Anyone ever lost control with a Estim device

[oliver d]

Used a Estim device last night to relieve a cramped up thigh muscle and while doing so lost control of my bladder.It would not have been so bad had I been in a diaper but i wet my PJ s and bed.This ever happen to  anyone?

[Dprczyone]

I've never used an Estim device but it sounds a lot like a Tens unit which I've never used either. With that being said, where on your thigh did you have the pads positioned? I've heard of people attaching them near the bladder to get uncontrolled wetting but not sure how well it works or if it's safe. 

[oliver d]

One pad was near the buttocks the other one close to the knee

[Mr Urge Incontinent]

From your electrode placement description it's likely the E-stim affected the Sciatic nerve which is part of the Sacrum nerve group S1-S3. Within the Sacrum nerve bundles contain the Pudendal nerves which have distal branches to the bladder and more importantly the Urogenital Diaphram, which contains the external urinary sphincter muscle. There are treatments for urinary retention that uses E-stim to trigger the voiding reflex, typically done externally using the Tibia nerve. However implanted E-stim's use the Pudendal directly for the same effect. It's highly likely your electrode pad placement was able to also cause secondary innervation to the Pudental nerves and it falsely triggered the micturition reflex. It's a complex coordination of control and and feed back signals from the Sacral nerves that make up the micturition process which is easily scrambled from external stimulation.

I would caution that this kind of stimulation is not recommended for long term or continual use (from what I was told). I used it to try and help with my severe urge incontinence which it did not after several weeks of treatment. In my case the bladder and Pudendal nerve damage caused from a cycling accident was too great to recover from.

[Dprczyone]

I've thought of trying a Tens unit but I'm just a little concerned about any side affects I may produce. Mr. Urge Incontinent you sound like you know what you're talking about so I'll probably leave well enough alone.

[oliver d]

Thanks dont normally use the device just was desperate yesterday to relieve the crap in my leg no other method worked. the Estim device did give some relieve but also a unwanted side effect.

[Dprczyone]

I used to have a lot of back trouble so it may have helped me but I never new about the device until someone talked about it on DD. I eventually went to therapy and it got me back to normal so I don't need it anymore.

[Mr Urge Incontinent]

There should not be any long term side effects for occasional usage or experimentation. If this wasn't the case short term usage therapy would not be offered by the medical field. It's the continual usage that can cause problems. From what I understand the hyper stimulation long term causes a gradual desensitizing of the neurons leading to way more problems than desired. Messing around with the electrical wiring of the body is foolish. Stimulation implants are ok long term because they target very specific nerve locations and have tightly controlled and metered outputs. Conversely external E-stim can cause undesired problems because of the "broadcast" nature of the electrical impulses since they are not very target specific, as the original poster found out the hard way trying to deal with a leg cramp.

I have used an E-stim quite a bit for my lower back stiffness and muscle aches for years without problems. I find it's a much better alternative then popping pills.