Can any Advise Re: Spinal Cord Stimulator for Pelvic/Abdominal Pain?
From: Michelle (mooshell6@hotmail.com)
Wed May 22 13:40:45 2002
My pain clinic doc wants to do a trial of a spinal cord stimulator in an
effort to treat my chronic pelvic/abdominal pain.
He first suggested in a discussion with my husband and myself close to 1
year ago. He said that although it is frequently used for pain in the
back & extremeties, it is more uncommon and an "off-label" use when used
for pelvic/abdominal pain. He said that there were only three doctors
that he would trust to do this- one in CA, one in TX and the third in TN
(I still have the paper that he wrote them down on). When we asked him
why he couldn't do it, his reply was something like, "I could do it -
but you wouldn't want me to!" We were to pick one of the three docs and
let him know & he would contact that doc & set up an appointment.
Well, I guess he forgot he said that because when I called to let him
know who we selected, he said, "Oh, you don't have to do that - I'll do
the surgery". Of course the alarm bells were clanging and the red flags
were waving when he said that. When I politely pointed out that he had
just told us not to trust him to do the surgery (not in those words of
course) he just blew me off and insisted that I proceed & schedule the
surgery with him.
Thats when I decided to go another route and sought out the PA Docs for
lysis of adhesions. Unfortunately, that surgery only provided temporary
relief and now that the pain is back he is really pressuring me to allow
him to proceed with this implant.
Quite frankly, I am afraid. I am afraid that having something like this
implanted into my body will only create more adhesions and more
problems. I'm not so sure I want this at all, but if I did decide to do
it, I would be afraid to allow him to perform the procedure.
I was wondering if anyone here has undergone this procedure and could
share their experience - good or bad. Any opinions, comments or support
would also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for listening.
--
Michelle