If you have a used ReBuilder (model 300 or 2407) that you are no longer using and would like to sell it, please send a personal message to me or email me at **

I recently lost mine during a trip and now I can tell it was helping.

Thanks,

Randy

Check Ebay also I bought mine for £20 from there - couldnt believe my luck!

Yep, already checked e-bay. There was one on there, but the price was not good. I'll keep looking, thanks.

I had never heard of these until I saw this post.. my mom and I decided to do some research... I have a TENS unit, but my TENS unit goes up to 60, and even on that high, I can't feel it on my feet at all... so we are going to talk to my neurologist and see if I would benefit at all from one of these or not... they are very very expensive.. but if the doctor can prescribe one, our insurance would pay for 80%... so we'll see... I hope you are able to find one!

Sarah Mae - has any of your doctors allowed you to try the Duragesic Patch? I read your story on your site and you have had a lifetime of pain and you need help. If you have not used this med I urge you to try it. It is a narcotic - a strong narcotic but if you have true chronic pain then a narcotic is what you need. I know, your thinking, I will become addicted. Well, I've been using this med since 1-9-02 and I am not addicted but my 7 to 9+ pain has been reduced to a 2 to 4 and I'm doing great. These patches do not work for everyone but nothing does.

If your doc won't let you try this then I urge to to find a doc that will. Most doctors want nothing to do with patients who complain of pain but more and more of them are coming to realize that pain is a legitimate medical condition deserving the best the profession has to offer. They are still in the minority...but they are out there...and I am talking about legitimate physicians who truly care for their patients.

Just find a doctor that will work with you. Start low on the strength of the patches - perhaps the 50 strength patch and if that doesen't make a significant difference then titrate to the 75 strength, etc. I didn't get relief until we tried the 100 strength and that was on 11-18-02 and this strength help so much I could hardly believe it! I stayed at this level until 3-19-07 and we then upped it to 125 strength (1 100 strength patch and 1 25 strength patch) and I have stayed at that strength thru this writing. By the way, you change these patches every 72 hours! Sure beats taking pills all day and night long.

Sarah Mae, this medication has been a God send for me. To this day I still don't understand how I survived those first 14 years of horrific PN pain but I guess you understand about that. I've had this Peripheral Neuropathy and it's pain now for 22 years but since starting the Duragesic Patch in Jan 02 I have led a relatively normal life. My hands are steady, my eyes are clear, and I have full control of all my faculties. I drive my car without incident and my wife and I have been all over the US plus a couple of cruises over the last 8 years. I walk 1 to 2 miles every day with nothing but my cane and dog and I really enjoy that. I am now 78 years old and I am so thankful for the relief I have experienced with this med. Oh yeah, I buy the generic form of the Duragesic Patch and that's called: Fentanyl Transdermal System and it's cheaper than the brand name. I am retired from the Air Force and have good insurance that pays most of it. The generic costs about $550 monthly so good insurance is almost a necessity.

My email address is (removed by author) and your are welcomed to write to me if you like. Good luck, young lady, and I wish the very best for you.

Dan Pearce
From the flatlands of West Tennessee

Dan,
Thank you for all the information.
Unfortunately, I don't think I can get that patch for a few different reasons.
First of all, my family doctor is the one who gives me my pain medicine. My neurologist is trying to treat the PN by giving me things like Topamax, Amitriptyline, Lyrica, etc... but I got the Tylenol with Codeine #4 from my family doctor. He doesn't want to move me up to Oxycodone because it is so highly addictive. On the Duragesic website, it states that before using the patch, a user needs to have tried the oxycodone pill first--and my doctor won't go there with me at this point. I also don't want to become addicted, so I haven't pushed it with him... but the pain has also never been this bad.
But either way--I don't do well with patches. Where do you places the patches? I had patches for my feet, and I couldn't tolerate them. They did more harm than good, and I had to stop wearing them. I have very sensitive skin all over, but my feet and legs are very sensitive with the PN. I won't put another patch on my feet again until I'm all healed.
I don't know what to do anymore. The Tylenol used to help for an hour or so... which wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Now it isn't working at all, but I keep taking it, in hopes that it will magically start working. It is so incredibly frustrating!
Those patches are expensive as well.. so even if I could get them, I don't think we could afford them... I'm not sure how much our insurance would pay for...I don't have an income right now... my Tylenol is only $9 for 150...

Hi Sarah,

Since I started this thread trying to find another ReBuilder, and you expressed interest in it, I feel obligated to express my somewhat limited experience with it. To begin with, the reviews are very divided about ReBuilder. Many say it didn’t help them at all and many say it helped a great deal. Do your own research on this site and the PN Foundation BB site (not a great site, in my opinion) and at the ReBuilder site, as well as with any “real contacts” like me and those that I have talked to. Keep in mind that there are many Neuropathy problems and causes and significant differing timelines when these folks started using the device.

First off, my PN is attributed to my Scleroderma and associated vascular and circulation issues. I used the ReBuilder from January through June, before losing it on a recent trip. For me, for one thing, the device enabled me to stop taking Lyrica. That is very clear now that I haven’t used the device for the last month, and once again I am back to using Lyrica to be functional during the day and occasionally to settle the PN so I can get a decent night sleep.

For me, the ReBuilder pretty much eliminated the PN in my L foot and improved my R foot PN by about 50%. This helped a lot. Additionally, when my feet were really burning, the device did sooth them significantly for quite a while. This would work very well at bedtime.

So, in general, I am very excited about the replacement unit that is now in the mail for me.

Sarah, the ReBuilder may not do anything for you, however, wouldn’t it be wonderful if it could help you not need the drugs, like in my case.

Randy

Yes, it would be wonderful if it worked well for me like it has for you, though I'd like to be able to try it before investing $500-1000 on it, which is what my mom said is how much complete kits were selling for! She is the one who was researching it. I, myself, haven't done any research on it yet, but I obviously would before making any decisions. The TENS unit didn't do anything for my feet--but I didn't get it for my feet--I got it for my back. Even if insurance paid 80%, I'm not sure I'd want to pay the 20% without knowing if it was even going to work. I wish there were places to try these things out first. The nurse was supposed to call back by 5 and she didn't, so I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow... so it'll be yet another night of this intense pain... I wish this nurse and doctor would take this pain seriously like my family doctor does... Maybe I'll have some luck and will find some medicine that will work.. that would be great too... I just want to feel better--I don't care at this point how I get there.

Hi Randy,
Did you ever find a used ReBuilder? I am looking for one. Please email me any info you may have re: availability. Or, if you received offers that you did not use.

Thanks

Keep an eye on Ebay, as sometimes a used one will appear there.

Be advised that the maker of Rebuilder also advertises there, at full price.

Right now neither of your external appliances is offered there,
but you might check weekly in the future. I have seen some rebuilders on their list in the past.