Has anyone tried Scrambler Therapy for neuropathy or for pain?

@lweave2
Hi, my wife was going to try it, or at least was thinking about it until we found out there was no facility near us that owned a unit and was offering the service. When I was reading about it initially (5-6 years back) the units cost over $100,000 and there were several in use at various facilities. But the problem was the treatment takes 2 weeks so you have to travel and stay at a hotel for over 2 weeks, plus the treatment cost was at least $5000. The kicker was when you find out that you may (or probably) would need to go back for a booster treatment after 2 or 3 months. And this is for a treatment that might or might not work. The whole idea just had too many drawbacks, unless you lived near a unit. Hank

Hank, thank you for your reply, I live near Atlanta & I was wondering why there is a PT clinic in Buford Georgia but none in Atlanta. If this treatment helps decrease pts pain so much & is so expensive then why wouldnt it be offered in a big city like Atlanta? I will contact the PT who did go to Emory University and ask her some questions. I'm very curious, and I will let you all know what I find out.-Thanks again👱‍♀️

I have also read very good things about it, and I am thinking of doing it. First, pain doc is trying a few things. Just had epidural, which did nothing for severe neuropathy in my feet. Calmare will be my choice, if my pain doc cannot manage my pain. I do not know anyone who has actually tried Calmare. Lori Renee

Hi, It's Lori Renee again. A bit more about Calmare/ Scrambler Therapy. I had 10 treatments, for 45 minutes each treatment. Electrodes were attached to my feet and charged till they reached as far as I could tolerate without feeling pain. I felt vibrations, tiny stings here and there. Nothing painful at all. Each session, electrode placement might be changed a bit. After about the third session, pain decreased considerably and I had relaxed toes for the first time in a year. I could wiggle them, and that was a hoot!!!! The horrid sensations in my toes ended, and that created most of the pain. I still have very stiff ball of feet, but they do not throb anymore. They used to cause excruciating pain. The man who did the treatments had no answers for the symptoms that are left. I still use CBD salve on the balls of my feet, march in place so my feet stop burning. Like I said, Calmare is not perfect, but SO much better. I even got a bouquet of flowers after my treatment was over. I pray that my improvements. last. I may have to have booster treatments, but was told the pain never comes back as severe as it started. I went to Spero Pain Clinic in Riverwoods, Illinois. The owner of the clinic also does the treatments, and has had years of experience administering the treatment. He treats any kind of nerve related pain. God Bless him.

@lweave2.
Yes, its important that the person administering the treatment be well versed in the usage of the machine. That is critical that they be highly skilled as I recall.

Are the effects from this calmare therapy temporary making it necessary to continue and I wonder if it works on everyone and would the pain then appear somewhere else??? Helen

@helennicola
Helen, I hope Lori @lorirenee1 will respond here as I know she went through the entire treatment plan with mixed results ultimately. From what I remember from my own research, most (or many) of the people who receive some pain reduction do have to go back after a period of time for a follow up treatment which is one of the drawbacks I mentioned in my previous post. And I believe some may need to go back multiple times. That just would not work for us. Unless perhaps the unit was located in our area. Best, Hank

@jesfactsmon @helennicola I had Calmare (Scrambler) therapy in two groups of ten sessions. It did not spread pain anywhere, but ultimately, it did not help. The first group of 10 treatments seemed to lessen my pain considerably for about 3 weeks, but then the pain ramped up again. The second group of 10 treatments just did not help at all. I do think that most people that get it do have to come back for repeat treatments, all of the time. It is also very important that the person who does it has a lot of experience doing it, as that seems to make a difference from what I was told. I met a few CRPS patients waiting to get the treatment that said they could not function without it. Everyone is different in their results. Lori Renee

Lori Renee, Hank, I am so sorry it did not help after spending what must have been a substantial amount of time and money. I would hope there was at least some partial refund. Thank you for responding Lori, it’s good to have some facts based on real experiences, negative and positive. Hank, I think you should write a book based on all the fact gathering you have done; it could be very useful. 🤗 Helen