Mama-tens TENS Machine for labour (TENS Pain Relief Unit)

Member Name: mrsgladwin

Product:	TENS Pain Relief Unit
Date:	14/05/09 (657 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Distracts from pain

Disadvantages: Didn't actually ease the pain, was still as intense

When I was pregnant with my son I decided I wanted to try and have as natural delivery as I could manage. It was my first pregnancy and I was realistic enough to know that I would not be able to cope with no pain relief at all. I therefore hired the mama-tens TENS machine from Mothercare at £29.99 for four weeks. Luckily they offered a free 2 week extension as I ended up being 16 days over due and needing to be induced.

TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation and works by delivering small electrical pulses to the body via electrodes placed on the skin, that is thought to help ease pain. The electrodes are placed in two positions on the back; two are placed just below the bra strap and two just above the knicker line.

The TENS itself has different levels of intensity, the aim being that you start at the lowest and increase it as your contraction pains increase. There is also a function where you press a button as soon as your contractions start and press it again when the pains subsides to return it to normal. The aim of this is to give more concentrated sensations at the height of your contractions.

I personally found the TENS useful in distracting me from the pains of my contractions rather than easing the pain any. I found it helpful to keep myself busy as an attempt to take my mind off the pain and found working through the settings helpful for this. However, I was in labour for 10 hours before needing an emergency c-section, and had I not needed the operation I would have needed further pain relief to continue with giving birth naturally.

As I was induced, I required a Syntocinon drip to progress my labour and I have read that this increases the intensity of the contraction pains and makes the process more painful. This was my first child and so I have nothing to compare it to so can neither agree nor disagree with this claim. However, should it be true, this could explain why I struggled to manage with this form of pain relief alone, and had it been a natural birth it may have been more effective

Summary: Helpful forkeeping busy and distracting from the pain but the pain is still as intense