She now says she would never recommend a Medtronic device to anyone. Her experiences are very similar to what people with the Sprint Fidelis Leads have gone through.
Tanya had the device implanted in 2003 to help deal with severe nerve pain. Basically, a muscle was smothering one of her nerves, which was causing migraine-like pain. "I was getting 16 injections every couple of months, but those stopped working," Tanya says. "So my doctor recommended a Medtronic Occipital Nerve Stimulator to stimulate the muscle to reduce pressure on the nerve."The nerve stimulator is designed with two leads that run to her right and left occipital nerves and down to her shoulder blade, where a metal plate is implanted. The metal plate has connecting wires that then run from her shoulder to a battery pack, which is implanted under her arm.
Within weeks, Tanya experienced the first problem with her nerve stimulator: one of her leads broke and she had to go back in for surgery. "It is incredibly painful surgery," Tanya says. "You have to be awake for it and I could feel them pushing the lead into my head. I had that done a few times."
Tanya had five different surgeries to fix broken leads and battery problems. "It went on like that for three years," Tanya says. "It never worked properly. I was going in to doctors constantly because it wasn't working. When the leads broke, it hurt. One just sizzled and died—that one I really felt. In another case, the lead moved and quit working."
Throughout those three years, Tanya dealt not only with the pain when her leads and nerve stimulator quit working, but also with the nerve pain that the stimulator was meant to fix. She was still experiencing migraine-like pain every few weeks. To top it off, she now has pain from the surgeries she went through.
"I have constant pain in my neck where they performed surgery," Tanya says. "I also have pain where the battery was. I have a lot of pain and scar tissue on my head from all the surgeries. It was the worst experience of my life."
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Although Tanya's concerns are not about Medtronic's Sprint Fidelis Leads, Medtronic's actions in Tanya's case are similar to the company's reaction to other customers who have problems with their devices. Once again, a customer has not been told about the risks and has suffered severe pain and repeated surgeries because her Medtronic device did not work the way it was supposed to.
"It was really terrible," Tanya says.
READER COMMENTS
Ronnie Graves
on
GallbLadder. ER says know and look at my like I’m crazy.
Tomorrow I call.
Steven Eppley
on
I was convinced twice to not have this stimulator removed.
The battery site pain is extremely painful. My new pain doctor says I have a soft tissue issue causing the pain! I use several bottles of icy hot and cold weekly all over lower back and spinal column as the pain is spreading.
My pain doctor highly recommends it to be removed or replaced. I want the entire system including leads removed ASAP. However surgeon next appt isn't available until 30 April. Meantime I'll suffer daily 24-7. I expect doctor will attempt to convince me to postpone the surgery again.
Utterly ridiculous. Don't ever have a stimulator implanted
You'll regret it!!
Steven Eppley
on
No one helps me. It seems once this is implanted, it's your problem. Doctors say there is no problem (had an MRI done), the tech rep no longer calls back.
The call center is no help. I want this all taken out so I can do something else. Even though the trial worked fine, it no longer works now, it's supposed to reduce pain, not increase. The site of the surgery radiates pain 24 hours.
I definitely don't recommend having this done. No doctor will see me as I'm a high risk. As a 100-percent disabled vet,I couldn't trust the va so I had to use medicare and TRICARE FOR LIFE.
DISGUSTING doctors !!!
GARY DEAN
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jane gravelle
on
I need it taken out but i am a widow also on social security right now i am getting injections which are not working i think the medtronic is moving my back is on fire all the time io am in chronic pain all the time i live on vicodin
Carol Weiss
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Scott McKay
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surgically implanted in my lower back 1/13/2012.
I have had 3 painful surgeries 6/2012 - replace peripheral nerve leads 11/2012replace peripheral nerve leads -10/1013 remove device - to correct extreme pain caused by the
electrodes after the Medtronic Neurostimulation System leads broke. This seems to be a regular problem that Medtronic's
has always known about but I was never told of these problems.
I have had a lower back fusion in 2007 and back pain since than, so the
Medtronic Neurostimulation System seemed to be an excellent choice.
The Medtronic Neurostimulation System did work great as to relive me of my
back pain and mostly to take less pain medicines such as Percocet 10/325.
This is now a major setback I feel that now has False promises, in that
Medtronic knows of these electrodes and leads causing major problems.
I BELIEVE my problem is not just the broken leads that a recent X-Ray
showed, but the main stimulation system itself failed and now sends an out
of control shock and pain impulse that I was not told could happen.
June 27th 2013 the Medtronic Neurostimulation System broke inside me to
where it shocked me painfully and uncontrollable until I struggled to reach
my remote control to turn it off. If I was not home at this time to reach
the remote control this would have been a torturous pain that I could not
have stopped until the device was turned off.
The Medtronic Neurostimulation System will now need to be surgically removed
permanently as I never want to be in this painful situation again.
I am disabled on Medicare at age 49 since 2008 from Colon Cancer and back
problems and cannot afford to have this painful operation.
I now feel that I have been taken advantage of for there own experiment as
to how these leads break. I am extremely disappointed with Medtronic sales
representatives as they are concerned more about the device that what is actually going on with me.
This is an update as pre request:
I had my Doctor Dr. T remove the Medtronic implant 10/15/2013 Tuesday the 15th. I believe these leads where moving around in me freely as much
as 6 inches or more from where they were originally placed, X rays would
show the severe pain this movement was causing me. The pain I am in at this
time has me wondering how well the surgery went. Did the doctor cut me too
much to take out the broken wires he was removing? I should mention here
that Dr. T is not a surgeon. However, thats the least of my concerns
right now.
As I mentioned, I have had and am still having major pain and suffering from
this implant and realize that this company was just using me. I saw a
segment on Good Morning America, Monday the 14th about how it can or can
not help you. Also I feel Medtronic representatives had no concern for me
and never offered any help or solutions which was very upsetting to me.
When I was in the waiting room the 15th, the Medtronic Rep walked into the
Doctors office and I had to address him. He would have just passed me by if
I hadn't addressed him. And he KNOWS me! After that initial greeting I
never saw the rep again. I presume he was there only to collect the
mechanism, which I felt I was entitled to keep in my possession.( I asked
for the mechanism and was told that I could not have it.) When I had the
operation, did I BUY the mechanism or did I just RENT it? Considering the
mechanism cost $20,000, I think I have a right to know! The fact that the
Medtronic people showed no concern and made me feel like a worthless Guinea
Pig leaves me with a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness as to my
future and quality of life.
I still do not have the funds or know how to pay for this operation. Doctor
T and I agreed that there would be no cost to me as I told him I could
not pay anything at anytime for this. He did cancel the initial bill for
$3,500. I would like to pursue this matter because I feel very strongly
that, in addition to helping me, other people should know what this company
is doing. No one else should ever have to go through the pain and suffering
that I have. The lack of concern and the riskiness of the machinery alone,
is enough, but the insufferable pain endured is unforgivable.
New WOW update
X-ray on 1/6/2015 shows doctor FORGOT to remove 6 inch lead that is still inside me now torturously starting to protrude from my skin.
Kim
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carman kanaeholo
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85498644
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