My mood is better, and I’m able to walk more now.” At four weeks after the surgery, her pain isn’t 100% gone, though she says follow-up adjustments using the remote control have helped optimize the level of relief. “You’ve heard of 5-star hotels-well, Duke is like a 5-star hospital! The staff were always there, I never felt rushed, and their follow-up is excellent.”Īfter 12 years of struggling to control chronic pain, Weddle says, “This is a whole lot better than any other treatment-this is the best thing I’ve been on. It’s miraculous-I would recommend it to anybody.”Įven the hospital stay itself exceeded expectations, Lemaster adds.
LIVING WITH A SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR FULL
I had my first full night of sleep in forever. Because HF10 therapy uses a higher frequency current than other spinal cord stimulation systems, it can be a more effective treatment for some patients, especially those who have tried other treatments without success. That helped me decide to do it.”īut more importantly, it works. “I like to go a lot, and with this one you can drive with it on. “I thought about trying spinal cord stimulation before, but I decided not to because you couldn’t drive with the older ones,” says Weddle. For example, it can be left on during sleep and while driving, and it doesn’t cause the tingling or buzzing sensation known as paresthesias. HF10 therapy has several advantages over other spinal cord stimulation therapies. The device can be adjusted or turned off via a remote control. The surgeon places electrical leads at the specific nerves that are causing the patient’s chronic pain and implants a separate battery pack to provide electrical current. Nevro’s HF10 therapy is a device implanted near the spine that delivers high-frequency electrical signals to quiet nerves that contribute to chronic pain. ‘Exceptional’ relief, without side effects He endured chronic pain forĮight years before the implant. Nandan Lad-making them the first two patients to receive Nevro paddle HF10 devices in North Carolina.ĭavid Lemaster, one of the first two patients to receive Nevro That was the day both Weddle and Lemaster were implanted with Nevro HF10 therapy under the care of Dr. Then one Tuesday in March, those two lives changed forever. “I went through all kinds of procedures-acupuncture, drugs, biofeedback, steroid injections, shocks to deaden the nerves-and nothing helped.” “I had pain whenever my body decided to have pain, and I had no control over it,” says Lemaster. The infection led to arachnoiditis, a type of chronic pain caused by inflammation of a membrane around the spinal cord. After taking a fall at age 60, he contracted a blood infection during surgery to fix damaged discs. “I constantly took pain pills.”ĭavid Lemaster, 68, was in a similar boat. “I had to sit down to make toast,” Weddle recalls. By the time she turned 40, the pain was so bad that she had to quit work.Įventually, she was unable to walk or stand for more than a few minutes. Chronic pain plagued her throughout six surgeries to address her degenerative disc disease. For Sandra Weddle, now 47, the trouble started when she was in her early 30s.
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