TENS Machine

A TENS Unit on Amazon.com


You can buy Tens machines for around £30 in the UK & I've known many people use them successfully for back pain.

Anyway.. I was wandering around the net and came across a few posts about using them for tinnitus. As usual there are sites saying it works and sites saying it's a load of rubbish.

But it seems that it mainly works for people who have T because of TMJ / neck problems etc. & that it gets worse before it gets better (if indeed it is going to get better...).

Interested to know if anyone has tried it?

'One small study showed 46% of participants had improved or completely resolved tinnitus using a TENS unit.7 Patients used the units at home for two hours per day over two weeks time. Intermittent “typewriter” type of tinnitus was the most responsive. Somatic tinnitus without otologic disease had better response than tinnitus associated with otologic causes.'

'The somatic tinnitus syndrome includes those forms of tinnitus that are associated with a somatic disorder involving the head and upper neck. It has been suggested that physiological mechanisms where interactions occur between the somatosensory and auditory systems are the etiology for that kind of tinnitus. Trans-electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) of areas of skin close to the ear increases the activation of the dorsal cochlear nucleus through the somatosensory pathway and may augment the inhibitory role of this nucleus on the CNS and thereby ameliorate tinnitus. In a prospective descriptive study of 26 patients with the probable diagnosis of somatic tinnitus we found that TENS could improve the tinnitus in 46% of the participants (23% did not hear it anymore, and in 23% its intensity was reduced). VAS scores improved from 6.5 to 6.0 after 2 weeks of treatment (p<0.01). Patients used TENS at home for 2h, once per day during 2 weeks (alternating ramped burst, 150 pps, with pulse duration of 100 micro s, amplitude 0-60 mA; average TENS intensity was 27 mA). Intermittent "typewriter" type of tinnitus was the most responsive. Somatic tinnitus without otologic disease had better response than tinnitus associated to otological causes (p=0.047).'


Also found a page on a health insurance site - it mentions TENS treatments but I found the rest of it fascinating. Seems it's a kind of guide for whether they'll pay for the treatments?

http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/400_499/0406.html

 

Hi Erik
Mine has never sounded like a typewriter but a lot of what I've been reading actually makes sense. If T can be caused by muscle/posture problems TMJ etc. then possibly it could work. Many of us tend to 'hunch' our shoulders at the computer & I know that often after programming into the early hours of the morning I'd stand up and think my shoulders were 'stuck' - I suppose concentrating on something makes us forget to sit properly.

Some of the reports do say that some found their T worse afterwards so I suppose we'd have to be very brave to try it.. and I think I'm currently a long way off very brave .
Jane

 

I had a quick look and found two rather interesting studies involving TENS machines and Tinnitus,

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17956803

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20505927


They mention in both papers that some people completely got rid of their Tinnitus (But not all or a majority) I don't know what to really make of that however.

 

Yes, I read those pages Molan - there's tons of info out there on Tens and T... I spent about an hour and a half reading it but I did end up with the usual 'some say it's good.. some say it's rubbish' scenario. But you never know - maybe it would work for some of us

Is anyone brave enough to try it?

Good luck with your MRI Erik - hope it's not too scary.

 

Hi all

I had muscle pull in my neck and went to orthopedician who asked me to undergo physiotherapy.It was in the form of neck massage and then transcutaneous electric stimulation[tens] of neck muscles for 5 to6 min.I was having low T day on the day of physiotherapy.The next day my tinnitus increased.Then on second day it was low day.The physiotherapist asked me to try ultrasoud diathermy[3 mhz] instead of tens.When he placed probe over my neck I heared high pitched sound in my ears on both sides even on covering the ears with fingers .I refused treatment after 15 to 30 seconds.The next day again I had high pitched tinnitus which was a bit louder than my usual T.It may be due to anxiety or sleeplessness [got up at 4.30].
The character of my T has changed now ,it has become more high pitched and not easily masked with music as was previously particularily at night.Although it sill fluctuates as it used to do earlier.
Can anyone tell his experience with these two procedures.Although TENS and ultrasound havebeen used in treatment of tinnitus.

 

I have somatic T and I might actually be brave enough to try and explore this. I will keep you posted!

 

I just ordered this TENS device (74€) and I will use it to my neck left C2 nerve like in the study mentioned above. My physiotherapist always finds issues there so fingers crossed...

https://www.beurer.com/web/en/products/gentle_therapy/ems-tens.php?pid=3780

 

click wrote:
If T can be caused by muscle/posture problems TMJ etc. then possibly it could work.

I tend to agree with you. I bought my daughter a tens machine hoping it would help her after she had complications for a spinal fusion. She found that it does give her some relief. I thought about trying it for my tinnitus as an experiment but really have no faith in it as my tinnitus is caused by Meniere's. I suspect that when tinnitus is a symptom of a disorder that can be successfully treated or responds to stimulation then it might be possible to eliminate it. There are many causes of tinnitus however including psychological so it might be a long shot. Tens machines are often used by physiotherapists for sports injuries etc....

