I just had to post about my headaches. I have been suffering with severe headaches for years. Two weeks ago I thought they were getting better but reminded myself that it was probably just wishful thinking.

Now I know better because the headaches are gone. In the past anything has set off a headaches, light, noise, perfumes. I have not had a headache in ten days. It has been years since I was headache free.

Also my energy level is improving by leaps and bounds. I didn't realize how CRPS had robbed me of energy until I started improving.

I am beginning to wonder if tDCS is reversing the course of the disease since one of the many hallmarks of CRPS progression is decreasing energy levels.

I am zipping around now on my walker. I am getting stronger every day. I know it is only a matter of time before I walk out the door with a cane. My physical therapist has designed an aggressive exercise program for me to follow at home. Yesterday she measured my calf and I have gained one half inch!!!!!

Has anybody come up with an effective tDCS booster schedule?

It is very encouraging to hear that your headaches are gone. For the past year of so (since the RSD got worse) I have been suffering from contast headaches...they are just the norm now it seems. Another thing I suppose I should be keeping an eye out for maybe.

Also great to hear how well you are doing with the walker. Ever since I reached the point where I could use the walker and started to get the strength/endurance back my energy levels have been so much higher. I think a big part of it is the mental boost I get from being able to do things that I couldn't do for months and starting to feel a little more normal. Not that being 28 and needing a walker is particularly normal...but I'm sure you get the idea and know what I am talking about. Keep at it and I am sure you will be able to leave the house with that cane in no time.

Dear Ballerina
Thank you so much for your encouraging post. It might save my life.I have extremely bad tinnitus, very loud, high frequency, painful, 24/7, lucky to sleep three hours a night for the last year, not even sleeping tablets work anymore, so I'm off meds which were just poisoning me. I'm a complete wreck, feel I can hardly breathe, life seems unsurvivable, yet I have a lovely wife and six beautiful children who need me. For years I've had manageable tinnitus but a sound shock sent it screaming. After seeing your post which mentioned tinnitus, I noticed that there's been a ton of success with tDCS as a treatment,even potential cure, by somehow entraining / stabilizing over-active neurons.

I don't have much money and desperately need your help to find a machine with sponge electrodes. The only one on the market I could see at first was the Fisher-Wallace device which is supposed to be very good for increasing serotonin (precursor for GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter which might dampen down over-activity in the brain and reduce tinnitus). Then I saw your comment on it being a CES (cranial electrical stimulation) device, an Alternating-Current (AC) device. This was a disappointment as I was about to buy, eventhough I don't understand the relevance. Someone on another forum sums it up as follows:

CES and tDCS are similar, but different. CES uses an AC signal, tDCS
> uses a DC signal. This means that the two electrodes have polarity with
> tDCS but not with CES.
>
> With tDCS, (Transcranial direct current stimulation) the neurons in the area below the anode becomes more
> excitable, and the area under the cathode becomes more inhibited. This
> is great if you want to see what happens if region X of your brain is
> shut off, or if region Y works overtime.
>
> With CES, (cranial electrical stimulation) the polarity of the two electrodes switches around 0.5 to 30
> times a second. This results in neural activity occurring in bursts in
> sync to the oscillating current, with activity alternating between the
> two areas under the electrodes.


Anyway, still don't get it, I'm not very science-savvy, so I looked around for other tDCS devices. The only ones I came across (with sponge electrodes) were the SOTERIX DC STIMULATOR and the NEURO CONN DC STIMULATOR, but I don't think either are available to public. I might be wrong but I can hardly concentrate so you or another forum member might be able to clarify.
I then realised you named your device as TRIVARION ACTIVA DOSE. Could you explain what bits I need to get together and maybe best place to buy. The unit I saw online didn't seem to have the sponge electrodes but I'm probably not focused. Also, I don't understand why choose an Iontophoresis Machines (used for administering chemicals through the skin, they say) is it that they have dual uses, if so that's great. I also saw the HidrexGS400 which is suitable for home use. The other concern is power output (tDCS works very safely and effectively with low milliamps to the head) and adjustable frequency settings(HZ).

Can you help me get my ideas together somehow. Your post has given me a little bit of hope, thank you.

