Ibs pain tens machine

Has anyone tried a tens machine for the pain.

[Cimmy]

Hi jasper, I’ve used a tens machine a long while ago and to be honest I didn’t really get any comfort from it,where is your pain??, have you tried a warm compress or maybe rub a little bit of ibuprofen gel on the area if possible, I do this as my is lower left tummy and the more I walk around the worst it seems to get. Hope you find a solution, take care

[Hidden in reply to Cimmy]

Mine is just above waist and gas wind at night. Keep worrying about it as it is constant

[Cimmy in reply to Hidden]

I know how you feel, mine is constant too, it’s like a nagging pain all the time, have you tried painkillers, the doctor gave me some that dissolve under the tongue and are quite strong, but they make me a bit nauseous, so damned if I do damned if I don’t. Hope you find some peace and respite from your pain soon, it can really bring you down

[Batteria in reply to Cimmy]

Aye. I did try one but it was a waste of time and money. Bx

[xjrs]

I haven't tried TENS machines, but I did some research into it in the past and found this:

nursingtimes.net/clinical-a...

Conventional TENS tends to have a quick onset of analgesia but loses its effect quite rapidly when the stimulation is turned off.

The analgesic effect of low-frequency TENS takes longer to achieve but the pain relief produced by the endogenous opioids can last for some time.

The post-stimulation analgesic effects of TENS can therefore last anywhere from five minutes to 18 hours (Woolf, 1991).

Some patients’ pain levels do not return to pre-stimulation levels even after 24 hours (Cheing et al, 2003). People vary widely in how much post-TENS pain-relieving effect they report after treatment and the reason for this is not clear. It has been suggested that the accumulation or depletion of endogenous opioids might influence the strength and duration of post-stimulation analgesia (Cheing et al, 2003). Because of this as yet unexplained, individual variation, there are no definite recommendations on how long TENS should be used for,

with advice varying from 20 minutes to several hours. Cheing et al (2003) also found a cumulative effect in pain reduction after repeated applications of TENS and proposed that the mechanisms underlying this may be related to possible changes in the neuronal pathway. However, with long-term use, the nervous system can become accustomed to TENS (habituation), which can lead to poorer pain control. Breaks between sessions and/or changing electrode positions or the electrical settings can reduce this.

I decided against TENS mainly because I needed pain relief at night and it isn't advised for use whilst sleeping. Also in rare cases some people may experience dizziness and I remember having a 'funny turn' when in receipt of electro stimulation during a physiotherapy session (for something completely unrelated to IBS). However, this won't happen for everyone.

In the end I purchased this heat pad, which is currently on offer:

homefrontproducts.co.uk/hom...

My intestinal pain was around my back, but I can't see any reason why the heat pad couldn't be worn around your abdomen. I used to wear it overnight (which you're not really supposed to). When I woke up in pain, I'd turn the device onto full setting (3) and once warmed up it provided 90 mins+ of pain relief before the safety timer switched it off, which allowed me to fall back to sleep at least for that time. I'd put it on again if I felt the need. It's a really good quality, well made product.

Here is some information about how heat helps with pain:

ucl.ac.uk/news/2006/jul/hea...

Dr King found that if heat of more than 40C (104F) is applied to the skin near where internal pain is felt, it switches on heat receptors at the site ....

These in turn block the body's ability to detect pain. …

[Hidden in reply to xjrs]

Thank you so much. What caused your pain? I have had a barium swallow an ultra sound all normal and ct scan tomorrow. Extensive blood tests all normal. Keep worrying it is pancreas as pain at night, but the ultra sound Said it was normal. Can’t understand why it wakes me up.

[xjrs in reply to Hidden]

If you look back through my previous posts to you I was diagnosed with visceral hypersensitivity / functional abdominal pain where the brain interprets the normal activity of the bowel as pain. I also had a gut imbalance which was helped by taking Alflorex probiotic - this stopped the pain.

My pain was mainly at night because this is when the intestines are at their most active preparing for a BM the next morning. If the brain is picking up normal bowel activity as pain, it stands to reason that you will get more pain during the night when the bowel is most busy.

[Hidden in reply to xjrs]

Thank you so much for replying, my gastro dr said he thought it was functional but did say you don’t usually get pain at night. I don’t have d or c. Worrying isn’t helping, I’m in bed an hour and then it wakes me up.

[xjrs in reply to Hidden]

"My pain was mainly at night"

[xjrs in reply to xjrs]

I also had pain without d or c for a number of years.