Dorsal Root Ganglion Implany

[Rocky68]

I had my DRG implant on January 26. Surgery lasted about two hours. I was sent home with leads turned on that afternoon. Please see previous posts concerning my condition.

It took about four days (and hydrocodone) to get thru pain associated with four inch incision located on upper left portion of buttock.

The implant is the Proclaim Stimulator and is very easy to operate to adjust lead strength. All is done wireless with remote similar to Apple 4 Phone

I have experienced great relief in spasms running from under rectum to vagina in the perennial area. These spasms are basically gone

I still have rectal pressure but not as intense and I have low back pain when I stand any length of time.

I also continue to have low buttock spasms.

My main concern is the representative with St Jude. My Rep did not program leads so she did not know which lead is for S1 (back) or S3 (Pudental). I was having intense tightness in upper buttocks and lowered lead strength which caused them to go away. I am returning to Dr Tuesday and a Rep will be there. I will discuss my concerns with Dr and Rep. Dr did internal dissolvable stitches and exterior glue.

I am happy with results thus far and hopefully will see further improvements over next couple of months. Will keep updating post. Rocky68

[Longhaul79]

Great news. Will follow with interest.

[Cheryl37]

I am considering drg implant. Thanks for your post. It gives me hope.

[Shelall]

So glad to hear from you with positive news. I will keep watching for updates from you. I am doing okay.Perineal pain is about 50% better. Sitting is still the biggest challenge. I still have low back and SI joint pain. This stimulator does not have any thing to do with that pain. I also have had issues with Rep. I had one reprogramming two weeks after implant and did not have any response from Rep until a week ago. I now have a new Rep, Hopefully this week I will get some support after almost two months. The Dr. had me turn device down to where I can barely feel it and that has helped. I have heard that keeping the stimulation low is better. I have 4 programs in my remote. Two of them are working fairly well for me.

Keep me posted and glad to hear you are past the hard part and on to feeling better!

[Rocky68 in reply to Shelall]

So glad you wrote. I have big problem with Reps. I had one program me in hospital while legs were being compressed. My remote showed I had leads at ankle and feet. I then received phone call five days later from another Rep who is currently on vacation.

Returned to Dr this week and met third Rep. she tripled settings. It has truly helped spasms by 80% but my butt is so sore that I think leads may be turned up too high. The spasm relief is great but like you I still have low back pain which I thought going in at S1 level would help. Once I heal I am going back to wearing spanx brief which covers sacral area. That helped with backpain before surgery. Whereas I don't have spasms I have tightness in upper thighs which may also indicate leads are set too high. I don't want just phone calls from Reps but am willing to meet with them wherever to get to right settings. I'm still happy I had it done but they need to tweak settings. Stay in touch. Rocky 68