Stimulation: Trial vs. Surgery

[DanaG]

I was just curious for those who've had the surgery and have seen success with it - did the stimualtion work in the same place for both the test and the surgery? It made me think when Dede said that she felt it in the rectum during the trial and the vagina during the surgery. I have the opposite situation. Just wondering if putting the lead near the same nerve in surgery as the the trial can give you success when the stimuation is felt in different places.

Also, I THINK I may have had some success last night (my biggest problem is getting up every 1-2 hours). It was hard to tell b/c I still woke up all night, but I think I got up at 2AM and didn't get out of bed again until 6AM, but I'm not sure. Tonight I'm going to keep a log all night so I know for sure. Keeping my fingers crossed :-)

Thanks.

Dana

[Carolyn B]

Hi Dana, I can relate to the nights. I still wake up alot.I think my body likes to get up in the night and walk around. I do keep a log every day, where the stimulation is how strong, how many trips to the bathroom. how much urgency etc.This really helps the doctor and my rep. with adjustments. Carolyn B

[Ruth N]

You have 4 electrodes on the implant wire. Depending which one is on you will feel the stimulation in a different place. Until you have tried all 4 electrodes you really can't assume the wire is not in the same place as with the trial. Also, in my case I got some improvement with each of 3 electrodes and worsening of symptoms with the 4th electrode. Ultimately keeping all three of the electrodes that each gave some improvement alone on together has given me the best results-better than my test stim-but it took many adjustments and patience to see what each switch would do. Not everyone needs more than one electrode on,but some do. Supposedly the battery will wear out sooner with more electrodes on but not by much. If I need to replace battery after 6 years instead of 7 that is fine with me, small price to pay for the added relief. Hang in there.

[DebbieB]

Hi Dana:
I had the stimulation in both area with the InterStim and the trial....
I can go the whole night IF I don't drink to much, but I also wake up, I really think it is a form of habit more then anything!!!
I will have my InterStim Implant for two year this coming April, my bionic twin Ruth will also ...
We have come along ways and believe me Dana it will get better in time !!!
I will also be one of the ones going back to get my battery change and I am fine with that idea, it has been such blessing to have the InterStim Implant and that is so true Ruth ," a small price to pay for sure"!!!

Take care Dana and my finger are crossed for you tonight too..

Hugs Debbie

[Teri]

Dana~My trial and surgery were 2 completely different feelings.....I think the reason that you still wake up at night might just be because we get so used to doing it. I know for me it took a long time to break the habit of peeing before I left the house. Or, even peeing before I went to bed. I still get up once a night on most nights but I drink tons of liquids and think that's pretty normal. We have a whole lot of old habits to break once we aren't needing a bathroom every 20 minutes

tons of hugs teri

[soccergirl]

hi,

I had 6 interstim trials (the wire kept moving). I felt relief from three of them and those three were all on S4. I had the permanent implant and the uro put it on S3. It did not work and I had it removed. I could of had a revision and had it moved to S4 but decided against it. The uro did not tell me he put it on a different nerve than my good trials. When the stim felt so much different I got my records and x-ray reports and found out myself.

When the wire was on S4, I felt the stim. in my rectum. When I had the permanent implant on S3, I felt it in my vaginal area.

Lisa