Re: Spinal Cord stimulator

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I am sorry you had such a bad time with you implant and the
Doctors. There really are some awful people out there who do
treat patients like meat. I have been functionally disabled
since I broke my L5 in 1993, and I also suffered nerve damage
and spinal cord compression. I am in constant pain.
I have used a stimulator since 1997 and it changed my life. I
left it on 24/7. I had the new unit implanted in 2008 and it
worked well for quite some time, but now I am having more pain
and have learned of problems with corrosion of the leads, so I
am now researching this as a possibility of the problems I am
having.
As far as your statement that the trial always works, that is
catogorically NOT true. It sounds like you were poorly treated
and I feel badly for you, but you do need to make sure your
statments are true.

> On 2/18/08, Guy Bodemer wrote: I did not write this:GB
>> On 2/02/08, Carolina wrote:
>>> One day in January of 2007 I had an appointment with my
>>> doctor for injections for lower back pain and pain in my
>>> legs. I also got prescriptions for medication on these
>>> visits. I walked to the room I was sent to and there were
>>> all kinds of different displays advertising Advanced
>>> Neuromodulation Systems Inc. (ANS) Spinal cord
>>> stimulators. The doctor then proceeded to tell me how
>>> wonderful these things were. He said I would be out of
>>> most of my pain and would have a better quality of life if
>>> I had the surgery to put it in. He said I would be able
>>> to travel and visit my grandkids. I trusted this doctor
>>> more than any doctor ever. I also liked him as a person.
>>> I believed everything he said. Before I had the surgery
>>> to implant the spinal cord stimulator he said that he had
>>> to put a trial stimulator in and that it would have to be
>>> done in his office. The trial stimulator was done in
>>> February. The wires were connected to the stimulator
>>> which was on the outside. I was very excited that it
>>> worked so well. I found out later that the trial
>>> stimulator always works and that is why patients get the
>>> surgery to put the permanent one in thinking it will work
>>> like the trial one did. An appointment was made by the
>>> doctor's office for me to go to the doctors office to have
>>> the permanent one put in. I had never met the doctor who
>>> put in the permanent one. He was 6 hours late arriving
>>> for the procedure. Everytime I said I wanted to leave the
>>> nurse said "wait 15 more minutes he said he will be here"
>>> He finally showed up and said he worked with my regular
>>> doctor. Although I was very upset and in a lot of pain, I
>>> thought because he worked with my doctor and I trusted my
>>> doctor so much I would go ahead with the surger. What a
>>> mistake that was. He was rough with me when I cried and
>>> told him how bad he was hurting me he wouldn't even
>>> answer. He stapled my back and nobody stopped him. I
>>> prayed for god to let me die because the pain was so bad.
>>> All I was to this doctor was money on the table. I
>>> thought the spinal cord stimulator would work but even if
>>> i turned it on and walked across the floor it would shock
>>> me and I would have to turn it off. I could not move or
>>> do anything with it turned on. The rep from ANS wanted me
>>> to keep trying to use it. He said I had to keep trying to
>>> get used to it. He even reprogrammed it but that just
>>> made it worse. While laying down I turned it on low the
>>> way he told me to and I injured my legs doing this. My
>>> legs now shake all the time and tingle. I also have
>>> trouble with my kidneys since having the surgery. I am in
>>> the bathroom every 20 minutes. I will have to probably go
>>> out of state to find a doctor who will even be willing to
>>> look at it. I had the thing taken out and the pain that
>>> it caused me is awful. My hip still hurts and thobs all
>>> the time. I get very little sleep. I went through all of
>>> this because of greedy doctors and a greedy corporation.
>>> Nobody explained risks of this thing to me such as loss of
>>> sensation, loss of limb function, stroke, cardiac arrest
>>> or permanent damnage to other body organs even death. I
>>> found this out after I had it removed! Can anyone please
>>> respond who has had any similar experiences. Fed up with
>>> doctors in SOUTH CAROLINA