restarting IONTO after a year = fAIL. +other Q's??

[chloe909]

i first purchase ionto machine in july of 2011. to my amazement it did start working after about just 3 weeks? but unfortunately due to some changes in my lifestyle at the time, i found myself stopping for almost a year. relocated, and just restarting again now. basically, it's not working as it should. after reading stuff on here, i've concluded my water isn't 'hard' enough and was wondering what should i do?? this really sucks..

i restarted at 1 and have done sessions on a daily basis. today is my 30th day?! the weird thing is that i notice it seemed to take effect on my feet. probably sweating went down by 30% (but unlike the first time about 80%). as for the hands, it only started working in the first few weeks when it was still early spring and the weather was still cold. but the later weeks have been getting really hot and that's when i noticed, ****, my hands are at it again (even in air-conditioned room). it's as if my hands have a brain of its own. like it knows when it's still winter and knows when it's summer =_=

i have a few questions if anyone could kindly reply, would be most helpful:

1. i have been filling the tray up to the top because the manual says to make sure the water passes the black knob on the tray. (my water bill is soaring..)
but i read from other threads that it shouldn't fill the top. so what should i do?
2. i cannot buy water. i live by myself and don't have a car (i commute in the big city), so i can't afford to have to lug around gallons of water every week. also my expenses have been a little tight lately..
3. can i use baking soda? what should i expect and how much should i put it? (i heard that it might hurt.. is this true?) and if i put baking soda should i lower the amperage? i'm now on a 7.
4. the power button sometimes goes off, i dunno if this is factory defect. but the voltage button still lights up. so i dunno if it's working as it should or not. but i can still feel the surge and the stinging pains on open wounds.

my procedure as of now on a daily basis (uugh):
1. left foot left hand - slowly go up to 7 on normal polarity (8 minutes)
2. left food left hand - slowly go up to 7 on reverse polarity (8 minutes)
3. right foot right hand - slowly go up to 7 on normal polarity (8 minutes)
4. right food right hand - slowly go up to 7 on reverse polarity (8 minutes)

 

[hyp-hi]

Hey Chloe,

About your questions. As far as filling it up, I usually fill it about halfway covering the black knobs. I know they say to fill it all the way up. but I don't notice a difference, plus if you fill it too high, it's too easy to spill.

You could test it out with some other kind of water, but like you mentioned, it's not really a practical option. I have never tried adding baking soda to it.

So your light on the power button goes off? It might just be a bulb issue. If you see the voltage light on and you can feel it, it is definitely working.

You might want to try skipping a day in between each treatment. Sometimes your skin needs a break from the water I think.

If it's cuts/skin peeling that is stinging and keeping you from getting higher mAs, really try to avoid getting cuts or picking at you skin. I know it is hard, but if you can get it so you don't have any stinging, it makes it so much easier to get higher mAs.

Maybe instead of doing 8 minutes going up on each polarity, just stick with one polarity and go for 15 or 16 minutes. Then switch it each treatment. This is what I have been doing.

 

[Soy Sauce]

I've been using the Drionic iontophoresis unit for sveral years now and I'm not sure how it differs from whatever brand of unit you use, but here are my thoughts:

- using the least amount of water that your comfortable with while making sure the palms are completely covered is best imo. I've found that the water seems to "dilute" the electrical charge, making it less effective. I'm just basing this on personal feeling though...

- I'm not convinced that the reversing of polarities makes any difference. I never switch polarities on the Drionic and it's always worked for me.

- This is the most important imo. I don't believe 16 min per hand is nearly enough. I always do at least 30 min sessions. Usually around 40. So even if you're doing daily treaments, at 16 min total per hand, per day, your treaments are far less effective than if you were to do at least 30 min treatments per day for half the amount of days.

I'm not sure if the schedule you use is what's recommended by the brand of machine you use, or what the differences are between yours and mine, but for the Drionic, I definitely don't think your treament schedule would be effective if I were to try it.

Think of it like this: You could curl a 5 lb weight all day long and not build bigger, stronger biceps, because 5 lbs is very light. It's not enough to stress the muscle enough to be effective. But someone who curls 30 lbs and only does 10 reps for 3 sets will get bigger and stronger. Even though they are doing far fewer curls, each curl (or iontophoresis session in your case) is more effective because the heavier weight is stressing the muscle alot more. Hope thi smakes sense. It's 2 am and I'm tired lol

 

[cm123]

You need to fill it up with hot clean water before each session. Each session should be at least for 15mins but optimally around 30mins per day. Add one teaspoon baking soda to each bath. If you have not done ionto for a long amount of time it could take up to 35 days before you start seeing results. However if you were to do it for 30 mins try a day switching the polarity on the 5th day, I estimate around the 20th day you will see the results you desire!

