8 replies to this topic

[ryukenden]

https://news.sky.com...ageing-11773280


People who tried the therapy - named transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (TVNS) - also reported improvements to their mood and sleep.

Where do I buy it with ear cable?

It looks very similar to the following device but it does not come with ear cable?

https://www.prohealt...cle-stimulator/

Edited by ryukenden, 30 July 2019 - 08:07 PM.

[adamh]

I bought a tens unit off ebay cheap and also ear electrode clips. Read my write up in the bioscience news forum thread on the subject

[ryukenden]

I bought a tens unit off ebay cheap and also ear electrode clips. Read my write up in the bioscience news forum thread on the subject

Thanks. I bought it from https://www.tensunits.com/ and ordered ear clips from Amazon.

[mkp6019]

Hi Adamh,

 

I could not look your writeup in Bioscience on this. What frequency ( Hz) do you use and for how long?

[Krell]

I am using this TENS unit that you may be able to find cheaper on ebay.

https://www.amazon.c...duct/B00NCRE4GO

 

I am using these ear clips for my tragus and ear lobe electrode connections

https://www.amazon.c...n/dp/B07VWP93PH

 

They do not clip very tightly and tend to fall off, especially the one on the tragus. I find if

I loop the lead for the tragus clip over my ear, it holds on better.  I generally put face cream

or spit on my tragus and ear lobe to increase conductivity, and that tends to make them

slippery.

 

You can also buy a kit with lots of other adhesive electrodes that includes the same two ear clips

https://www.amazon.c...t/dp/B07NBLQWB1

 

The clips in the link below hold on the tragus a lot better, but they are expensive on Amazon

https://www.amazon.c...t/dp/B00AZ71DEK

 

I am using 100ms/25hz/15min tVNS TENS settings on both ears at the same time.  I tried 250ms/25hz/15min but it

did not seem as effective for me.

 

I do not see much tVNS effect on my blood pressure or pulse rate.  But tVNS has helped my tennis game!

I get up at 7am, do tVNS for 15min at 7:30am, and play tennis at 8:00am.  tVNS before play seems to improve my reaction time.

There is a paper that claims double blind tests show a 20% reaction time improvement, and I seem

to be experiencing something like that.  YMMV.  I did tVNS daily for a few weeks, but now I only do it before tennis

about 3-4 times per week.  My tennis buddies say they have noticed an improvement in my play.

 

I am not a video gamer, but I wonder if it could work there also by improving reaction time?

 

Vitals: 74yro/185lb/6ft/fit

[yowza]

I have doubts about any of these TENS units really stimulating the Vagus nerve very well through the ear area to really get the same results as that device linked to in the first post.

 

The placement of ear piece being in the right location of the ear seems to be one important variable that these tens units don't seem to employ all that well (for the most part just clipped to ear lobe from what I've seen).  Here's an illustration of some proper placements of earpiece:  https://www.research..._fig2_233929929 and there's another illustration can cross reference with here (this 2nd image contains some sham locations used for the study so not all are relevant) :   https://www.research...pain_modulation

 

Then a writeup on these locations that seem to be of most benefit I found here: https://www.psycholo...es-center-stage

 

 

Long story short, if you live in the UK this seems to be the best device to purchase with 1 geared towards migraine and the other for epilepsy:  https://cerbomed.com...hnologies-gmbh/

 

I unfortunately can't purchase one of these due to living in the States.  There's another company that's made a product called Parasym that helps with tinnitus I know someone would like as well but unfortunately that's not available in the States either.

 

Are those devices any of you purchased similar to the Nemos TvNS device?  The earclip placement I mentioned earlier is my first clue towards it being similar or not but there's probably other variables too but I'd really like to try something like this out.  Any further insight would be very much appreciated.

[Nate-2004]

What Yowza says above is why I'm still trying to design an ear piece that will at first connect to the linked tens unit and then later be powered by its own internal battery and circuitry. My main roadblocks towards making this have been the turnaround time on 3D prints and the shape and materials required to fit the average ear the way it should. I've had to completely redesign it 3 times now. Finding a quicker and cheaper turnaround on prints short of buying my own printer would help things along. In the meantime I created a makeshift device that targets the ideal point of stimulation, the chonca, using 2 gauge insulated wire (for maintaining shape) and the linked device. I've been using it for months now, only on the left ear for now, and I can say for certain there is a noticeable difference in mood, inflammation and overall well being. My blood pressure finally returned to normal levels too, so did my A1C. With n=1 experimentation it's hard to say if this is the cause but it's so easy to do while doing other tasks that I'm not going to stop doing it. Here is the picture of my make shift device if you wanna create your own until I finally get the finished product completed.

 

Click here for a picture of it: https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing

 

The part that touches the concha is the anode, the other exposed copper is the cathode.

 

[adamh]

Nate, I'm glad to hear it finally worked for you. I was telling people it seemed to work for everyone except for this one hard head (you) who seemed to get little benefit. Was it sending the current through the concha part of the ear that made it work for you? I use it every couple days, in fact I'm overdue and it keeps my blood pressure down and mood up. I do both ears at the same time using tragus and lobulus

 

There is little doubt it stimulates the vagus, quite a few doctors have worked with it and reported results.

[Moondancer]

Is anyone still doing electrical Vagus Nerve stimulation currently?

 

Nate, do you still use the ear device you made from wires, or did you meanwhile design a new ear device?

Indeed, most ear devices don't seem to properly stimulate the vagus nerve in the concha as Yowza also discusses, and as seems to be done in most studies. Admittedly I used Nates image example to also try to design an ear device. (Thank you Nate!) But it doesn't fit my ear snugly enough, so that I'm not comfortable and I'm not sure if the vagus nerve is properly stimulated the entire time. 

On the other hand each time I stimulate the ear from within the concha, I initially feel some light nausea, whereas I don't notice a thing if I just use a clip on the tragus and lobules to try to stimulate the vagus nerve.  

I would love to know if anyone found a better ear device meanwhile, and if more people are still doing electrical vagus nerve stimulation. Thanks!