I wish you all the best with this experience. Since you did not share your "pain journey" I am not sure what the source of your pain is, or where it is located. I have been on the journey for 14 years now and have pretty much tried it all from the heavy duty meds to the TENS unit, so I consider myself an expert. My pain is from a rare tumor in my spinal cord which was (Thank God) benign and removed 14 years ago. However, the pain never went away and the neurosurgeon kept doing surgery after surgery (fusions, cages which collapsed, etc.) to no avail, relief-wise. After some pretty frustrating and terrible experiences to obtain ANY relief, I was finally fortunate enough to have a morphine pump inserted into my spinal cord, with a FRACTION of the medication I was taking, pumping meds directly into the source of pain consistently throughout the day and night. That was five years ago and today I take a minimum amount of oral meds. If I was you, and again, I'm not sure what the source or location or degree of pain is for you, if you have NOT tried a TENS unit yet, do that before you attempt any implantation device. You may already know all of this, and forgive me if you are beyond this stage already, but the TENS unit is a device that you wear on your body and it has lead wires which cause an electrical current to be transmitted throughout your location of pain---to me, it was actually just a different kind of nuisance--almost an irritation to take your mind off the pain. I'm afraid to say that it did not help me AT ALL( and back then you had to pay out of pocket for it---$800.00!!) I currently go to a female anesthesiologist who implants quite a number of stimulators, as well as pain pumps. I'm not sure what the protocol is for stimulator implantation, but prior to having a morphine pump (and I use the word "morphine" loosely---they can put all kinds of drugs in there, as well) it is now encouraged for the patient to see a psychiatrist first and then you go through a "trial" with the pump, generally a one or two day stay in the hospital to see how it does for you. After it is put in it takes a number of office visits to regulate what meds and dosages are good for that person. I wish you well and I pray that the stimulator does the job for you---I will tell you that for most of the population that I see it does NOT provide a level of relief that the narcotics do. That's just being honest and you asked for honesty. I'm sure your physician will do a "trial" with the stimulator to see if it is what you need. I would still encourage you to try the TENS if you have not, as that's exactly what it will feel like, only internally instead of externally. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU !! I hope you hear from people whose experiences have been great.

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Ron DiLauro, Spine-Health Administrator 01/28/10