Sarah i cant feel the tens machine in my feet either using it dry that is with the pads. Before you get a rebuilder try this. buy a divided foot bath, put in lukewarm water with epsom salts on each side. take the pads off of the leads of the tens machine. put one lead in each side of the footbath. i other words one wire into the water on the left side of the footbath and one wire in the right side of the footbath. keep the setting on the tens low at first and then raise it slowly until you feel the electricity. this is exactly how the old rebuilder used to work before they went to pads and socks. you can still see the type of footbath i am talking about on the rebuilder site in the photo for the physicians 2407 package. you can get the footbath in any drug store and if they dont have it they will order it. its entirely safe if you use the battery in the tens and not the electrical plug into the outlet. give it a shot, im sure you will feel it then.

This is excellent advice. I was told the same (foot bath) thing from my friend who has had terrific success with the ReBuilder and says he no longer has PN....as long as he keeps up a maintenance schedule with the ReBuilder. Yes, he strongly recommended that I use the warm water bath method as well, and I can further say that I have heard from a very good source that this is the best method for use with the ReBuilder, and to that end I have just ordered the foot bath unit myself.

RandyK,
When I purchased my ReBuilder #2405 the footbath came with it along with conductive gel. It helps with the early burning stages of PN, later I used the pads on accupressure points.

Are you serious??? You put it in WATER? When I researched the ReBuilder with the socks, it said nothing about water--but like I said in an earlier post, all of the research my mom and I did was recent and had the socks.
Are you sure it is safe to put those things in water? That seems awfully dangerous to me. I've never heard of that before. I guess if you guys have done it before, it can't be too harmful.. I've just never heard of it before...interesting.

A divided foot bath, huh? I will have to look into that. We don't really have a drugstore in town. We have a Walmart, so I'll have my mom check there next time she goes. Otherwise I'll have to wait until next time she goes out of town to check in another town. Thanks for the advice. I will definitely keep it in mind. :)

Yes in water -the ReBuilder is perfectly safe. I have ordered my water bath unit directly from Rebuilder Medical Co. Conductive socks are very expensive and my source says the water works better.

I had read that the ReBuilder was, but I had no idea the TENS unit was. That surprises me.

you dont put the unit in the water you put one electrical wire lead into one side of the bath and the other electrical lead into the other side of the bath. the unit itself stays out of the water. ive been doing it for years with an interferential therapy unit which is similiar to a tens.

Right. I understood that, sorry. I just have never heard of putting the electrodes in water, either, though. I will have to ask my mom when she wakes up if she bookmarked what she was reading last night. I told her about this idea, but she researched it and said that the TENS unit shouldn't be used for PN (or at least for me) because something about it closes the blood vessels. I don't know about anyone else, but I have issues with my blood vesses. I don't know if it is related to PN or not--but when I put my legs over the side of the bed, within 60 seconds they turn dark dark purple, almost black... from the blood pooling down in my legs and feet. The blood vessels aren't pumping the blood back up into my legs like they are supposed to. I saw a vascular doctor about it for awhile but then he told me it was just a part of the neuropathy and to talk to my neurologist about it. I did, and he said it was normal in severe cases of PN. Well, it causes such horrible pressure and pain in my legs and feet and that is why I am bedridden--I have to keep my legs elevated in bed to keep the blood flowing. So according to what my mom read last night, the TENS unit would not be good for me to use right now. I don't know how valid that website was, though, because I don't know where she found that information. Like I said, I will have to ask her when she wakes up. Has anyone ever had similar symptoms?

everything i have read about tens and interferential therapy as well as the rebuilder is that it improves circulation of the blood. It is suppossed to relieve pain, reduce swelling, speed the healing of wounds and fractures, and restore function associated with muscle weakness.

For pain it is suppossed to block the pain signals to the brain, and for reduced swelling and healing of wounds and fractures it is suppossed to be mainly due to increased blood circulation. How did you get a tens machine? Was it prescribed by a doctor for your PN? or for something else? Ask the doctor who prescribed it if its ok to use on your PN if it wasnt prescribed for that.

Nope, it was prescribed by my doctor and the physical therapist for my back (I have degenerative disc disease and spondylolisthesis and disc dessication and arthritis). I did ask my doctor before I tried it on my feet though, and he said it was. :)