I have two IF4000 interferential tens machines that I've used for back pain for years. Can you tell me exactly which ones they use?

I tried one of them around my ankle where the RDS orginated and I had no deep pain or in fact no deep sensation of any kind at all like I get elsewhere. I think it was due to edema? But I can mess with this some more if I'm using the right kind of tens machine. These are actually stronger and go deeper than a regular tens machine (Moderators, I hope this link is ok to post. If not please remove):

http://www.amazon.com/AccuMeds-Inter...ferential+unit

Any help appreciated.

Denise

I just traveled from CA to RI for Calmar Tx with my 15 yo daughter who has had severe CRPS for 3 years. It worked! If you log on to the website or you tube you can see exactly what they do. They use the electrodes and put them on you, based on your affected pain area....check it out. CALMARE it awesome!!!

I agree I would like to know more too..like what is it?How to they apply?how long does it take?anything that would help us understand..thank you very much

I think I described it earlier in this thread - go back and take a look But if you have more questions, I'd be glad to share our experience.

We had tried a tens machine before, too. In our experience, it's very different in several significant ways.

An update for those that said they are interested

Christmas was special this year, because if we made it to Christmas without my daughter coming out of remission, it would be her longest remission (she's in her 3rd remission) ...

Anndddd ....

She made it - and is going strong!!!!

I thought she was going to lose it a few weeks ago, but she turned a corner, and is now in her longest remission and going very strong!

Wonderful news! Thank you for sharing your experiences. Your daughter is blessed to have such a strong parent by her side!

I only have about 6 hours with no pain from the RSD, sadly though it comes back and when I mean it comes back it goes right back up the pain scale. I was wondering if anyone out there is having the similar issue of not working has you hoped it would have. (This doctor that worker's comp is paying for, is not buying that I know the difference of the RSD pain and other pain. I worked in health care for over 8 years, I know this is the RSD pain. I worked on a broken foot for two whole months at the hospital, I know what pain is. I cannot find a job due to the fact that the medications cause bad side effects like becoming dizzy. Then I cannot wear shoes nor socks. I cannot stand or sit for a long time. Then in my arms, I have RSD from the finger up to back of my neck. He also complains that I need to focus on what I want to do, well when I get the resources on what I need to do, I will go back to school to learn to do something that will provide me a job. Sorry, I got off subject.)

I've also read that they are just glorified Tens machines. Had one of those didn't work

We went through that this last time my daughter came out of remission. We tried a provider closer to home, but you could tell that they just weren't as experienced, plus for some reason they changed the pads to a normal TENS pad, and although she "zeroed out" during treatment, the pain came back about 6 hours later, like you, and after 4 treatments, the pain came back completely over the weekend. The next week, we went back to the provider that we went to last time, and it worked really well, and she's back in remission.

I'll give some more details in my next post, but I wanted to reply specifically to your post since we went through what you were asking about.

It’s taken me a long time to post again on this thread, because it is a very controversial topic, as well as a very emotional and painful topic for me, so I needed to have some time and space to think how best to respond. Then we went through a death in the family, and I had to travel across the country to deal with that. Then my daughter came out of remission, and we had to go through two cycles of Calmare treatments to get her back into remission (the first one was with a provider a lot closer to home, but they didn’t have the experience, and it wasn’t working well, so we went back to the other provider and it worked great and she’s back in remission).

The thread starter asked for "this is what it's like" or "here's what to expect" personal experience stories, so I’ll share some more details now. As far as personal experience, my daughter and I have personal experience with both a TENS machine and the Calmare machine. We've both had many, many treatments with a TENS machine because of surgeries and RSD, but we just didn't know that was its name until a month or so ago when I finally realized that the electrical thingy that they were hooking us up to at PT was a TENS machine (and my PT confirmed this).

So here is one big difference that I, as a patient, saw between the two : they are hooked up VERY differently. TENS machine pads go right on the sore area or close around it, but Calmare pads are just the opposite - they do NOT go on the worst area at all - in fact, they specifically stay away from it. Half of the pads go around it, and the other half go on the spine. So when my daughter was treated with a TENS machine at PT, the pads all went on her foot, close to the sorest areas. However, when she was treated with the Calmare machine, half of the pads circled around the original injury site area but stayed away from it, and the other half went on her spine. We never had that setup with a TENS machine, in all of our many treatments with it. Also, the feeling that we get is very different.

As far as some helpful facts to add to the collection : the Calmare machine has its own separate, unique U.S. patent - number 8,380,317 - which was granted on February 19, 2013. Here is the link to the U.S. patent office showing the Calmare patent: here. The criteria for getting a U.S. patent is that it has to be something that is “NEW and useful” (link - here). IOW, the Calmare machine, although in the general category of TENS (and there are a lot of TENS machines out there!) has something that is so new and different that it has received its own unique patent. I think that says a lot about how different it is from a regular TENS machine.

Also, highly prestigious medical institutions like the Mayo Clinic and the National Cancer Institute clearly think it's different than a regular TENS machine, because they are conducting official government tests with it. If you go to http://clinicaltrials.gov, an official U.S. government website, and search for "Scrambler", you can check out these studies. I just don't see why they would do this with something that is only another TENS machine.

Anyway, I hope the facts and experiences that people are sharing will help members to know a little more about this treatment.