A Medtronic Pain Management Resource

Drug Delivery System from Medtronic Provides Relief for Chronic Back Pain

The following story captures one individual's experience with a Medtronic intrathecal drug delivery system. Results vary; not every individual will receive the same results. Side effects can occur. For complete prescribing information, please refer to the Important Safety Information link below.

DICK’S STORY

“My legs felt like they were being crushed. My lower back felt like it had a knife going through it and it didn’t let up.”

Dick was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed camping with his wife, sailing, kayaking, and rock climbing. All that changed one afternoon in 1991 while working at a pet shop. As he lifted a 75-pound bag of gravel over his head to place on a high shelf, he heard four pops in his lower back. When he collapsed to the floor, others in the shop rushed to help him. When they moved Dick, vertebrae severed part of his spinal cord, his nerve roots compressed and paraplegia set in.

After an emergency decompression, discotomy, and six months of rehabilitation, Dick was in a moderate amount of pain but he was able to walk again.

“After the accident, my legs had a tendency to give out on me,” Dick explains. “And in 1992, I was going down a flight of stairs and my legs gave way. I fell down the stairs and injured the same area of my back but on the opposite side.”

He again underwent surgery to decompress nerve roots and remove bone in the spinal cord.

LIVING WITH CHRONIC PAIN

After the 1992 accident, intense chronic pain set in and Dick became depressed.

“My legs felt like they were being crushed. My lower back felt like it had a knife going through it and it didn’t let up,” says Dick.

“I couldn’t work and spent most of my time on the couch. Walking was difficult and painful. The pain negatively affected my life at home with my wife. I lost many of my friends given I could no longer participate in many physical activities we had previously done together.” Oral medications like Vicodin® were not effective and made Dick feel drowsy. He was losing all hope when his general practitioner referred him to a pain management clinic for more aggressive treatment.

LEARNING ABOUT The DRUG DELIVERY system

“At the pain management clinic, I began seeing an anesthesiologist who specialized in chronic pain. He took a stronger approach to getting my pain under control with different medications,” says Dick. “My anesthesiologist also was familiar with intrathecal drug delivery and thought it would help my pain.”

Dick’s doctor explained that the drug delivery system uses a small pump that is surgically placed under the skin to deliver pain medication directly to the intrathecal space where fluid flows near the spine. Significantly smaller doses are needed so side effects are reduced.

Dick decided to proceed with the screening test. During the screening test, he was given a test dose to see if it relieved his pain and to determine if he was a candidate for the pain pump. “I was nervous about the screening test. But it was like heaven on earth. I was relieved, I had no pain! I felt brand new. My wife was ecstatic—I wasn’t moaning and groaning!” Dick says.

Dick had the pump surgically implanted in 1999. He didn’t experience any surgical complications in 1999, or when he had the pump replaced in 2005. Surgical complications can include spinal headache, infection, anesthesia complications, or bleeding. Post-implant complications may include an inverted pump, catheter issues such as leaking, dislodgement, or kinking, or drug-related side effects. In fact, Dick’s pump did invert once some time after the first implant, but the physician was able to reposition it without surgery.

His second implant was a larger pump that only requires refilling every three months. However, Dick reports that he preferred the smaller size even though it meant more frequent refills. “The drug refills are easy.” The pump initially relieved his pain almost 100% but over time the effect diminished somewhat and he had to resume taking some oral medication, but not as much as he had to take before the pump was first implanted. “I still have some pain, but I am so much better than I was without the
pump. I have my life back again.”

BACK TO AN ACTIVE LIFE

Today, Dick is enjoying a full life. He works three part-time jobs, shops with his wife, gardens, kayaks, and enjoys working with stained glass. “My wife has totally accepted the pump. My friends ask if it hurts, but it does not. By educating my friends and those around me about the pump, they now know what to expect and what activities we can participate in together again.”

“I really believe that without intrathecal drug delivery I would be totally disabled by pain. It has made me an easier person to live with because my disposition is remarkably improved. The pump has given me the ability to do more. I would not change my mind about getting the pump if I had to do it over again.”

SERVING AS AN AMBASSADOR

“I became a Medtronic Pain Therapies Ambassador because I want to let people with chronic pain know that they do not have to suffer from chronic pain, and that there is a very good way to control it. The number one benefit to patients speaking to an Ambassador for information is that they get to speak with a real person who is living with chronic pain and using one of Medtronic’s Pain Therapies. We can tell the person what it was like during the trial, once the pump was implanted (post-op), and what it’s like living an ordinary day, with our pain under control. I received many sincere ‘thank you’ messages from everyone I have talked to through the Ambassador program. I’m honored to be a part of helping patients have a clear understanding of what life can be like with their pain under control. My overall opinion of this program is a very positive ‘great idea.’ I will continue to do my best in helping people in chronic pain in any way that I can.”

Vicodin® is a registered trademark of Knoll Pharmaceutical Company Corporation.