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Showing results for tags 'DRG Stimulation'.
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Change that from "a year" to "a couple of months." Unless you're so desperate that you can't wait until August, get the test procedure now, and if it helps you, try and gut things out until later in the summer to get the full implant - I've now heard from two independent sources (who don't know each other) that the St. Jude's DRG Stimulator implant will be FDA-approved for MRIs this summer (their Spinal Cord Stimulator already is). Maybe I'm not supposed to share this information, but quite frankly, I couldn't care less - people are in desperate need of relief. This is an informational message for chronic pain patients *only*, and may not even be correct. Please do your own research, call St. Jude's, write me if you need help, and hang in there. --- One other thing: The implants most certainly don't work for everyone (trust me on this one). By all means, get both the SCS and the DRG *tests*, but think LONG AND HARD before committing to the permanent implant - it's fairly major spinal surgery (especially the DRG implant), and surgeons (as well as the St. Jude's salesman (who now work for Abbott (*) - the very same company who peddled Oxycontin (**) as a "safe, lifetime treatment for chronic pain, with no theoretical upper limit to the dose")) are being very coy about the prospect of removing them down the road. In fact, I think both of these implants are being completely oversold to the public, both in terms of safety, efficacy, and the option for future removal. My assumption is that surgeons will conveniently say that "removing" them consists of the battery pack only, and the leads will be there to stay, with plenty of scar tissue fixing them in place for the rest of your life. I know as much about this stuff as anyone in the world who isn't a doctor or a human scientist, so you need to take me seriously about what I'm saying here. (*) Jan 4, 2017 - "Abbott Completes the Acquisition of St. Jude Medical" on abbot.mediaroom.com (***) (**) Sep 22, 2016 - "Secret Trove Reveals Bold 'Crusade' To Make Oxycontin a Blockbuster" by David Armstrong on statnews.com (***) Why do you think Abbott bought St. Jude? Could it be that they saw the writing on the wall about opioids, and now they're going to be selling you a, [cough, cough] "surgical cure" to the pills they got you addicted to? That would be like Phillip-Morris selling you spinal implants to cure you of nicotine addiction ... and would you *really* put that past them? Would you trust them if they did?
