I have tried all settings available but did not get the result I was hoping for. Today is Friday and I did not want to wear this thing through the weekend, so I went to my Doctor’s office and they took it out.
I was intentionally sleeping on my side every night, which was something I wanted to be able to do. I did not experience any pain relief. On some nights, I was actually thinking I was worse. I would wake up in the middle of the night with significant pain, which usually doesn’t happen.
I went all the way to 32 on the top lead with no improvement. Increasing the bottom lead resulted in significant “tingling,” which is usually the word used. But it’s not really tingling. It’s more like muscle twitching, like when a muscle just starts twitching on its own without voluntary control.
I did walk once for 30 minutes. I couldn’t really power walk, though, because of the device attached to me. Sometimes power walking can increase pain. I didn’t feel any increased pain from the walk, which got my hopes up for a while.
In the first couple of days, I was feeling pretty well during the daytime, so I thought initially maybe it was helping. But I started feeling more pain during the day, and one morning after a bad night, I was especially sore. The device didn’t succeed in reducing pain that morning, so I knew it was over at that point.
I also wore tight underwear during the day in this trial, which is something I haven’t done in years. Did enjoy a return to that for a while, but there just wasn’t enough pain relief to continue it.
Compared to the SCS trial I had last year, this DRG trial was more difficult. For example, the implant procedure was more painful, pulling the leads out today was more painful, and my hips experienced more soreness. Could be that I’m a year older. But the doctor definitely had more difficulty inserting the leads this time. One lead was inserted higher on the spine than the other. Last year, they were inserted in the same spot.
I was certain that the SCS trial resulted in 0% pain relief. The DRG stimulator may have reduced some soreness during the day time, but it wasn’t at the level where I was willing to move forward.
While this trial didn’t work for me, I hope this thread is informative for other men on this forum looking for an answer. If you think the DRG stimulator is something that you want to try, I would definitely recommend the trial, especially if your insurance covers it. It could work for you. And the control app is now compatible with iPhone.