No, a TENS machines shouldn't be a painful sensation โ it feels a little like pins and needles, but kind of like they are jumping up and down dancing or rumbling on your back.
TENS machines get a little bit of a bad wrap because of things like 'the TENS machine challenge' on social media where people put them on full power without working up to it and 'shock' their nervous system (๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ). Or because TENS machines can be used to simulate labour pains for people wanting to know what it feels like - but these are different.
If you've ever fallen into the trap of '๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐff' and then you immediately realised you've screwed up and put it back on with the level you had it on before, your body won't have a chance to get used to it and it wonโt be the most comfortable sensation. Whenever using the TENS machine, even if you've already been using it but have taken it off at one point in your labour it's important to start from the lower levels again, though you'll end up powering up a lot quicker and that is okay, because ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น of it. ๐๐๐, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ - ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ.
There are some people who do say their TENS machine did hurt or they didn't like the feeling. There are know studies to show why there are some people who get that sensation. Though commonly those who feel the sensation is uncomfortable are those who starting using the machine when they were already very well into active labour, this may be because you've already got a lot of uncomfortable/painful feelings and you may have reached the stage where you don't want to be touched, the TENS machine could increase that feeling. If you don't feel like it's doing any harm though you can try to keep it on and see if that changes as you get used to the sensation, it likely will. It's best where possible to pop the TENS machine on as soon as you're in labour.
People think TENS machines work by giving you a different pain to take your mind of the labour pain, but this isn't true.
Share your experience:
What did the TENS machine feel like for you?๐๐ป