 

[Jezza]

I'm not really sure about the soda...I've mucked around with it a bit in the beginning but I couldn't say that it worked better or worse, so I just use regular tap water.

As for the amount of water, I would use no more than just enough to cover the area you want to treat. Personally for hands I use even less than that on the neg pole (but that's just part of my routine).

If you're doing 7mA, I think that's too little. I use 15mA. I've read some people do 25 or even 30 but I think that's too much. We can't really know but in the instructional manual of my device it was recommended between 10-15 mA. Like cm says, I use as warm as comfort allows possible water, which may help a little with conductivity but moreso, it feels a lot more comfortable than cold water.

So what I do is;
15mA 15 minutes both feet pos, both feet neg
15mA 15 minutes both feet neg, both hands pos

As the pos does the damage (although it feels more comfortable), for the initial period I just did +- 20 minutes, both feet neg, both hands pos, because my initial target was to get my hands dry (which they were after 30 days straight treatments).

One last note; I use a plastic storage bin for my feet cause the standard trays don't let me immerse my feet (plus size 46 (euro) don't really fit that well in the trays anyway). Despite that the water use is not that spectecular, you probably use way more water if you run the shower for a minute or so.

 

[salli]

for what the hell is a "black knob" in the tray`s? arent there electrodes and a distance grid with your machine?
for the water i can give you a maybe useful link
Water properties. Is there a impact on iontophoresis? - Excessive Sweating

 

[Sprawling]

I like the link has to say SALLI.

I agree that not everyone reacts to the same water within a given location. I use water that works just splendid, yet when I bring that same water 400 miles to a different location, the water doesn't work nearly as well, and sometimes doesn't work at all. This makes little or no sense to me.

This also tells me that my body must be doing something different within a different setting, climate etc. I personally discovered it's not just about the water. The water may or may not have an effect. I'm convinced on that do to my own personal experience and my years of doing treatment and the fact that nobody truly knows why ionto works in the first place.

 

[chloe909]

yeah coz my manual says to fill it until all the way up until you don't see the black knobs on the tray anymore. and it always damn spills everywhere. but i've tried putting it down to half now. but it's creepy coz sometimes i hear the 'fizzling' sound of electricity current. since it's not filled up all the way. lol.

yeah the bulb goes on and off, it's weird. but the activation light remains consistently on and i can still feel it, so i guess it's still working? =] thank you for the suggestion, i will try doing sessions on and off. coz lately i've been getting desperate. i'm now running on the 6th week and have been doing it consecutively each day. but last week i started skipping coz i thought maybe my hands needed a break, yeah.

wait so you mean like i should do:
day 1 - 20 mins 8ma normal (right hand/foot), 20 mins 8ma normal (left hand/foot)
day 2 - 20 mins 8ma reverse (" "), 20 mins 8ma reverse (" ")?
the manual it came with said to do both though. i'm not sure what i'm supposed to do now lol.

 

[chloe909]

SOY SAUCE:

- Thanks for your opinions! okay so at least i know i can now actually SAVE water, which is good lol. and i can now avoid damn spills everywhere.
- hmm you never switch polarities?! dangit how come my manual says to always switch polarities on the same session? so u mean to say you only still to either NORMAL or REVERSE? and for how long?
- uuh i don't know if my math is off, but when you said 16mins per hand. doesn't that equate to about 30-40 minutes total (which you recommended?) LOL sorry i'm trying to understand your sentence carefully so i can try what you said. but i don't seem to get it. so do you mean i should do 30mins each hand? = 1hour total per session?
- and LOL thank you for putting it in a 'fitness plan' point of view, i get what your saying now and will try your technique starting tomorrow for a week! hope it works then =S

BTW i use: MD1A FISCHER

 

[chloe909]

cm123:

THANKS!!! dang now i'm gonna try all these methods that all you're suggesting, i'll give it 2 weeks per suggestion by each commenter LOL. yeah i'm getting kinda ancy now coz summer's slowly starting to kick in. and weather here can reach up to 40C!
see, what i don't get is what do you guys mean by 'SESSION'? i would think it's just the entire process of 'doing ionto'. or does session mean on a certain polarity?
everyday i spend about 45 minutes on the ionto device. there.
aww man yeah like i mentioned i skipped for an entire YEAR. only restarting now. and i'm currently on my 44th day?! and still not much result =[ i'm so bummed..... =[

SO GUYS, SHOULD I JUST STICK TO ONE POLARITY THEN? (for a few days?)
in that case, why did my manual even say to reverse after normal? i don't get this..

