Here’s the score, kids. I paid $100 for this device which is good for about 10 treatments. How to dispose of it when done is enigma because no one has responded to my query. Anyway …

I had my first ocular migraine of the week on Tuesday. The usual: a slight hint of a pop in one eye leads to an eventual blind spot. Here was my chance! Pull the goods out of the box! Stick a device on my arm. Fight with the armband and adjust it over the device to keep it flush to my arm. I suspect 10 minutes have passed but I am still in the 1 hour loop. Fire up the device, the green light is flashing, make sure the Bluetooth is enabled on my phone. And. Wait. They aren’t pairing, they don’t recognize each other, in fact, they are ignoring one another. I turn them on, I turn them off, I turn the Bluetooth on and off, by this time my vision is greatly compromised. ON! OFF! ON! OFF! Green light! Bluetooth. Finally the device pairs with the phone app and I am supposed to raise the frequency of this electrode thingy on my arm to a level of pain and then dial it down. I used to wear a Cefaly device like this on my forehead; now, that makes sense, it was treating the trigeminal nerve, so let me ask you: WHY in heaven’s name am I wearing this device on my ARM? Ours is not to ask why…so I have this thing on my arm which is now communicating with the app and I am raising the number, 10, 20, this ain’t so bad, I’m in the 30s, my bicep is pulsing, I push the setting into the 40s, it is a little uncomfortable but I get used to it. I stopped raising the setting somewhere in the 50s. The ocular occurrence dissipates in 30 minutes! But the ocular occurrences ALWAYS dissipate within 30 minutes! The thing is on my arm for the prescribed 45 minutes and then I peel off the device, cover the slimy, sticky stuff back up with the backing and wonder: so what the hell was that all about?

The next day, about the same time in late morning an ocular episode begins again but I have an appointment and wonder if I have enough time for another treatment. I decide to try. I peel the device off the backing, stick it on my arm, and am about to fire-up the app. I turn on the device, all systems GO! But nothing happens.The device and the phone are not talking. Seems they had words and are done. I struggle for 5 minutes to get the band situated to anchor the device and now it doesn’t work. Mission aborted. I peel the thing off and give up.

Later in the evening I write to the company and express my complaint. The words that come back are the same words that I have seen on the box and on the inserts. Now I am told to turn my phone on and off in order to make the pairing. So why isn’t it in print: REBOOT PHONE. Another communiqué comes back: They are fixing bugs in the app.

We will see how things go with the next migraine—as long as I am home to use the device. In the meantime, I headed off to PT to address a frozen shoulder and arthritic thumb (too many years of computing, I suppose). I ended up with electrodes on my neck and shoulder pulsing away and radio frequency therapy for my finger. At least this time all systems worked. Let’s see how they heal.

The first of the series on CBD oil/medical marijuana, begins here.

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