Re: having problems with Boston Scientific's spinal cord st

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On 2/02/11, Ursula wrote:
> On 1/17/11, D Goodin wrote:
>> I had a stimulator implanted in 2009. During the procedure,
>> they were able to get coverage in my lower back, but once I
>> was out of surgery they were unable to reproduce it. I had
>> many re-programmings done, but they were never able to get
>> it in the area I need. A year later, I went in for a
>> revision, but that was also unsuccesful. As others have
>> said, instead of covering my lower back, it causes the
>> sensation in my ribs and stomach, and makes me very nauseous.
>>
>> One other issue I have with the company is that my husband
>> is in the military, and we had the opportunity to go to
>> Hawaii for a few years. The BS rep I was working with
>> assured us, over and over, that the company had a rep here
>> that would work with me. Well, here we are in Hawaii, and
>> according to my pain management doctor, BS does NOT have any
>> reps out here. So now what do I do?

Get a Neuro Surgeon to remove it.
My son had a Boston Scientific Spinal Stimulator, this was his
2nd one, the 1st one malfunctioned & they replaced it. Last
Sunday we had been to church & after church we stopped at Taco
Bell & all of a sudden he said this thing is messing with my
breathing & started jerking like he was having a seizure, I
looked up & he was blue in his face. The machine was
malfunctioning & caused every muscle in his body to spasm,
including his diapharm which caused him not to be able to
breathe. We called Ambulance. This thing had been malfunctioning
for 4-5 days, rep came prior & even deleted all the programs,
still kept firing, the leads migrated down 4-5 disc spaces &
lodged in the nerve root, he had been to ER twice before this.
Boston Scientific kept trying to blame it on something else. Our
ER did not have a Neuro Surgeon that could remove it, we took
him to Vanderbilt in Nashville Tn. last Monday they removed it,
the surgeon said it was difficult for it had lodged, they could
not take some leads out, but they got everything else out,
paddles, battery etc.... The surgeon even was shocked and this
caused the surgery to take even longer. I forgot how many volts
it was sending but it was unbelievable. They told him he could
have all sorts of problems because of this thing, like heart
problems due to so much volts,paralysis, his left leg drags now,
etc...
Watch out if they take it out DO NOT LET THEM GIVE THE UNIT BACK
TO THE REPS, if they get it they will make up some ridiculous
story about it was lost etc... Sounds like they already know how
that thing can kill someone.
I was a Paramedic for years & I had seen alot of seizures in my
line of work, but I had never seen anybodys body do what his did
as this thing malfunctioned, he was in so much pain anything
they laid him on became wet, he sweated so bad from the pain,
his heart rate was sky high, B/P was high, this thing almost
killed him and it took 5 days before we found a DR that
would/could remove it.Also when that thing was firing every
muscle in his body, including his diaphram, was as hard as
concrete. This is just a piece of what he went through.
I am telling you this to try to prevent anyone else from having
to go thru this & to try & save a life, because if this had been
an older person I do believe they would have had a heart attack
from it & died.
So, Please stay away from the spinal/neuro stimulators, they are
very, very dangerous.
Sincerely, concerned mother