The ALPHA-STIM® 100
With so many products to choose from, believe it or not, it was a bit of a challenge to choose which one would be the first. In the end, I chose the Alpha-Stim 100® because it is a product/technology that really works and has quite a few benefits.
My initial reason for looking at Alpha-Stim technology was specifically as a way to relieve pain. Pain is a hugely complex issue. For anyone interested in diving a little deeper, there are a series of very interesting articles on the subject in the September 2009 issue of the magazine Scientific American MIND. Since a lot of pain signaling mechanisms are electro-chemical in nature, I felt that it made sense that a device that potentially disrupts those signals might be of benefit.
The Alpha-Stim was invented by Dr. Daniel Kirsch, a pioneer in the field of electro-medicine. For an introduction to the role that electricity can play in treating and healing various conditions in the body I suggest reading "The Body Electric
I won't go into detail about how it works because the Alpha-Stim.com website has plenty of information on that subject. What was, however, very interesting to me was the fact that there is quite a bit of published scientific research on it's efficacy. Again, for the details please visit their website.
There are three devices based on this technology available. The ALPHA-STIM® SCS (Stress Control System), The ALPHA-STIM® PPM (Personal Pain Manager) and the ALPHA-STIM® 100, encompassing all the functionality of both other units, and more expensive than the other two. I chose the ALPHA-STIM® 100 because I was interested in evaluating/using it for more than just pain. It just so happens that the ALPHA-STIM® 100 is also very effective in treating anxiety, insomnia and depression in addition to pain, all of which were affecting Julien in some way or another. The ALPHA-STIM® 100 was not cheap, costing $895 compared to $495 for the ALPHA-STIM® SCS, but when you are witnessing someone in severe pain for extended periods of time, no price seems like too much! I should also point out that the ALPHA-STIM® 100 can not be purchased without a prescription in the United States, but that should not present a problem to anyone who is working with a somewhat open-minded healthcare practitioner. For us, it just took a quick phone call to our chiropractor...
The ALPHA-STIM® 100 turned out to be quite effective, and is a great "tool" to have in the arsenal. We have not needed to use it in quite a while (thank goodness) and often find ourselves lending it to others for extended periods of time. All of them have reported that it has really helped!