I've heard of some research being done with TENS (trancutaneous electric nerve stimulation) machines - gadgets that contract and relax muscles at electrical speed. The research involved using TENS as a biofeedback means to relax the pelvic muscles and control the pain.
Anyone heard of this?
T.E.N.S.
I'm quite interested that there have been no replies to this posting, my second on this topic. I've heard good things about this TENS treatment and have an appointment with a urologist specialising in this treatment for CPPS. TENS apparently strengthens and separates the muscles so the nerves do not remain trapped, yet retain their elasticity. I'll keep you posted as to how I do but interesting that noone has apparently come across this treatment. I'm hopeful!
Paul
Paul
Age: 44 | Onset Age:41 | Symptoms: abdominal pain and discomfort, urinary frequency, low libido | Helped By: quercetin, diazepam, neurontin, Elavil | Worsened By: sex, alcohol, caffeine
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webslave
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I suppose we don't discuss it a lot here because it's aimed mainly at people with great frequency, even incontinence (tends to afflict female ICers).With TENS, mild electric pulses enter the body for minutes to hours two or more times a day either through wires (in pad form) placed on the lower back or the suprapubic region, between the navel and the pubic hair, or through special devices inserted into the vagina in women or into the rectum in men. Although scientists don't know exactly how it works, it has been suggested that the electric pulses may increase blood flow to the bladder, strengthen pelvic muscles that help control the bladder, and trigger the release of hormones that block pain.
TENS is relatively inexpensive and allows the patient to take an active part in treatment. Within some guidelines, the patient decides when, how long, and at what intensity TENS will be used. TENS has been helpful in relieving pain and decreasing frequency for some IC patients. If TENS is going to help, change usually occurs in 3 to 4 months. There are several manufacturers of TENS units, and the price can vary considerably. All of the units are relatively small and easily concealable under loose clothing.
I can't support the more serious, surgical form of TENS (Interstim) because of a paucity of studies.
The ordinary T.E.N.S. unit, which I support, is available from our Amazon store.
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TENS units are also used to help with pain management for people with back problems. I've been considering getting one to see if it would help with the pain of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome since it too is a muscle problem.
Has anyone here used a TENS unit for pain?
Too bad I haven't gotten it already, or I could report on the results I've found.
Mike
Has anyone here used a TENS unit for pain?
Too bad I haven't gotten it already, or I could report on the results I've found.
Mike
This is NOT medical advice. I am NOT a doctor.
Age: 43 CPPS: 10+ Yrs Recovery Status: 80-85% Symptoms: Pain in testicles, scrotum, rectum, prostate, perineum Makes Worse: Anxiety, Tension, too much Nookie Makes Better: Stretching, Abdominal Massage (Go Theracane!), Relaxation
Age: 43 CPPS: 10+ Yrs Recovery Status: 80-85% Symptoms: Pain in testicles, scrotum, rectum, prostate, perineum Makes Worse: Anxiety, Tension, too much Nookie Makes Better: Stretching, Abdominal Massage (Go Theracane!), Relaxation
I never did. I'm still curious to see how it goes. Let me know what you think. I don't think I really need it any more, but who knows what lies ahead!
Mike
Mike
This is NOT medical advice. I am NOT a doctor.
Age: 43 CPPS: 10+ Yrs Recovery Status: 80-85% Symptoms: Pain in testicles, scrotum, rectum, prostate, perineum Makes Worse: Anxiety, Tension, too much Nookie Makes Better: Stretching, Abdominal Massage (Go Theracane!), Relaxation
Age: 43 CPPS: 10+ Yrs Recovery Status: 80-85% Symptoms: Pain in testicles, scrotum, rectum, prostate, perineum Makes Worse: Anxiety, Tension, too much Nookie Makes Better: Stretching, Abdominal Massage (Go Theracane!), Relaxation
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LightningTree
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Sorry I didn't see your original post. Yes, electrical stimulaton of my muscles worked wonders! It worked for my brother too.
Some of my greatest pain relief, early on came, from electrical stimulation. It wasn't even TENS for nerve stimulation, it was more traditional TENS units with surface current used to cause rapid muscle contraction and release. The kind with the sticky pads like an ekg reader, except used to push a current rather than read one.
Oddly enough, it was most effective when the PT was experimenting a little, and put the electrodes further apart and turned the power up. They were trying to reach a particular muscle set, forget which, but ended up stimulating my levitar ani. I had no symptoms for the rest of that day and felt great the next day. After that, it was back to the usual crappy pain.
One of the nice things about TENS is that when you are new to CPPS, can't relax, can't calm anything down:
(1) A TENS UNIT MAKES YOUR MUSCLES MASSAGE THEMSELVES
(2) YOU CAN FEEL THIS AS YOUR MUSCLES ARE CLEARLY MOVING
As a result you (1) get relaxation in your muscles and (2) you know this isn't a sham treatment.
Some of my greatest pain relief, early on came, from electrical stimulation. It wasn't even TENS for nerve stimulation, it was more traditional TENS units with surface current used to cause rapid muscle contraction and release. The kind with the sticky pads like an ekg reader, except used to push a current rather than read one.
