How far are you willing to go to eliminate your pain? What about using a Taser?
Imagine for a moment, someone says to you, they have a way for you forget about your chronic pain for a while and possibly for the long-term. Naturally, you would be both intrigued and skeptical but willing to hear the person out considering how much pain you’re in. Now imagine that same person suggesting you consider being tasered. I’m sure you ‘d do a double take and say, “Did you just say Tasered?
I recently watched a demonstration of a man tasered on television and it made me start to wonder. I mused if there was a way to shock my system so that it would override my chronic pain or triumph over it. Could it reset my pain levels and reduce my pain?
I wondered – if I subjected myself to a Taser session would it provide relief from the constant pain that controls my life? If another pain is distracting enough and of a short duration would my chronic pain fade into the background?
At this point I would not blame you for thinking “Is this guy is a little off his rocker?”. But living with constant, unrelenting pain, ideas you would normally disregard can fight their way through your logical mind and plant the seeds of bizarre ideas.
Before you completely write off the experience here are a few facts.
TENS Stimulator
There are numerous products on the market called Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) which I’m sure many pain sufferers are aware of. It uses electric current to stimulate the nerves for therapeutic purposes. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcutaneous_electrical_nerve_stimulation)
TENS is a nerve stimulation intended to reduce pain, both acute and chronic. The jury is out as to whether tens actually works. Results from a 2008 task force on neck pain found no clinically significant benefit to TENS for the treatment of neck pain when compared to placebo treatment. The unit is usually connected to the skin using two or more electrodes. A typical battery-operated TENS unit is able to modulate pulse width, frequency and intensity. I encourage anyone who tests out a TENS machine to increase the amount of electrical discharge slowly. If you start at the higher end you’ll find yourself jumping all around the room trying desperately to rip the electrodes off your skin! At the higher levels it’s akin to sticking your wet finger in a light socket, or grabbing two pieces of wire and sticking them in an electrical plug. The results are immediate, dramatic and quite painful. But if you start at a low level and increase the amount of discharge you will find a comfortable level.
My experience with the TENS machine is that while it is running is was distracting and in that way does help. However, once the power is switched off any effect is terminated and your chroinc pain returns. But while I had the machine on, it destracted me from my chronic pain – at least while I was sitting comfortably and not moving around.
The use of electrical current to treat pain has been with us for some time.
Here’s a bit of odd history.
” Electrical stimulation for pain control was used in ancient Rome, 63 A.D. It was reported by Scribonius Largus that pain was relieved by standing on an electrical fish at the seashore.” Source: Wikipedia
I can only imagine what the good citizens of Rome thought of their physicians when told to go to the seashore and find an electrical fish stand on it to relieve pain. But when you stop and think about it, if it worked, it would be a pretty damn clever idea for ancient Rome 64 A.D.! There are no records to suggest the type of fish that was used or whether it was successful!
Benjamin Franklin proposed electrostatic devices for headaches and other pain. We are all familiar with the image of Benjamin outside on a stormy night with the key attached are kite which he was flying during the electrical storm. I’m not sure if he was trying to reduce some pain or he just had too much to drink at the pub! But if you’re interested all you have to do is look up Benjamin Franklin and electricity and you can spend the next three days going through the information. I don’t have the time.
So that was the 1700s. “In the nineteenth century, a device called the electreat, along with numerous other devices were used for pain control and cancer cures. Only the electreat survived into the twentieth century, but was not portable, and had limited control of the stimulus. Source Wikipedia.
Development of modern TENS unit is credited to Dr. C. Norman Shealy.” All of this information I’ve quoted can be found courtesy of Wikipedia. Wikipedai was not my only source but all the other sources offered the same information so I only quoted Wikipedia for ease.
The modern TENS stimulator is about the size of a deck of cards with two leads, and electrodes provided to attach to your skin. I purchased one called ACU-STIM and have used it for about 10 years now. It’s expensive (as much as $400 for a medical device designation) and the electrodes that are attached to your skin have to be replaced on a regular basis.
