My son had had his VNS for 5yrs, and it didn't help. He had a DBS placed last summer.

Thanks for this rsponse!

I have had mine for almost 2 years now with no luck. It hasn’t stopped them and The magnet does nothing when I have a seizure. I mainly just deal with the side affects of it rn which for me is a lot. loss of breath, jaw and ear pain, trouble getting words out, trouble swallowing, coughing and get out of breathe pretty easily if moving around a lot, also it does make my voice change when it goes off but it doesn’t hurt it can just make it difficult to talk and trying to talk louder or can be embarrassing at times like when trying to order something. I have plans to turn it off or get it removed when have a bigger surgery.

I got a VNS surgery back in 2021. In less than a year my surgery went from 2 a week to 1 every 2-3 months, sometimes even longer (longest was 5 months due to a 48 hour EEG and they put a strobe light in front of my face). Hell in April I'll be 2 months free. Honestly the side effects I have is sometimes my neck will strain and I'll cough. Nothing serious my dude. I honestly try to reccomend it to anyone that I meet or talk to with epilepsy because with it I can finally go back to college. Just know that dont put anything like a phone or similar over the VNS or itll force you to cough for a minute. But if you have a seizure, theres a magnet thats specifically for the VNS that you put on the VNS and 9 times out of 10 itll stop it. So do it my man. It wont affect working out or (for me) playing trumpet. Hell, I worked on construction sites with my dad, did not affect me.

I have had the original surgery and a replacement, when the battery was low. I went from about 8 to 10 medication a day to 2 pills for seizures. I still work out at least 2 hours a day and still lift heavy items with no issues.

I have the occasion petite mal seizure, but they are infrequent now and I have not had a grand Mal in over 10 years.

The VNS didn't affect me working it was my mTBI that caused me to leave the IT field.

The only thing it affects is my voice occasionally because the wire lays near my voice voice box.

Hope this helps,

Dr. Dennis Fulmer