Oddly enough, it was most effective when the PT was experimenting a little, and put the electrodes further apart and turned the power up. They were trying to reach a particular muscle set, forget which, but ended up stimulating my levitar ani. I had no symptoms for the rest of that day and felt great the next day. After that, it was back to the usual crappy pain.
One of the nice things about TENS is that when you are new to CPPS, can't relax, can't calm anything down:
(1) A TENS UNIT MAKES YOUR MUSCLES MASSAGE THEMSELVES
(2) YOU CAN FEEL THIS AS YOUR MUSCLES ARE CLEARLY MOVING
As a result you (1) get relaxation in your muscles and (2) you know this isn't a sham treatment.
This is not medical advice, and I am NOT a doctor of medicine or a related field.
* Age:33 Onset: February 2004.
* 99.9% IMPROVEMENT in 2.5 Years with the first year being the really hard part
* Current Symptoms: Mild irritation of perineal muscles on occasion. Relieved for days at a time by a specific stretch (see below).
* Initial Symptoms: Terrible penile, urethral, rectal, and perineal burning/aching with addition afferent sensations.
* Current Treatments: Deep stretching of the legs and pelvis. Most effective: Deep psoas and levitar ani stretch using the first phase of the "pigeon pose" from Yoga. When a deep pulling is felt in the middle of the pelvis next to the upper rectum, symptoms are completely alleviated for several days.
* Past Treatments Hyperprotection of the perineum for 1.7 years, Walking, Rectal biofeedback, Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol, Conditioned deep relaxation practice, Men's Multi-Vitamin and an Extra B-complex pill, all seemed to help.
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timberdoodle
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Lightning: where did they place the sensors? I have a TENS unit and have thought about hooking it up somewhere, but wasn't sure where and on what muscle... Is this in the area of the perineum?
Age: 40 Symptoms for seven years; Symptoms include: subrapubic & genital discomfort; perrenial pain, feeling like groin is swollen, problems with urinary frequency are resolved; helped by: abdominal stretching, Theracane work on abdomen, light exercise (nordic track); worsened by: sitting and office work
For what its worth I experimented with this early on. One side of the pelvis with electrodes and the other without. This was immediately post PT. The side with the tens actually returned to its original tense state while the untouched side remained good for a week post PT.
I think in my case, the artificial muscle tensing recreated the condition and immediately undid the PT work done the prior hour.
However, if you are in pain 24/7, what the hell, give it a try. Maybe it will jar something loose.
I think in my case, the artificial muscle tensing recreated the condition and immediately undid the PT work done the prior hour.
However, if you are in pain 24/7, what the hell, give it a try. Maybe it will jar something loose.
Age: 44 | Symptoms: Pain in pelvis, Post urination drip. Helped by: Squat stretching, PT, Prelief before banned foods, Vit B, Cystoprotec AFTER foods, singulair after foods, Exercise. Makes worse: Stress, Alcohol (1-2 days after), coffee, Artificial sweeteners, chocolate, tonic Wheat/gluten. Drink a lot of water!!! 95% better to date!
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LightningTree
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timberdoodle, I suppose that would depend on where you pain is.
In my case, my pain was largely internal in the upper rectum. past the prostate. Basically where the upper rectum encounters the upper levator ani (which projects as a cone around the rectum widening as you go up into the pelvis)
The position of one electrodes was on the mid part of a gluteus muscle (the exposed butt muscles) and the other end was down around near the bulbo-urethral muscle. The power was turned up, as this placement is unusually far apart. This directly hit wherever my problem spot was and caused massive relief lasting a few days.
When I had perineal troubles, placement of the electrodes along the transverse perineal muscles was a big help, but in that case, power was low as the electrodes were close together and those muscles tend to remain very taught (they are support muscles.)
Richie, I had a different experience with the TENS. Not sure why it worked for me, but it did. Sometimes more than others. But I personally never had any negative effects. I was usually lying on my stomach with my head in a masseuse head-holder thingy and told to relax. That probably helped. Also, my PT knew what he was doing.
Computer software programmers might appreciate this story: One time, the computer controlled TENS unit went into a deadlock. Instead of shutting off (fail-safe mode, anyone?) it continued to stimulate my muscles at maximum possible intensity, non-stop. I had to call for help. Rebooting the machine fixed the problem. Medical software should be more carefully engineered.
In my case, my pain was largely internal in the upper rectum. past the prostate. Basically where the upper rectum encounters the upper levator ani (which projects as a cone around the rectum widening as you go up into the pelvis)
The position of one electrodes was on the mid part of a gluteus muscle (the exposed butt muscles) and the other end was down around near the bulbo-urethral muscle. The power was turned up, as this placement is unusually far apart. This directly hit wherever my problem spot was and caused massive relief lasting a few days.
When I had perineal troubles, placement of the electrodes along the transverse perineal muscles was a big help, but in that case, power was low as the electrodes were close together and those muscles tend to remain very taught (they are support muscles.)
