I bought a phoresor II auto PM 800 from ebay and am having trouble with the electrodes. The machine came with built in alligator clip style electrodes that do not appear to be able to be changed. I tried clipping them to the amrex sponge electrodes but they wouldn't stay. I also tried clipping them directly plain sponges but that wouldn't work either. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Sorry if I am missing something obvious.

You have to buy TENS wires for the tDCS unit. Then you need to buy pin to banana adaptors (NOT banana to pin). Just make sure you purchase TENS wires that will connect correctly to your tDCS unit.

I am very very sorry to hear this. I was hoping so badly that you would see some improvement by now. How many protocols have you tried? What has Dr. Fugedy said about your progress (or lack there of)? I really hope you find something that helps...

Why is it that Deb and I both have had no progress? We are just so frustrated and disappointed in the whole process. We are on our third protocol I think and also using the TENs with the tDCS, but have had no change. Doc gave us this 3 weeks ago and funny thing is, we haven't heard from him either. We thought he'd stay in contact with us to determine if what we are doing is any help but no such luck. We have to always contact him. That contributes to frustration when sometimes you can't get him for a day or two. I'll try to reach him on Monday to see what other tricks might be up his sleeve. This is so weird to us since we also went to Texas to try a new treatment with Dr. Rhodes and so many people were being helped with his plan and nothing helped us with that treatment either. We must be the weirdest set of sufferers. I really want to stay with tDCS and don't want to give up and I know Deb feels the same way but it is getting very hard to have faith. I just rec'd an e-mail from Dr Rhodes with a you-tube video of a young girl with RSD who was totally helped with his treatment. She is an inspiration for his plan. Why not us???

I am really sorry to hear that neither one of you have seen any improvements with tDCS. I can only imagine your frustration. When I had my first LSB and it didn't help at all I felt totally destroyed inside because it seemed like it was the answer (oh how new I was to RSD). I so hoped that you would both see SOME sort of improvement...whether it was that your were sleeping better, the pain was less, the hypersensitivity was less, flares lasted less time, more time between flares...SOMETHING.

Can I ask what protocols you have tried? Have either of you tried the one that I use or that others have used successfully? I know we are all different and so it likely takes finding just the right fit for their to be improvement...which is frustrating when you are essentially on your own to try and figure it out. Each one needs a good 2-4 weeks too before you can know and many of the best (in my opinion) improvements come after several MONTHS of use...at least that's how it worked for me. But I did see SOMETHING within the first couple weeks of finding the right one for me.

But I guess if RSD had an easy solution that worked for everyone with it then we all would have been cured a long time ago.

If either of you has any questions or even if you just need to vent (about whatever) please feel free to PM me. I can only really tell you about my own experiences since that's all I have to go on...but I am happy to share what I can.

Take care both of you and I hope you find some relief soon. Hugs.

The unit I have is too old to take the TENS wires that plug right into the unit. The initial wires coming out of the unit are hardwired into the unit and there is a snap connector on the end and the alligator clips are snapped on to this. I ordered the snap to pin converters after reading through this thread but what I am worried about is it looks like the converters are either only male or only female snap connections while the snap connector I have is one male and one female.

Also where can you get the elastic headbands? I have tried the ace bandage and it will due but I believe the elastic headbands would be easier. I tried emailing the generic email on the Soterix site but I did not get any response.

Good luck with the connectors...I hope they work out for you. I guess if they don't come in one male/one female connections then you will have to get two sets (one of each)...but hopefully you can find what you are looking for.

I don't use the elastic headband. I use the self sticking (sticks to itself but not to skin or hair) first aid tape instead. I have two bands that I just tied so they are the right size for my head and just reuse those until they fall apart and then cut a couple new lengths and start again. They last me a good couple months of daily use though before they get too messed up to be worth taking the time to fix. The tape is pretty cheap so it really isn't a big deal to make new ones. Might be worth a try.

I'm not sure where else you would order the elastic headbands from but there have to be other options online. Good luck!