Late-night television watchers will be familiar with a similar product called Dr. Ho’s TENS machine. I’ve never bought one to compare it, but the price is very reasonable and I imagine it works similar to the more expensive ones. However, the ones with medical designation are generally better built and I assume have more rigorous bench testing.
Another product that’s recently come on the market is a product called Circulation Booster. It promises to improve blood circulation, reduce swollen feet and ankles, alleviate tired and aching legs, and ease joint and muscle pain. The newer models also have separate plug-ins to insert your tens leads into and then attach them to the TENS electro pads. Again this operates on the identical principle of the TENS machine and as I mentioned earlier the jury is still out as to its effectiveness. But two members of my family is the circulation booster and they claim it has reduced the swelling in their feet.
I’m not here to recommend a product or to suggest that you run out and buy one. All I can say is that I’ve tried it and my experience is that while the current is being generated it seems to disrupt the pain activity and that in itself offers some relief. But do I experience any long-term benefit? I would have to say the answer is no. Once the machine is turned off and the electrical current stops my pain levels return to normal. I think what happens is that when you crank it up to a high enough level it changes the pain experience. And I know it’s a bit of a cliché but sometimes a change is as good as a rest and if you’re sitting around watching television or reading the TENS Stimulator can be working in the background interrupting the nerves and you just might experience some relief.
…. But back to the Taser!
In my mind two pain types do not exist easily at the same time. I realized that I was creating pain by using the Taser, but since it was a different kind of pain I could take it and perhaps obtain relief from the chronic pain. I know this sounds a bit complicated but substituting one pain for another at least provides some relief – even if it’s only in your mind.
Eventually, I dismissed the idea of using the Taser, and rather quickly I might add, just so you don’t think I’m completely out to lunch. However, later I read that some professional athletes and wrestlers had tried this method (“Tasering” themselves) to combat their chronic pain! Somewhere along the way they must’ve seen a demonstration of the Taser and had the same idea I had. But they went a step further and actually purchased the Taser to test it out on themselves. When I read the stories and why they thought this might help – is sounded very familiar. A cautionary note that Taser’s are only available to peace officers and police departments. So the next time you’re in Las Vegas resist the temptation to pick up a Taser and bring it home to Canada. It will be confiscated. So even if you (as a Canadian) wanted to try this method its illegal to own one.
Professional athletes and wrestlers suffer from chronic pain after their careers have ended. Or their careers have ended because of pain and damage to their bodies. Many become hooked on barbiturates and opioids and in some cases these choices have ended their lives. Read about former athletes who have to take morphine and similar painkillers just to get out of bed in the morning. Sound familiar to you the chronic pain suffers? I believe the ones who have died as a result of medications, have a much more complicated history surrounding drug use. Steroids are also very common and excessive use can cause something called “Roid Rage”. They are also used to self-medicating and this can also cause problems for the patient. With so many drugs and many of them contraindicated with painkillers like morphine there is always a greater possibility of death.
The point of my article here is not about using a Taser to alleviate chronic pain. No, I wanted to explore how far people will go to find a way to eliminate chronic pain. It has such a complete hold on your life that there is nothing you wouldn’t do to get rid of it and to live a normal life.
Consider the process a person goes through to substitute one pain or another clearly more painful experience and thinking that there was some merit in the experiment. We’ve all seen someone shot using a tazer and clearly we can see how painful it is.
I know I’m not the only person who’s ever considered using a Taser and I suspect that there are quite a number of people who considered it. For those of you who are not chronic pain sufferers who happened to be reading this article I encourage you to carefully ruminate on what motivates someone to consider such an extreme measure.
For the fun and partially for my own education I’d like to hear from readers who have tried unusual off-beat ways of dealing with your chronic pain. I’m not talking about taking medication or even experimenting with marijuana. These are not “out there” enough. I’m looking for off-the-wall ideas like using a Taser to change the kind of pain you’re experiencing. I’d also be interested if anyone has used the Taser and what was your experience?
Believe me nothing is too off-the-wall for me to consider as I most likely have thought of them myself already. I look forward to hearing from you.
dgerrior 