So, for those of you who don’t know, a TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) machine is a little gadget that you can use for pain relief. You attach little electrodes to your skin around the area where you have pain and although no one seems to know quite how it works – whether it blocks pain signals before they can reach your brain, whether they stimulate the production of endorphins, both, or something else entirely – the pain, in my experience at least, instantly starts to  dissipate. As a chronic pain sufferer, I wish I’d known about this earlier so I thought I’d share my experience in case it’s useful to someone else, someone else who’s in pain.

A while ago, I seriously messed up my back. I don’t know what happened exactly, to be honest: I was sitting on the ground, playing with a neighbour’s puppies and I was getting a little stiff without anything to support my back but everything was basically fine. Then I tried to get up and the pain in my back was so bad that I was momentarily paralysed; it was so painful that I couldn’t think, couldn’t remember how to move even if I wanted to. When the shock of it wore off, I figured that sitting without any support had just resulted in more pain than usual but with some painkillers and time on my heat pad, I’d be fine. But several hours later, I still thought I would scream or throw up or collapse if I so much as twisted slightly. It was hideous.

After several days – and several moments of spasm-like pain that had me sobbing on the floor, unable to move – there was still no improvement. I was taking the strongest over-the-counter painkillers, as well as alternating hot and cold, but none of it was helping beyond the odd moment of relief. My sleep was also terrible because the pain woke me up every time I tried to turn over. I’d decided to give it the weekend before going to the doctor between encouragement from both my Mum and my therapist, I ended up going as soon as we could get an appointment. The doctor was convinced of my pain immediately, give the way I hobbled into the room. He was great, prescribing medication for a few weeks before reassessing; the strongest he could give me was Co-codamol and Diclofenac with Omeprazole to protect my stomach (his first instinct had been Tramadol but that would’ve interacted with my antidepressant, Phenelzine, which I’d predicted before he’d even thought of it – Phenelzine can be a real pain sometimes) and wanted me to come back if I was still struggling in a few weeks. The thought nearly made me cry; my history with medication isn’t good and I wasn’t feeling any more optimistic about this combination. But I agreed to do it: it was the best I was going to get and I had things that I needed and desperately wanted to do.

As I’d predicted, they didn’t really work. I had a little relief around the peak of their effectiveness but most of the time, I was still in so much pain that I could barely move: whimpering, crying, nauseous… I had to keep my movement extremely limited but between the painkillers and a back brace that I bought out of desperation, I started to do a few things again, things I was desperate to do and things that couldn’t be rescheduled; it wasn’t the most comfortable thing ever but the support did allow me to do a bit more and live a life not confined to the sofa, plus I could finally take a deep breath again (sneezing was fucking awful, I kid you not).

So even though I had a couple of coping mechanisms, I was still in a lot of pain – too much pain. I could barely do anything. But then I spoke to a physiotherapist we know and she suggested a TENS machine. That was when everything changed, about three weeks after the pain started. We attached it to my back, turned it on, and once I got the settings right, the pain seemed to shift, like it was breaking up in my muscles. I almost fell over with sheer relief. And after having it on for a while, the pain was gone: I went from barely able to move to walking around and managing a limited number of events. And I wasn’t constantly exhausted – or in tears all the time – from being in pain. It wasn’t perfect though and the pain returned when I wasn’t attached to it but it did grant me periods of significant relief and for that, I am definitely grateful. The sensations from the different modes – mine has eight and then you can adjust the intensity – can be really weird and not always comfortable and, in my experience at least, the electrodes need replacing more often than I’d like (when in constant pain, you do find yourself going through them quickly and that can get expensive), plus mine is a bit flimsy (one of the electrode wires broke this morning but fortunately it was the part that you replace anyway, not the permanent part). Having said that, it’s been fantastic for relieving my pain and, given how often I struggle with chronic pain, it will definitely become a staple in my toolbox. Although when it needs replacing, I think I’ll get a more upmarket one now that I know how effective it is.

About six weeks after the pain began, with the help of the TENS machine and sporadic use of painkillers, I’m basically functional again although I do struggle after a long day or standing or walking (by my standards at least) – I attach it to my back or various points on my legs and I recover so much faster than I did before; it’s definitely still coming in handy. But rather than using it multiple times a day, I’m only using it every few days so whatever happened is definitely healing and I should be back to normal soon. I’ve even managed to start some gentle hydrotherapy; I had to be careful not to overexert myself and it had been a pretty long time since I’d been in the pool so I was a bit stiff and sore afterwards but painkillers and the TENS machine had it completely covered. So I’m not sure that this will be a problem much longer, which will be a huge, huge relief.

So while it does have it’s disadvantages, I’m definitely a fan. It’s a pretty simple system, it’s versatile, and it’s very effective. As I said, it will be a constant presence in my pain management toolbox from now on.

So, there is the story of my latest chronic pain episode and the TENS machine that rescued me. Hopefully, this will give you a glimpse into what using one for pain is like and whether it’s something that might be helpful to you – although, as always, consult a professional first because there are some conditions that react badly to its effects – please always make sure you’re safe.