So after a few years of waiting, on 5/25/12, I went to Philadelphia and had a nerve stimulator trial implanted at the Jefferson University hospital.
They put two wires in my head, one around the occipital nerve on the back of my head, and one above my left eye. These two wires talked to one another, and the stimulation covered the entire left side of my head pretty much. (notice the lovely haircut the gave me.... that was a joy to discover when we took the head bandage off when we got home!)
I could adjust the frequency and intensity of the "shocks" as I needed to provide the best relief for my daily headaches. There were a total of 8 programs on my device, but I really only used 2 of them. The one that I kept going most of the time was a high frequency stimulation that felt a bit like a massage. If I felt a headache coming on, then I would switch programs to one that was like a gentle "thump", and it usually relieved the pain within a few minutes.
It was really quite amazing how well this thing worked, especially after trying so many other things in the past. I did have one migraine during the trial period that the stimulator didn't really help with, but since I only get those about once a month, I think I could deal with that! As far as the normal daily headaches that I deal with, the stimultor lessened the frequency of those, and allowed me to control the pain of the once that did make it through.
Unfortunately, the trial was only for 5 days.... I had it removed the next week, and the headaches returned. Now I'm just waiting for an appointment with the neurosurgeon to see when I can get the permanent one installed!
They put two wires in my head, one around the occipital nerve on the back of my head, and one above my left eye. These two wires talked to one another, and the stimulation covered the entire left side of my head pretty much. (notice the lovely haircut the gave me.... that was a joy to discover when we took the head bandage off when we got home!)
I could adjust the frequency and intensity of the "shocks" as I needed to provide the best relief for my daily headaches. There were a total of 8 programs on my device, but I really only used 2 of them. The one that I kept going most of the time was a high frequency stimulation that felt a bit like a massage. If I felt a headache coming on, then I would switch programs to one that was like a gentle "thump", and it usually relieved the pain within a few minutes.
It was really quite amazing how well this thing worked, especially after trying so many other things in the past. I did have one migraine during the trial period that the stimulator didn't really help with, but since I only get those about once a month, I think I could deal with that! As far as the normal daily headaches that I deal with, the stimultor lessened the frequency of those, and allowed me to control the pain of the once that did make it through.
Unfortunately, the trial was only for 5 days.... I had it removed the next week, and the headaches returned. Now I'm just waiting for an appointment with the neurosurgeon to see when I can get the permanent one installed!