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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation sounds like something that mainstream medicine should look into and start using more frequently on patients.
I, llike you think that the focus should be on the cause and not just treating symptoms. I hope you have much success in prompting the doctors you are working with, to get the word out about this. Best regards, Patience



QUOTE=ballerina;826040]My journey is very similar to other folks with CRPS. My options, however, may be more limited than many due to drug sensitivities. Ketamine is out of the question because I am allergic to it. I have grown weary of the tired advice that my pain needs to be better managed by drugs. I made the decision early on to heed the warning of research regarding Narcotics only increasing neuropathic pain long term.

Having had my share of frustration regarding what the medical profession has to offer me, most of what has helped me I have discovered from exhaustive research. I am fortunate that my treatment team has been open to trying whatever I bring to the table.

Since I decided early on that my thrust was going to be treating the cause of my pain as opposed to treating the symptoms I targeted anything that would address CRPS and brain plasticity.

Success with Graded Motor Imagery and Mirror Therapy, led me to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. I was turned down at three locations because I did not have clinical depression. When I discovered a t.D.C.S. Clinical Trial at Beth Israel in NYC I applied but was rejected. I appealed to the lead researcher and was treated as an outpatient last January.

While receiving the treatment I asked non-stopped questions of the lead researcher and physicians. I was struck with the simplicity of the treatment and commented that I believed that this treatment could be easily performed by patients in the comfort of their own homes, much like the operation of a TENS unit. That comment, like many of my comments to members of the medical profession, was not well received.

Since I had such a positive response to the treatment I decided I would attempt to convince my PM doctor to become trained and to offer the treatments. Although he initially agreed and I prepared an extensive stack of related research, prepared a detailed list of equipment needed with the most cost effective place to purchase the equipment as well as located resources for his training, after seven month of waiting it has not happened.

I wanted an additional series of treatments but could not afford the cost of putting myself up in NYC and shelling out $1,000 for the one week treatment. Fast forward to today. I took all that I learned, purchased the device and I am on my second week of treating myself. I am having a remarkable response.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation uses weak electrical current to affect brain plasticity by modulating the excitability of neurons. Think of it as recharging a car battery with jumper cables. The current is delivered by two saline soaked sponges applied to the scalp. The anode (+) stimulates the area under the electrode and the area under the cathode(-) is inhibited.

This procedure is quite safe and has minimal side effects, one cannot build up a tolerance to it, and it can be repeated indefinitely. It is effective for treatment-resistant chronic pain-everything from Fibromyalgia, Migraines, MS, to Tinnitus to depression and memory problems.

My first series of treatments last January ended my gastroparesis symptoms and they have not returned. All of the other gains I made in symptom reduction eventually wore off, similar to the way symptoms return with Ketamine infusions.

In only one week of treating myself for twenty minutes twice a day my tinnitus has vanished, my teeth clenching due to pain is reduced, my posture is improving, my right hand is no longer clenched. I am no longer sleeping with a bungee cord attached to my wrist and the bottom of my bed to keep my arm from curling up for eight hours at a time. I am able to wear a top for up to an hour and a half. (That's right-I can't wear anything on my upper body for any extended period of time- which means I am confined to one room of the house with a space heater, only half clothed) My range of motion is improving. Yesterday I unloaded the dishwasher for the first time in three years! Typically my body is covered in bruises because of falls. Although I have bruises on my abdomen and legs from a fall prior to beginning treatment about a week ago I have not fallen since I began treatment. By evening I am usually wiped and feeling irritable so I excuse myself and take an epson salts bath. For the past three evenings my husband has enjoyed my company so much that he insists I still take the bath but he comes in the room with me.

Two days ago was a most dreary raining and gray day. I looked out the kitchen door and noticed the poison ivy vine curling its way up the downspout. It had been a constant source of aggravation because I could not pull or dig it up. Suddenly is was a gorgeous orange and gold work of art. When I looked past it down the street I noticed the red and gold trees against the gray sky. The were absolutely beautiful. I had not noticed one single color of fall.

This is called not being able to see the trees for the pain.

My response has been truly remarkable and each day I see improvements. My plan is to continue treating until I see no additional improvements. I will then either wait until the treatment wears off or experiment with a booster treatment schedule.

The equipment consists of an Iontophoresis device used by physical therapists to deliver medication by way of direct current through the skin to the underlying tissues. The unit is powered by a 9 volt battery.

