Loretta's Story*

Loretta never liked the idea of taking narcotics. They made her drowsy, and worse than that, they could create problems for her because of a pre-existing medical condition. Consequently, she was glad when her doctor told her that neurostimulation was a non-drug therapy that might ease her pain.

“It sounded like the answer I wanted,” she says. “I didn’t want to be dragging around all day.” Loretta tried a temporary stimulator then had a permanent one implanted. After recovering from the implant procedure, she found that her stimulator replaced much of her back and leg pain with a more tolerable sensation. “I find it very soothing and comfortable, like a low-level vibration,” she says.

The stimulation had other effects as well. Since it eased her pain, Loretta could walk for longer periods and needed less rest before and after doing so. As a result, she could shop all day, cook dinners from scratch, and exercise with her dog without the intense discomfort she was used to. She did not have to move items from the second floor of her house to the first floor, something she seriously considered doing because of the pain she experienced while climbing stairs.

Loretta says her neurostimulator has changed her quality of life, and she says she is surprised that many people, even doctors, still have not heard of neurostimulation. “I’m extremely impressed by it,” she says of the therapy. “It’s opened up so many activities for me. Many days, it makes the difference between whether I walk or don’t walk.”

Another thing Loretta likes about her neurostimulator is that it lets her fine-tune her therapy throughout the day. “Pain is seldom at the same level during morning, noon, and night. The neurostimulator gives me control of that by being able to adjust the level of stimulation,” she says. “That’s not true with medications.”

*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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