Did a TENS machine work for you?

[~Hestia~]

How many epic pad things did everyone go through? Or are they reusable? I only used 1 set (hope you don't mind me asking)

Pretty sure just the one set, DH stuck mine down with duct tape as he was worried they would come off lol!

[~Hestia~]

Oh and as for how it works - the theory is it dulls the pain by over stimulating the nerves. Feels like pins and needles.

[Mrs P]

They worked for me until I had to be monitored. Which meant I couldn't use it anymore. At that stage I was abt 5cm. Ended up with a bit of gas & water injections. I would have use tens for longer if I could.

Did they say why you couldn't use it during monitoring? I'm going for a VBAC and will have a lot (potentially continuous) monitoring. So it will throw my plans if I can't use the TENS! Though I could still use it at home of course before going to hospy.

Thanks for all the replies girls - am feeling very positive about this now!

[veus]

Did they say why you couldn't use it during monitoring? I'm going for a VBAC and will have a lot (potentially continuous) monitoring. So it will throw my plans if I can't use the TENS! Though I could still use it at home of course before going to hospy.
!

I think it was more because they couldn't get the 'wireless' one on me. And so i think that interferes with the head probe one. And cause I've been having contractions for days and not much progress. I was a bit 'concern' when they took it off me but it was much more manageable than I thought. I think being the first one I needed a 'comfort' thing. Have faith in yourself. You can do it. Look forward to hearing your birth story.

[Mrs P]

Thanks veus

[Pholi]

I used it from a few hours before 4cm (it took me 8 hours to get that far) and then for the next 8 hours, when I was 5-6 or 8-9cm, depending which mw I wanted to believe. It was AWESOME for me, until the boost button started to misbehave and only worked intermittently. In retrospect I remember being advised to put fresh batteries in if that happened, but I didn't remember at the time, and I ended up needing an epidural, because the pain was pretty severe when the boost button didn't do its job. I reckon I could have gone right to the end with only the TENS if I'd remembered to change the batteries.

[misty]

I had to turn it off when they actually doing the monitoring (about ten minutes where the machine check bubs heartbeat etc, when I first went in), but didn't have to unstrap it.