pain issues + I have had to take her to the "pain management" centers for a few years now. Before the Doctors could just prescribe a pain med. Not anymore, the Government has got involved. I could go on + on but those of us that already know don't want to hear it anymore. I have a friend who needs to go to them for his monthly hydrocodone for his back. He says the irony is that before retiring he worked 25 years for the highway dept. + they piss tested him every month to prove he was not taking drugs. Now they piss test him every month to prove that he is.

Looking a little deeper, Saluda's new closed-loop system may be the way to go, if I can find a surgeon/provider between El Paso, Phoenix and Albuquerque.

https://www.thelancet.com/jour...(19)30414-4/fulltext

Good luck, Bill! I hope you find a good surgeon. I'm still trying to unwind here this morning so I can go look at a herd of sheep an hour away.

Bill,

I've had one of these spinal chord stimulators for about 12 years now. I live in continuous pain from injuries I sustained in the military.

The first one's battery died about 5 years in and I had to have it replaced. During the replacement, I got an infection and 4 surgeries over 6 weeks later, had it completely removed in order to kill the infection that the docs just couldn't wipe out

I had a new one, read new model, installed about 6 months later once the infection was wiped out. This new model does a much better job than the first.

They were both programable but with this new one, it has a setting where several pulses are emitted at the same time, all at different frequencies, different cycle rates, and different power levels, with the combination of all that varying constantly.

I would say the first one gave about 30% pain relief while this new one does a much better job. Maybe 60 to 70% relief.

Overall, I'd say if you are living with pain on a daily basis, yes, have it implanted. For me, it allowed me to greatly reduce the pain med requirements I needed for a somewhat normal activity level.

Todd, thank you for sharing your first-hand experience. Very sorry to hear about your injuries, and about that infection they couldn't trace, and glad you got it sorted out. I'm still thinking ...

I have a friend, ex-Secret Service, who has an implant. He says it makes life worth living. I notice him crank it up once in a while when the pain spikes. He still bowls with us some, with difficulty. I'm sure he would recommend having it.