OH, MY ACHING LITTLE TOE, AND ELECTRICAL TREATMENT FOR MY SHOULDER AND KNEES

October 13, 2012

By Olivene Godfrey
I woke up one recent night with a horrific pain in my left little toe.  I went to my bathroom and examined my little toe and it looked real red but, otherwise normal.  I returned to bed and I suddenly couldn't bear to have the bed sheet touch my little toe.  So, I spent the rest of the night with my left foot outside of my bed covers.  I wondered how a small toe could cause such intense pain.  I wasn't able to get back to sleep.  The following day, I showed my toe to the home health nurse.  She examined it and said the stubby toe nail I was born with had come loose.  She applied neosporin and a band-aid on the toe.  She told me to keep a band-aid on the toe until the toenail falls off.  The pain soon stopped and I'm free of pain.  I hope the nail falls off soon.  Why do these things happen to me?
The home health agency has arranged for me to have a trans-cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) machine to stimulate the nerves in my left shoulder where I have bursitis   TENS is a non-invasive, low risk nerve stimulation intended to reduce pain, both acute and chronic.  Controversy exists as to its effectiveness in the treatment of pain, but it might be useful for knee osteoarthritis which I have.  The treatments so far, gives some relief to my left shoulder and both knees.
Electrical stimulation for pain control was used in ancient Rome (63 A.D.).  It was reported that pain was relieved by standing on an electrical fish at the seashore.
I hope the TENS treatments continue to reduce my pain.  I'm also suffering from my allergy to the ragweed that grows in profusion here.
See you next time.
(As told to Tam)