Richie, I had a different experience with the TENS. Not sure why it worked for me, but it did. Sometimes more than others. But I personally never had any negative effects. I was usually lying on my stomach with my head in a masseuse head-holder thingy and told to relax. That probably helped. Also, my PT knew what he was doing.
Computer software programmers might appreciate this story: One time, the computer controlled TENS unit went into a deadlock. Instead of shutting off (fail-safe mode, anyone?) it continued to stimulate my muscles at maximum possible intensity, non-stop. I had to call for help. Rebooting the machine fixed the problem. Medical software should be more carefully engineered.
This is not medical advice, and I am NOT a doctor of medicine or a related field.
* Age:33 Onset: February 2004.
* 99.9% IMPROVEMENT in 2.5 Years with the first year being the really hard part
* Current Symptoms: Mild irritation of perineal muscles on occasion. Relieved for days at a time by a specific stretch (see below).
* Initial Symptoms: Terrible penile, urethral, rectal, and perineal burning/aching with addition afferent sensations.
* Current Treatments: Deep stretching of the legs and pelvis. Most effective: Deep psoas and levitar ani stretch using the first phase of the "pigeon pose" from Yoga. When a deep pulling is felt in the middle of the pelvis next to the upper rectum, symptoms are completely alleviated for several days.
* Past Treatments Hyperprotection of the perineum for 1.7 years, Walking, Rectal biofeedback, Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol, Conditioned deep relaxation practice, Men's Multi-Vitamin and an Extra B-complex pill, all seemed to help.
I just found a new PT, you can see my post above, who has been treating men with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome for years using electric stim, and she says she has very good results.. I called her, to see if she works with males for pelvic pain (knowing the answer would be no), and she said yes, using electric stim, but she knew nothing about AHIP.. So I told her all about it, and she ordered the book yesterday, and had an hour long talk with my PT, stacy futterman, from nyc.. She is going to start treating me next thursday.. But from what she says, electric stim works very very well..
Age 21.. | Symptoms: Extreme discomfort in bladder, and lower abdomen.. To the point that I can't sit still, and sleep, can't do anything.. The only that will help is getting into the bath... Urinary frequency, Urinary hesitancy, sometimes taking a few minutes to get just a little bit out.. Sometimes lower back pain when I lay down at night.. Never have the golf ball feeling everybody talks about, and never have a problem sitting down.. Helps: Hot baths, Xanax (but makes me extremely tired), stretching (it seems like only sometimes), pain killers (ex: Percocet, but if I take them, they end up making me worse the next days following, probably due to the urinary retention they cause).. Makes worse: Stress is the main main thing, caffeine and spicy foods too, but not really a whole whole lot.. only a moderate amount..
BG: I've remarked that your symptoms and mine are very similar. I'm interested to hear how the electrical stim works out if you try it. I'll post more thoughts in a bit.
Kevin
Kevin
Started: Spring 2003; high urinary frequency and pain associated with bladder filling; urinary hesitancy; pubic/prostate/perineal discomfort; Helped by: trigger point therapy, Afrin nasal spray, Cymbalta, hydrocodone (small doses), distraction. Makes worse: sex.
Not medical advice. Consult your doctor.
Not medical advice. Consult your doctor.
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timberdoodle
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I was searching on ebay for tens units, and came across an interesting attachment (for tens units) that is designed to be inserted rectally to stimulate the pelvic floor. I'd be interested to hear anyone's comments on whether they would try such a device?
Age: 40 Symptoms for seven years; Symptoms include: subrapubic & genital discomfort; perrenial pain, feeling like groin is swollen, problems with urinary frequency are resolved; helped by: abdominal stretching, Theracane work on abdomen, light exercise (nordic track); worsened by: sitting and office work
To those of you who have received treatment with TENS, I am curious to know how it went or how it is going? I was at the pain doctor today and she mentioned it, I remembered hearing about it from this site but couldn't remember if it was something to try or avoid. Thanks for any input.
Age:33 | Onset Age: 21 | Symptoms: Penile/rectal/testicular pain, urgency/frequency, constipation | Helped By: Relaxation, PT, eating healthy, just started some acupuncture-seems to be helping | Worsened By: stress/anxiety, poor diet
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webslave
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BTW, there is a rectal version of this device:
http://www.empi.com/products/incontinence/minnova.pdf
http://www.empi.com/products/incontinence/minnova.pdf
From http://www.empi.com/products/incontinence.cfmInnoSense®, Minnova®
Pelvic Floor Stimulation Devices
Minnova is patient operated devices designed for the treatment of both stress and urge urinary incontinence with pelvic floor stimulation.
This device uses mild electrical stimulation to automate the process of doing pelvic floor muscle exercises, also known as Kegel exercises. Kegel exercises help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles used in maintaining urinary continence. Minnova is also designed to inhibit inappropriate bladder contractions characteristic of urge incontinence.
Minnovais an easy-to-use battery operated device designed for use with a vaginal or rectal electrode. The recommended treatment is done in the privacy of the home for 15 minutes twice a day, every other day. Clinical studies using pelvic floor stimulation for the treatment of urinary incontinence have demonstrated cure and improvement rates of up to 73%
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