So Far, So Good . . .

About 4pm Jan and I drove over to the Victory Lakes/League City Denny’s for dinner/breakfast.  Normally I just have the 2 eggs, bacon, English Muffin, and fruit, but for some reason I’ve had kind of a sweet tooth the last week or two, so, uncharacteristically, I went with the Cinnamon Roll Pancakes.

Denny's Pancakes

Really good, but I think I’m in Sugar Overload Mode.

Then it was across the street to WalMart for a couple of things, but mostly for a temporary TENS unit like this one.

IcyHot TENS Unit

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve got one on order from Amazon that should be here on Monday, but after reading all the raves online from people with Sciatica using a TENS unit with great success, and having such a rotten time trying to sleep last night, I didn’t want to wait two more days.

Getting home, and unusual for me, I opened the box and read the directions. But then I am connecting my body up to a battery.

But it turned out to be pretty simple. Just connect the control unit to the electrode patch, stick it in place, turn it on, and press the + button to set the output between 1 and 63.

I increased the level to about 15, to the point where I could start to feel it. But it was not a shock but more of a vibration, or buzzing. The unit runs for 30 minutes and then shuts off. They recommend letting the battery rest for 5-10 minutes before restarting.

The unit seems to cycle in 15 second intervals, starting slow and light, and getting stronger and quicker.

I did start it up, and laid down for a couple of hours, and felt fine. But tonight will be the real test. I’m going to bump it up to 30 and see if I can get through the night without the burning pain?

We’ll see.

By the way, I also picked up a package of the refills.

IcyHot TENS Unit ReFills

Turns out the refills are just new electrode patches to use when the sticky wears off the first one. Seems like that’s what duck tape should be for.

Also, when I was checking this unit out online, I found a wide variation in pricing. While WalMart had it for $28.88, Walgreen’s had it for $39.99. And WalMart has the refill pack for $9.88, at Walgreen’s it’s $15.99.

So shop around.

If these things work, I’ll probably use both of them at various times, especially since the IcyHot version has no wires to get in the way when I’m out and about.


Thought for the Day:

Nobody realizes the tremendous energy I expend every day merely to appear normal.

fgh