Lisa's Story*

Lisa remembers one of the lowest points in her struggle with chronic pain. After a long day of meetings during a business trip in Washington, D.C., she found herself in her hotel room with her leg hurting terribly. “I thought, ‘this is so bad that I can’t take it anymore. I don’t want to live like this.’” Her pain was so intense that she considered calling someone to help her get up. It was a humiliating thought for this accomplished woman, who only hours earlier had been interacting with colleagues and Congressional staffers.

Lisa’s pain had its roots in a series of knee surgeries that took place years before. After one of these surgeries, she started having burning and pounding sensations in her leg that sometimes felt like an electric current. For nearly two years, she lived with this pain, which did not respond well to medications or other pain treatments she received. “It was a nightmare,” she says.

Amazingly, Lisa maintained her duties at Colorado State University, where she directed programs aimed at student health and welfare. Apart from traveling to Washington D.C. to encourage funding for projects, she kept up a fevered schedule that included teaching classes and pursuing an advanced degree. Throughout this period she fought the effects of her pain medication, which made her feel sluggish, unable to concentrate, and emotionally detached. “It was like seeing the world through a tunnel,” she recalls.

By the time her doctor suggested she try neurostimulation, Lisa was more than ready. She underwent a procedure so she could experience stimulation for a few days and says it quickly convinced her to have a neurostimulator implanted. “I thought it was fabulous. I could really tell how effective it was. I was gung-ho for the surgery.”

Now with a neurostimulator for over five years, Lisa says that most of her pain is under control, although she has bad days now and then. She takes less medication and no longer uses crutches, which makes it much easier for her to walk her dog or do the backpacking and whitewater rafting she enjoys. To her, the hardest part of her ordeal was not knowing at first that there was specialized care for pain. But after she found such care, the decision to get a stimulator was a “no-brainer.” That decision came from a woman who will soon be receiving her PhD.

*The above testimonial is the experience of this individual only. It is an individual result and we do not claim that it is representative of the experience that all or most patients achieve and is not indicative of future performance or success.

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