Sacral Nerve Stimulation (Medtronic InterStim® Therapy for Urinary Control)
A therapy for Bladder COntrol Problems

Introduction

You may be one of millions of people who suffer from frustrating and embarrassing bladder control problems such as retention and overactive bladder. Effects of bladder control problems can be devastating. These conditions prevent you from controlling when and how much you urinate and can make simple everyday activities a challenge and social lives very difficult. You may have to cut back on your hobbies or stop working. You may feel trapped by a fear of leaking accidents, the need to be close to a bathroom at all times, and an overall, preoccupation with your bladder. You can be any age to have bladder control problems. You have probably found that treatments such as drugs, behavior modification, diet changes, pelvic floor exercises or the use of a catheter to empty your bladder did not effectively treat your symptoms. In the past there were few options for patient who did not respond to these therapies. Now, however your doctor would like you to consider a therapy called sacral nerve stimulation (SNS). SNS involves the use of a device that can be thought of as a pacemaker for the bladder.

SNS therapy is not experimental. InterStim^® Therapy (InterStim^® is a registered trademark of Medtronic, Inc.), is a sacral nerve stimulation therapy made by Medtronic. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1997 and has been used successfully to treat thousands of patients worldwide.

The intent of this handout is to help you understand the therapy. After you have read about the therapy, your doctor will help you make an informed decision about whether to proceed with a test to see if sacral nerve stimulation will work for you. If you want more information and/or plan to move forward with the therapy ask your doctor for a more detailed manual available from Medtronic.