 

[Soy Sauce]

SOY SAUCE:

- Thanks for your opinions! okay so at least i know i can now actually SAVE water, which is good lol. and i can now avoid damn spills everywhere.
- hmm you never switch polarities?! dangit how come my manual says to always switch polarities on the same session? so u mean to say you only still to either NORMAL or REVERSE? and for how long?
- uuh i don't know if my math is off, but when you said 16mins per hand. doesn't that equate to about 30-40 minutes total (which you recommended?) LOL sorry i'm trying to understand your sentence carefully so i can try what you said. but i don't seem to get it. so do you mean i should do 30mins each hand? = 1hour total per session?
- and LOL thank you for putting it in a 'fitness plan' point of view, i get what your saying now and will try your technique starting tomorrow for a week! hope it works then =S

BTW i use: MD1A FISCHER

I use the Drionic, which is designed a lot differently than your Fischer unit. With the Drionic, there is no switch for polarities. There is an upper platform and a well, with each half of the hand in each. To switch polarities, you just turn the unit around so that the half of the hand that was in the well is now on the platform and vise-versa for the other half of the hand. I don't usually do this because I've always had positive results without switching so I just don't bother. I won't go as far as to say you shouldn't, because maybe you'll see results quicker if you do switch polarities, but all I will say is that with my Drionic unit, you will still see results regardless if you switch polarities or not.

When I say 30-40 mins, I mean each hand. I don't know what the Fischer unit looks like, but with the Drionic, there are 2 units so you can do both hands at once. I never use ontophoresis on my feet so I do both my hands at the same time. That's probably where the confusion came from. My bad.

 

[Sprawling]

I've used the Drionic, I use the Fischer + a pulsed unit that is not an official Hyperhydrosis device. Ionto is ionto which is direct current compared to alternating current. The Drionic worked fine for what it is. Every machine has a + and - polarity.

A session is defined by the day you are doing treatment.

 

[Soy Sauce]

I've used the Drionic, I use the Fischer + a pulsed unit that is not an official Hyperhydrosis device. Ionto is ionto which is direct current compared to alternating current. The Drionic worked fine for what it is. Every machine has a + and - polarity.

A session is defined by the day you are doing treatment.

I know. I meant the design of the physical unit differs, not the function of the devices.

Not sure exactly what you mean by the session comment, but a session can be whatever a person wants it to mean (per hand, per day, whatever)

 

[Jezza]

I really think you're doing too little mA Chloe. Maybe you should do a poll see what others are doing; I bet it will average around 15 mA. 8 mA is for whimps, yo! No but seriously I think if you do a bit more mA a bit longer at a time you'll see better results. You can save time by putting both your hands in one tray and both feet in the other, that way you can treat both hands and both feet for 2 times 15 min in the different polarities in one half hour total. If you're afraid of the 'shock' you'll be getting from drawing your hands from the trays to switch polarities you really needn't worry; I do 15mA and it's barely noticeable and definitely not painful. I once had ionto treatments in a physio's practise and he made a mistake causing me to draw out my hands as quick as possible cause he suddenly flipped the switch on and put 50+ mA on me (long story). I admit that did kinda hurt but only left me a little burn on my wrist. Really though reading through the lines I fear you might be overly cautious with the 'hissing noises' and all that stuff which is quite normal but that fisher unit should be pretty solid in terms of not being able to injure you and if you use warm water and have no cuts on your hands, you can rev it up a notch and probably get better results.

 

[Sprawling]

True. 8 mA will accomplish very little. I use the Fischer between 20-22. Starting at 15 is sound advice. After a bunch of treatments you'll be able to handle more.

 

[chloe909]

aaaah THANKS SO MUCH ALL YOU, i'm really reading each comment carefully and taking to account everything you guys are saying. and i've never been more relieved to be called a WHIMP hahahaha no seriously, that was so relieving to hear coz then now i know i still have hope for the ionto to work for me! XD
okay so today i started doing 20minutes (left hand, left foot, in both trays), 20 minutes (right hand, right foot) BOTH ON NORMAL (+). i tried going up a notch this time to 9. was itchy as hell, but the pain wasn't as bad anymore as it was when i first started at an even more pathetic and embarrassing.. 1ma =_= yes. did i mention it's been almost 6-7 weeks now and i've only reached 9ma now. couldn't go to 10 coz it started to hurt. but i will be patient and continue this and hopefully reach higher as you've all suggested. thanks so much. really.