Additional supplies include sponge electrodes soaked in saline solution and wires (the kind used with a TENS unit)

I commented to my physical therapist last week that had she used the Iontparesis device on my brain, rather than on my shoulder when she first began treating my pain I would have probably gone into remission. She was less than pleased with my comment and stated that she would be recording in my chart that she did not condone my current use of the device. When I asked her if she had seen this kind of progress from any of her treatments in the last three years she admitted that she had not.

Oh well, onward and upward. I am either dragging the medical profession behind me or leaving them behind.

I would encourage any newly diagnosed CRPS folks to try this treatment for possible remission. There are many different protocols to try if pain relief does not happen on the first try.

I am an "old and cold" CRPS patient. Given the severity of my pain and other symptoms and the positive response I continue to have I would encourage others to consider this treatment.

Consider the costs and risks of a gold standard CRPS treatment, Ketamine infusions and the boosters that will be needed for life. A recent post detailed a total cost of $15,000 for a visit to Kirkpatrick for a round of Ketamine infusions.

I estimate my lifetime cost of treatment with tCDS to be at most $1,500.

Why has my pain management doctor not yet offered this treatment?????? I don't know. Food for thought-consider that pm docs generate most of their revenue from procedures, many of which are invasive, risky, or potentially dangerous to CRPS patients.

Hope this information is helpful!!!!!![/QUOTE]

Well...it's been a while since I posted an update about my progress but thought it might be worth sharing now that I have a few moments to myself to write it all out.

I've been back at work for almost 3 months now. It was shaky at first, very hard, but my body adapted to it and I figured out how to do the various things and get my work done. Even once I was adapted to things I was still pretty drained by the end of the day but I'm getting stronger and adapting to those increased pain levels and now most days I feel like I can stil function pretty normally once I get home and go about my normal routines. I'm still able to water the plants in the yard, take the dog out, cook dinner, etc.

That said...I honestly felt like I had really leveled off in terms of the benefits of the tDCS. My sensitivity has stayed about the same in the rest of my body...pain levels didn't seem noticeably different...still need the walker because my balance is not great, etc. I still do one treatment a day (two was just too much with the number of hours I work) but I wasn't seeing any great strides from where I was at beyond my adjusting to work and losing weight (not to pre-RSD levels but definitely some with all the physicality of work).

But I have still been pushing myself, especially while at home to walk without the walker as much as I can stand (which wasn't much). I mostly confined my efforts to the kitchen and the bathroom since those two rooms are so small that there is no "middle" of the room where I'm even outside of reach of a counter or table or whatever.

Well...two weeks ago I had landscapers come to our house and create a whole bunch of new flower beds. I found a good sale of perrennials for $1 that week and bought 20 to plant in there (I also bought more to plant this week that are being delivered Monday but that's not really important). Anyway...they are planted around the edges of our yard which is pretty good size. For the past week I have walked around the yard to water them with the watering can WITHOUT MY WALKER! I'm still wobbly and have to be very careful...but I can DO it. Hurts like all get out and I usually need to rest for at least 10 minutes after...but 2 months ago there is no way I could have done this. I am so proud of myself.

Just goes to show I think, that at least in my case, that the committment to keep going with treatments (physical therapy and tDCS) even when you think they're not doing much anymore can really pay off. Improvements for me have been terribly slow and gradual...but if I can get myself even to the point of not needing the walker at least at home I will be so very happy. Out of the house I don't know that I will ever be able to go without it...but who knows?

Important to note...the PAIN really hasn't improved much outside of the reduced sensitivity in my hands and arms. I have just come to accept that it is a part of my life now and I'm not letting it take me down. I use all my tricks for managing the pain every day without fail and have learned what I need to do in order to avoid the worst triggers. I will also honestly say that I don't KNOW whether the physical therapy I do myself or the tDCS or my return to work is the reason for my latest improvements...but I would be inclined to think that it is a mix of all three as they are all part of my treatment plan and all contribute at least a little to my gradual successes and improvements.

I want to create a tdcs device. Currently, I'm planning to use an iontopherisis device called Activadose II. Does anyone have input regarding what accessories would fit this device to create a tdcs device? I'm also open to tdcs configurations based around a different device. Lastly, is galvanic stimulation the same as direct current stimulation?