Relief of primary dysmenorrhea by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.
In this study we describe the use of high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) (100 Hz) and low-frequency TENS (lf-TENS) (2 Hz trains) as compared with placebo-TENS (p-TENS) in a group of 21 patients suffering from primary dysmenorrhea. Naloxone, a relatively pure opiate antagonist, was an additional test administered to 6 volunteer patients who had experienced an alleviation of pain with TENS. As will be seen, 14 out of 21 patients receiving high-frequency TENS (hf-TENS) experienced a pain reduction exceeding 50% of its original intensity. During lf-TENS or p-TENS, only 7 and 5 patients, respectively, obtained pain relief exceeding 50%. In 4 out of 6 volunteer patients, the relief of pain obtained with lf-TENS was counteracted by naloxone, whereas the relief experienced with hf-TENS in the same patients was, in general, unaffected by naloxone.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004412:Dysmenorrhea / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009270:Naloxone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D059408:Pain Management; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation; D014700:Verapamil / Q000627:therapeutic use
D009270:Naloxone; D014700:Verapamil