Val M*

A self-described “domestic engineer” with “2.5 kids” (a tongue-in-cheek reference to having one child in college), Valerie kept up a brisk pace before being stricken with chronic pain. Besides doing the cooking, cleaning, and laundry for her family, she took care of her garden and the lawn while squeezing in trips to the gym each week. “I had fun in everything I did,” she recalls. “Life was great.”

The beginning of her pain was anything but dramatic. Valerie (“Val” to her friends) was holding a garage sale when she started having an ache in her hip and back. In the days that followed, neither rest nor over-the-counter medication provided her with relief. She began searching for a doctor just before she and her husband were to take a vacation in Alaska to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Val postponed her search to take the trip, which turned into a pain-filled ordeal that was cut short because of her discomfort.

When Val returned home, she was diagnosed as having a spine problem that needed surgery to repair. One surgery was followed by another, and afterwards she entered a cycle in which misery was routine. “My days became a blur of pain, tears, and medication,” she says. “I took medicine that didn’t help the pain but made me just not care about it or my kids. I was in a fog.” Unable to sleep and barely able to function, Val became withdrawn and depressed as her husband began taking over family duties. At one point, she considered swallowing all her medication at once to end her suffering.

Val was less than enthusiastic upon hearing that a neurostimulator might help her. The thought of having another surgery made her cry, and she was worried about having an implanted device. Nonetheless, she agreed to use a test neurostimulator for a few days and, despite a few anxious moments, had made a decision by the end of the test. “I wanted it back,” she says. “I was sure. I couldn’t wait.”

Afterwards, Val had a neurostimulator implanted, and since then, her pain has greatly diminished. Now she uses about a quarter of the pain medication she did before, helping her to clear her head and return to being the person she once was. These days, she cooks, cleans house, mows her lawn, and recently she went hiking and camping for the first time in years.

“I have a sense of control over my pain,” she says. “My rough days are better than my best days before I had my neurostimulator. I am so looking forward to the future.”

If you are considering neurostimulation and would like to correspond with Val, email her at ValerieM@sjmneuro.com.