alpha stim

[primetime21]

Has anybody heard of the Alpha-stim. It is a little machine that uses microcurrents to reset the brain waves to the alpha state or so says the website..It is fda approved to treat anxiety/depression and pain. I was just wondering if anyone used this product and how it worked for them.

[amish1979]

You found me out, I'm really a sales person for alpha-stim. Thank you for blocking out my link to the scientific trails of this treatment option.  Bless your censorship.

[amish1979]

http://www.****.com
There is some scientific data for you on the subject.

I tried one 20-minutes session with an Alpha-Stim yesterday (during a CBT session) and I think they may be on to something with this.  It is pretty darned expensive to get a unit, and even renting one looks to be close to $100 /month but it is something I may educate myself on a little bit more before I cast it off as quack science.

Definitely cost-prohibitive though.  Yikes.

[JSGeare]

Please do me and this forum a HUGE favor:

First, join the community; details below.

Second, tell your psych that the Anxiety forum is INTENSLY interested in his research. Especially the double-blind studies. If you don't mind giving me his contact data (in a private message to me -NOT on the open forum) I'd like to ask him if he will share his findings with us. You, of course, may do the same.

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[primetime21]

thank you..
hope to hear back soon cause anxiety is driving me crazy..

[satellite41]

I suffer from trigeminal neuralgia in addition to generalized anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and insomnia. My psychologist has been looking into the alpha-stim machine and doing some very in-depth research with people who have used it, as well as double blind studies, and the like. He will be ordering two machines for the office soon, and hopefully it will be of some help with my chronic pain as well as the anxiety and depression symptoms. I'll keep you posted. Good luck!

[JSGeare]

These are sort of off-shoot of "electro-shock," which psychairtists use (or used) to stimulate the brain whenever bad thoughts or ideations occurred. The Alpha-stim unit works by putting tiny electrical voltages into your head, with the hoped-for result that whatever's bugging you (pain, anxiety, migraines) will go away or get better.

The FDA has approved the device for marketing, so it does not fall into the category of a "quack" treatment. And, the use of electrical current to stimulate the brain is a practice of long standing with a history of favorable results some of the time. It doesn't appear that anyone can be hurt by the gizmos.

My recommendation is to run it by a psychiatrist for an opinion. While it may be effective in some cases, there is a complete lack of any scientific data which would qualify it as a break-through technology.

I hope you'll clue us in on what the shrink tells you.

Thanks for asking.