TENS Machines, do they work?

[showmethegin]

I suffer with absolutely horrendous period pains (can't get off the bathroom floor horrendous sometimes). Have had every test under the sun and am on incredibly strong painkillers but they take a long time to kick in and don't totally fix it!

Has anyone used a TENS machine for this?

Yes - I didnt use it for periods but used it for labour (loooong 3 day labour) and it really helped with that! I would imagine that it would help with period pains since the pain is very similar (obviously I would usually say labour pains are much more intense but if you cant physically get of the floor with your period pains then that sounds almost at labour level intensity anyway...) And I know it wasn't just a placebo effect because a few times the plastic sticky things came detached from my back and I couldn't physically move to replace it until the contractions finished. I had it dialled all the way up to 10 though.

I was going to keep it for my periods but... a few months after giving birth I had the mirena coil fitted and it almost completely stopped my periods and completely stopped the period pains (I know that's not the case for everyone but it is fairly common). So that might be worth looking into if you haven't already. Yes, the insertion is painful especially pre-children, but to be honest you will probably cope with it better if you are already coping with excruciating periods (I doubt it will hurt more) - and the pain trade of is probably worth it.

sorry - the yes was obviously to the title question "do TENS machines work" rather than specifically about period pains.

Yes and no
Initially I found it worked great but over time it wasn't so effective
I used it for RA joint pain combined with traditional pain relief

I think your body can get used to it

I’ve tried the Ovira thingy for the last couple of months - it’s heavily marketed on fb as this very high-tec magic device with a 100% hit rate at curing period pain, but it turns out it’s basically a tarted up tens machine and it’s not really done much for me.

I have endo and horrifically heavy/painful periods since I had my DD. My DH ordered me one to try, bless him, but I’m just going through the process of sending it back. I didn’t like the sensation of having sticky pads stuck to me, or the feeling of the pulse from the machine - and it didn’t really help in terms of pain relief (I prefer a plug-in heat pad and painkillers!).

Also not a fan of the ‘people with periods’ guff all over their website, despite the fact that they refer to the device as ‘she’ .

They do have a v enthusiastic Fb group full of women who rave about it though, so it obviously does work for some - they do a 100 day trial so might be worth a punt?

I used one in labour and I might as well have burned tenners for all the pain relief it provided.