Any of you have experience with either. Orthopedic recommended the EA. TENS has more science behind it. I suffer from drop foot, peripheral neuropathy, and an atrophied muscle over my shin. Calf muscles and foot muscles cramp at the slightest touch at times. I want to minimize the cramping, the pain in the extremities is secondary. Ideas? Oh yeah, all on the right leg.
My wife has the electro-acupuncture done every 3-4 weeks and we have a tens machine. She finds the acupuncture to be more helpful. Her neuropathy is on her right side as the result of a stroke. In a little over two years she has gone from no feeling on her right side to having it almost everywhere. She still gets cramps pretty regularly, I massage her leg daily with BioFreeze which helps relieve a lot of the related pains. Be aware that not all acupuncturists are the same, she has gone to a couple that were pretty much useless. She swears by it as do some of the others in her stroke support group. I find it interesting but a bit creepy to watch.
Wally, thanks. Sort of commentary I was looking for.
Just checked with the wife. She says the tens machine gives her a different feeling than the acupuncture. It helps somewhat between appointments but that the massage with a thick layer of BioFreeze or I think its called ProFreeze at WalMart, it comes in a silver tube, helps more. The acupuncturist she sees works her over pretty good. It's a 90 minute to 2 hour session and can be painful but she comes out feeling much better. She's also lucky that she works in a rehab hospital and schedules a 30 minute massage every week on a lunch break as well.
Something else you may want to check is you magnesium level. Low magnesium can contribute to cramping and some of the meds she is on apparently lower it. Her endo check on her last blood test and had her taking 500 mg a day which has helped some.
If you have any questions my email is Wally13us AT yahoo.com or I am on the Facebook I can get the wife's info to she can probably be more helpful.
I've tried everything from Calcium, magnesium, potassium, quinine, gabapentin, lyrica, stretching, you name it. Nothing helps. Thanks for the info. If I have any questions I'll be in touch.
All the relief she gets is temporary at best. Each doctor gets excited that they might have found something, it helps a bit to keep it manageable but she still hurts a lot of the time. Hopefully you find something to keep it bearable, there are a lot of days it hurts just to watch her.
Instead of TENS, try an Interferential unit - same electric stim, deeper penetration and much more effective for pain relief.
Tell me more about inferential units please. You have experience with?
Interesting. Looks like I have more homework
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