If successful, spinal cord stimulation can help you manage your chronic pain and improve your ability to participate in your usual daily activities.^1,2 Talk with your doctor about activities that may be easier with spinal cord stimulation. Many people experience improvements in their pain symptoms and quality of life after receiving Medtronic spinal cord stimulation.

• Life with a Neurostimulator
• Doctor Visits
• Realistic Expectations
• Understanding Your Programmer Alerts
• Removing the Neurostimulator

Life with a Neurostimulator

After the initial healing period, neurostimulation therapy for pain relief will become a routine part of your day.

The neurostimulator:

• Does not usually show through your clothes
• May be felt as a bump under your skin
• Can be adjusted using hand-held programmers (similar to a cell phone or pager)

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Doctor Visits

A typical follow-up schedule is once every 6 months, although initially the neurostimulation system may require more frequent adjustments. Your doctor may want to see you more or less frequently, depending on your pain treatment plan.

Between visits, you should call your doctor if:

• You experience additional/unusual pain
• You notice unusual changes in the quality of your stimulation or you experience no sensation when the neurostimulation system is turned on
• You are increasing stimulation more often than normal
• The stimulation pattern changes unexpectedly

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Realistic Expectations

Realistic expectations are key to satisfaction with any pain treatment. It is important to remember that your neurostimulator will not eliminate the source of your pain or cure any underlying disease, but can help relieve your pain.

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Understanding Your Programmer Alerts

Your MyStim™ patient programmer not only allows you to adjust your stimulation settings, but also alerts you when action must be taken with your programmer or neurostimulation system. Warning screens indicate a problem with the patient programmer, the antenna, or the neurostimulator. If the audio is turned on, three tones alert you to the message.

Following are some of the warning screens you may encounter and the actions you should take.

	Programmer Batteries Are Low Replace the programmer batteries before they become depleted.
	Replace Programmer Batteries Replace the programmer batteries now.
	Poor Communication Reposition the programmer over the neurostimulator with the screen facing outward and try again. If using a detachable antenna, check to make sure the antenna is connected properly, reposition the antenna, and try again.
	Nonrechargeable Implanted Neurostimulator Battery Level Is Low Call your clinician. The implanted nonrechargeable neurostimulator is nearing end of service. Stimulation will not be available soon.
	Call Your Doctor Read the error code at the bottom of the screen. Error codes 0 to 252: Remove batteries from the patient programmer, wait several seconds, then re-insert the batteries. If the error message appears again, call your doctor. Other codes: Write down the code shown on the screen and call your doctor.
	Call Your Doctor Your neurostimulator has reached end of service. Stimulation is not available. Call your doctor.

For complete information about screens that may appear on your patient programmer, refer to the Patient Programmer Manual.

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Removing the Neurostimulator

If you no longer need the neurostimulator or change your mind about the pain treatment, your doctor can turn it off or remove the system.