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From: max@athena.mit.edu (Max Meredith Vasilatos)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: TENS
Message-ID: <16339@handicap.news>
Date: 21 Jun 91 18:46:49 GMT
References: <16199@handicap.news>
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Reply-To: max@athena.mit.edu (Max Meredith Vasilatos)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Fidonet: Chronic Pain Conference

Index Number: 16339

I sent this article also to sci.med.  It is slightly modified
and updated here.  I think the information might be useful to
misc.handicap readers.
----------------------
I wear a TENS unit, with electrodes on my left face (temple and jaw)
and back neck (behind the ears) for pain control.  I've been doing
some experiments and thought the following might be useful for anyone
using or working with TENS therapy.

The main problems:  the electrodes fall off, the gel dries out (no
more conductive juice), the adhesive is too irritating, or they are
hard to reposition to find the right spot.

Why this is important:  to work, the unit and electrodes have to
be on most of the time.  I (and presumably others) won't keep them
on if they are annoying.  Also, finding the right spots to place
them is important and takes some trial and error every time.

I've tried 3 kinds of electrodes.  They are all too big for the face,
and since the face and neck move lot, their "grip" is not secure.
(My doctor is a pediatric maxillofacial surgeon and is pretty into 
solving this problem; it'll help with the kids.)

The types of electrodes:  
  1.  carbon permanent ones ("the old kind") - these require gel
      application and get stuck on with an overlaid adhesive patch.
      They need to be removed, washed and re-gelled every day.
      The adhesive patch holds well, but hurts to remove.
      No Brand for the 'trodes, Patch = Uni-Patch.
  2.  disposable ones - you gel-ify the surface with a drop of 
      water and slap them on.  They last for two days and get
      thrown out.  The adhesive is like superglue so they are
      almost impossible to reposition, but they stay nicely on.
      They hurt *a lot* to remove and pull out my hair by the roots.
      Brand = TENS-Aid SYNTAC.
  3.  repositionable ones - surface gel can be revivified by
      adding water, and you can move them around.  They don't
      stay on at all.  Brand = Multiply.

I've been trying different adhesives with the repositionable ones.
Paper tape falls off.  Silk surgical tape holds for a while (but not
to hair in the back) and then falls off.  Plastic tape holds for a
while and then falls off.  Curity adhesive pads have good staying
power, but the middle (where the electrode is) falls away from the
skin.  Bandaids have the same problem with the middle.  Cutting off
just the sticky end and using that works pretty well, but gets too
irritating after about 4 hours, especially in hot weather.  It also
sticks to the back of the electrode and is hard to remove.

By chance, I've stumbled upon Tegaderm, which holds well, doesn't
irritate the skin (much), and peels off (relatively) easily.
Because it's transparent, I don't look quite so mummified with it 
on my face.  (It also sticks nicely to my [.25" long] hair in back, 
but doesn't pull it out.)

I've cut the repositionable electrodes down to about 1 centimeter
square, and the bandaid covering on them has come off so they are
"naked."  Now, chopping 1 large Tegaderm into 4 pieces yields
enough to hold on 4 trodes.  I can stand it for about 12 hours.
Unfortunately, 14 pieces of Tegaderm cost me fifty dollars, and
my insurance doesn't want to pay for it.

The TENS has let me decrease my consumption of percoset and codeine
substantially.  Hope this helps someone.  Hope that some day the
insurance folks can recognize and support a working solution.

Max Vasilatos
max@athena.mit.edu