 

Hi , did you order from this website ? Cant seem to find a buy section? I am sleepy though and might be missing it ?

 

@RaZaH Good luck! Be very careful about placement. Let us know how it works.

 

Indeed I did @Markku - Verkkokauppa.com is my prefered choice here in Finland. With some luck I will get the device today. I have a time scheduled with my physiotherapist to try this machine also next Wednesday. She can at least help me find the right C2 joint spot if I can't find it myself.

 

Update to my adventures with TENS device. The Beurer device was total crap. Impossibly hard and complicated to use + I didn't feel a thing when I turned it on. So I returned the device and just bought this one (95€) from a local store. No digital bs stuff but analogic knobs etc and this thing works and is simple to use.

http://www.mettlerelectronics.com/tens-210/

I just put the device on to my neck. I can feel the vibrations... it's like ants are running in my neck. Can't say yet if this works or not. Other side electrode might not be totally in place, because other side feels stronger. T definetly is the same or maybe even quieted down a bit. If I move my chin backwards, T still spikes. I'll use this more and update...

 

I did not buy a device yet , any news on this @Sound Wave

 

Yes and no. My new device works like a charm, but I have only used it a couple of times. I plan to use it soon some more and reverse the positive and negative electrodes against how it was done in the C2 study. For me, the negative electrode feels stronger than the positive when I place them in my neck. I am also going to get help in modding this TENS device into a tVNS device for external vagus nerve stimulation. It should be just a replacement of the standard electrode to an ear-electrode. Will update here when it's done!

 

Hi, I've been researching heavily for the three years I've been suffering with T. I had a deviated septum and ear tube placement operation which relieved the pressure headaches and lowered the noise level. However the recurrent and variable "bad" days continue. I have bought a tens unit and have been experimenting with it and I'm in the process of combining it with the best of the natural supplements that have shown some effectiveness for me. My advice is to use the lowest setting on any tens device to start and slowly ramp it up after waiting a full day to see the effects. http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/400_499/0406.html this is an excellent summary page of real research. My take on the whole problem is that after you finish with whatever "physical" ear problems with a qualified ENT. You have to combine several different treatments from tens to supplements to audio retraining over a long period of time to overcome the brain's "Habituation". Probably many months to years to make permanent changes for the better. When I get more results I'll post more about it. But I am now confident that persistence and consistency is the key.

 

In the absence of an effective strategy, persistence and consistency are not particularly helpful.

In my opinion, anyway.

Stephen Nagler

 

Can you explain what you did / attempt to mod your device?

 

I took one original TENS cable and had it's electrode replaced with the tVNS ear-electrode. Quite a simple procedure.

 

is there any place where I can order a tVNS electrode or something similar online?

 

You might want to contact the Helsinki Tinnitus clinic -> hei@tinnitus.fi

 

Check this out from Philips:

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/17/philips-app-controlled-pain-reliever/

 

I do TENS every week for my Tinnitus TMJ problems.

Last week the electrodes were on my temporalis muscles, near the eyes. And after 5 minuts on setting 2/10 the tinnitus became louder. I have temporalis pain intermittant too. My physiotherapist says that TENS quicly tightens the muscles and loosens them. But after the treatmnt I felt nauseous.

 

@Codaz Have you tried TENS to C2 area in the neck like in the De Ridder's study?

 

Yes, please be careful re placement, especially on the scalp. Electricity in the wrong places can overstimulate an already electric environment. A couple of months into t, a bad acupuncturist placed tens near my temporal lobe which caused a whole new high pitched t in both ears, whereas before I only had low pitched t in one ear.

 

So can TENS make Tinnitus?

before I got my Tinnitus, I had a big back contraction, so I went to massages and mild Tens, but one day there was another diferent doctor than normally and he put me a strong tens, he said it must be strong to relax my back. I think was so strong that could feel near my neck too even he put only in my back. Could that be the cause of my tinnitus?

 

TENS on my jaw muscles is limited to intensity 2 or 3 out of 10. On your back or legs you can have 8 or 9 out of 10 my physiotherapist said.

@Sound Wave Not yet, but I got a reply from De Ridder last night. He suggested muscle relaxant drugs.

Deanxit+Rivotril
Cyclobenzaprine
Amisulpride

But what paper is it of the C2 Tens?

As long as physiotherapy makes it better and better I am not going to do the drugs. Maybe later I will, I have some options to look into now. Intensity is 1 or 2/10. And I cannot affort TRT.

 

Here you are @Codaz. Cool that you are in touch with De Ridder! Could you also ask him his opinions on using a TENS device as tVNS device, i.e. attach an earlobe electrode to the TENS device.