MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

The purpose of this page is to provide a guide to coverage. It is not intended to dictate to providers how to practice medicine. Providers are expected to exercise their medical judgment in providing the most appropriate care.

Why - Electromedicine? Read this article for a good summary of its history and current position as a viable option for many conditions.

Description

Cranial electrostimulation therapy (CES) involves the passing of small electrical impulses across the head, usually from electrodes placed on or near both ears.  The pulse rates vary from .5 to 100 HZ in different CES devices, and stimulation intensities range from 0 to 1.5 mA via sinusoidal or modified square waves.  CES is used to treat a variety of chronic condition including treatment of stress, alcoholism and drug addiction, headache, cognitive dysfunction in head injured patients, psychiatric conditions, reflex sympathetic dystrophy and multiple sclerosis.

The treatment protocol for most conditions recommends using CES for one hour each day for three weeks followed by a treatment response evaluation.  After this initial phase it is unclear how often and for what length of time patients are required to use CES to alleviate condition-related symptoms.  This is an important, unanswered research question since the use of CES is prescribed primarily for patients with chronic conditions whose disease often has no known cure and less than optimum standard treatments.

The AlphaStim 100, AlphaStim SCS (stress control system), and AlphaStim PPM (personal pain manager) manufactured by Electromedical Products International, Inc. have FDA 510k approval and MedSafe ARTG No 137247. 

The AlphaStim 100 and AlphaStim SCS provide cranial electrostimulation therapy via electrodes clipped to the ear lobes while AlphaStim PPM uses electrodes placed over areas of pain.  All three devices use microcurrent electrical stimulation. 

For more detailed information we suggest you visit the Alpha-Stim site here. 

We also recommend you view this Australian Channel 9 article - aired on 24 Sept 2008. It contains comments by both Medical Professionals and users about thier experience with Alpha-Stim medical devices.

See - http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=635792 

Dr Hyde will be visiting Auckland and making short presentations on CES and related subjects again this year. Please Contact us if you wish to attend.

Free Trial for Medical Professionals

If you are a medical professional and wish to try any of the Alpha-Stim medical devices personally or with a patient for up to 30 days, either contact us or complete and fax this form  to us  at (09) 480-8319.