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Can a tens unit make my neuropathy symptoms worse?
I have peripheral idiopathic neuropathy in both legs from knees down. Mostly numbness and occasional cramping. Using a tens unit ( under the care of a chiropractor) for about a month. Now I wake-up with both legs feeling hot. Is that a good sign? Otherwise there is no change in symptoms.
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How would you even know where to place the electrode pads?
Nothing I found suggests that the heat is a side effect. On the other hand, everything I found when I looked into this says it only works for pain, and not for any other neuropathy symptoms. And most of what I found said specifically, and pretty emphatically, to not use it if you have numbness, because you might burn yourself. So if you think the heat might be a symptom of internal (???) burning I would definitely stop. In fact, I'm kind of surprised that any responsible medical practitioner would have suggested a TENS unit to someone with numbness symptoms.
If you are trying to target cramps, I know that the only thing that has ever worked for me is stretching the muscle -- sometimes when it gets bad I have actually had my husband do it, because it takes another person to apply enough pressure. Have you tried massage therapy on a regular basis to see if that reduces the frequency of the cramps? I don't get them often enough to try it, but it's another non-drug solution. If you do, let us know how it goes.
Thankfully, I use my chiropractor as part that help my unbalance. He uses a cold fusion laser. That is a brand-new way to get this. Before this, 9 mths ago, I had a surgery from my back the bottom in my back and very top of my rear-ends. That stopped pain and now adding the fusion to help and add my unbalance on my right middle leg.
Thx,
Greg D. @greg56xx
This