I followed all of ballerina's recommendations on where to get the different parts for tDCS treatment. I got the activa dose unit that she linked to...it was $225 I think. I also had to purchase TENS lead wires with pin connectors (the activa dose machine only comes with snap connection wires and those won't work for tDCS)...I bought these from amazon.com for $4.96 including shipping (actual price was only $0.01 plus $4.95 shipping). Then I bought the sponge electrodes seperately from the site she recommended along with addition sponge inserts. The only other thing I had to buy that she did not list (but someone else did) were two "pin to banana" connection adapters. These were just a couple of dollars. All together I paid only about $300. I did need a script from the doctor for the tdcs unit but all the other stuff I was able to order without any special script or anything from the doctor.

As to why the Iontophoresis unit...it is just what is used for tDCS treatments. I'm sure someone else can jump in with the technical details on WHY it works but I haven't heard of any other sort of unit being used for tDCS. I was a little confused by this at first myself because I thought it would just be called a tDCS unit or something...but it's probably not a common enough use of the device for there to be a change in the name or anything.

So kind of you to come back quickly Catra

I'll search her posts for the links. It's all so new to me and a bit overwhelming but I have to try something,the tinnitus is relentlessly punishing. If anyone can fill us in on the techie side, how these device specs compare with units used in mainstream tDCS clinical trials, it would be wonderful to know. Thanks again.


"Bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), with the anodal electrode overlying the right and the cathodal electrode overlying the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, has been shown to suppress tinnitus significantly in 30% of patients"
Brai2n, TRI and Department of NeurosurgeryBelgium

I've got my shopping list now for parts, thanks. Just want to double-check , have you or anybody used this on your head? should be safe at such low current. Thanks to Ballerina for the guidelines, really helpful.

All tDCS that I have done have been on my head...I think that's where almost all of them are done....so it is definitely safe. The biggest thing is to make sure you use enough saline so that you don't get any skin burns.

High Nick,

I hope tDCS helps you with your tinnitus. It is hard for anyone to appreciate how disabling it is unless you have been there.

I believe there is a specific protocol for tinnitus but I did not use it. I have used one of the protocols for chronic pain and it totally eliminated the tinnitus. You might try various protocols twenty minutes each, two times a day for ten days. It sounds like you have been researching protocols for tDCS. If you find one that works please share it.

The type of device I use is the standard for many clinical tDCS trials. Don't spend more money on devices because if you are a responder you will respond to the the type of device I and others use.

Hope there are better days ahead for you!!!

Hello Ballerina
you cannot imagine how grateful I am for all your hard work and dedication to this community, I'm sure I speak for everybody, empathy is a gift like none other. I'll try whatever protocols I can and post my results.

Thanks for reassurance about the machine, it's a godsend (some published online trials have referred to tDCS units like NeuroConn's Eldith, very expensive). The only other tDCS device I saw that might fit the bill, affordability wise, could be Mindalive's Oasis ***, but the Ativa looks like a robust professional device, my instinctive first choice too.

If I get well, I'll follow your lead and help others.

Nick

Hi all
Thanks to nickallen post in longecity tDCS i get to this forum.
***
I buld some simple cheape tDCS device mysef for about 10S .
It simplest posible and dount have any advanced features ,even if it does not seem it,the safety is comparable to commercial devices.
***
I made for some of my expedimens and i try tit about 50times in 3years period mainly for L-DLPFC stimulation.

With a few adjustments would be ​​applicable to C3 stimulation protocol.

In a last few eaks they apper many moustly DIY TDCS devices , moust promising it looks GoFlow β1
***

---
i look at minlive oasies - this look like only a CES device (CES has aplication for tinnitus too)

I think that CES could be effective in CPRS with right waveform ,but i dount knouw much about CPRS ,i will try to read research paper posted here and maybe i come up with something.

I made simple CES device too from MP3 player and little battry amplifiler

Did you tried some mental technigues for CRPS , i interesting in lucid dreaming and out of body experience and seem to me tant some methods is can be used for CRPS treathment.One of this methots work with multisensory integration to change the body image - if there no body image the is no pain , pain is cant be without the body.is about how to turn-off or change the preception it based on same principes like mirror box.

One neuroscience hint if you have a hand pain try to cross over the hands
this little lowering the sensory ingretion and pain it cam be litte less.