Do you find yourself dreading a certain week every month? Agonizing menstrual cramps have the power to take over your life for days at a time, and the worst part is that it can happen like clockwork every month. In some cases, you’ll miss school, work, or you’re forced to cuddle up to a hot water bottle and pop pills every few hours just so you can get a few hours of sleep.
If this has been happening to you, you’re going to love Livia. The Livia Menstrual Pain Relief Device will zap away your period pain in less than 1/2 hour. It sends electrical impulses to your abdomen or your lower back and those impulses stop your stomach cramps and lower back pain. The best part? That relief lasts a long time after you turn it off.
Here’s my look at the Livia Menstrual Pain Relief Device, what it can do, and just how well it works to block cramps. Spoiler alert: it really does!
Appearance of the Livia Menstrual Pain Relief Device
No one wants to advertise the fact that they are suffering from crippling cramps, and that’s why Livia is designed to be discrete. The main power unit is a small, square device that’s just over 2 x 2 inches. The power unit is covered by a plastic case that has a power button and what looks like volume controls. There’s also a place to plug-in the electrodes and a port to charge it via the included USB charging cable.
You can buy different cases for Livia so you can switch up your colour options. These cases don’t add anything to the device, but they’re cute and it’s always nice to pick your favourite colour.
Testing the Livia Menstrual Pain Relief Device
For me, horrible cramps were something that I experienced mostly in my teens and early twenties. I remember vividly being curled up on the couch crying in pain for at least two days every month, and there’s no question that it caused a serious disruption in my school life.
That type of pain must be hereditary because my 16-year-old daughter now suffers from the same type of cramps. Because of that, I thought she would be the best candidate to give the Livia menstrual pain block smart device a good test.
How does Livia work to stop period cramps?
Livia is a TENS unit. The science behind using a TENS unit for period pain is that the vibration from the unit will travel faster to the brain than the signal from the pain. In a nutshell, the brain is more receptive to the vibration signal, so it stops the pain.
Battery life of Livia Menstrual Pain Relief Device
Before you use the Livia Menstrual Pain Relief Device you’ll have to charge it. You can plug it into any USB port in your home and leave it to charge, and it takes about an hour and a half to reach a full charge.
Once it’s charged you should be able to use the Livia for 15 hours before you need to charge again. In our experience, that battery life depends on how strong you’ve set the current and how long you use it at one time without turning it off. The longest we used it before it needed a charge was 7 hours.
Applying Livia electrodes
When you have cramps you want to curl up in a ball and lie down until they go away. At first glance, you’ll probably really wonder how Livia could help you avoid spending half the day in bed, but we found that it does exactly that.
The first step to using Livia is placing the electrode flower pads on the exact spot where you’re experiencing pain. On my daughter that spot was her stomach and lower back, so we switched it up for her depending on where it hurt. The flower pads come with a gel that’s most likely the same product they use with ultrasound machines.
The pads move around easily, so if you don’t hit the exact spot the first time you place them, you can pop them off and move them. Once your pads are on the area you turn on the power pack and adjust the strength of the electric pulse.
The power pack clips onto your pants and hides underneath your clothes. No one will ever know you’re wearing it.
What does Livia feel like and is it scary to wear?
Given that my daughter was really scared of using this device, I thought I should address whether or not it’s scary to use. After all, the idea of placing electrodes on your body can be a little intimidating, especially for a teenage girl.
What I can say without a doubt is that Livia is safe and, even at the most powerful settings, definitely not painful. At the lowest setting, you can barely feel it. As you increase the current you feel a small buzz at each new step, then it vibrates steadily.
It gives you a strange feeling in the area the electrodes are, but even at level 8, I didn’t feel like it was painful. It was just a steady, strong pulse. I honestly think one of the ways it works is by distracting you from the pain in that area. You aren’t as focused on the cramps when your stomach is abdomen is vibrating from the pads.
Does Livia stop cramps?
Yes, Livia works. I’m sure your success will depend on how long you use the device and how strong you set it, but it stopped my daughter’s intense cramps within 15 minutes. I think if she wasn’t so afraid to turn it up to a stronger level, it would have stopped them much faster.
We timed from the moment she put Livia on, set it to a mid-strength setting of 4 to start, and waited. Within 15 minutes the worst of the pain was completely gone, and as long as she was wearing the device, her cramps stayed away until the battery died.
When she turned the device off the cramps stayed away for 30 minutes before they began to return. That was enough time to get a half charge in, so she could put the device back on and start again.
Because Livia is so discrete, you can wear it all day without anyone knowing it’s there. Given how well it works, there’s really nothing preventing you from wearing it all day until the battery dies. Just to test it out, I put it on in the morning and just left it on all day, and I found at level 8 I got about 7 hours.
They don’t recommend you wear Livia all night long, and that’s the only downside. Cramps can intensify at night, making it hard to sleep.
Overall thoughts on Livia
Although my daughter initially thought this device was a little scary to use, after two months of using it she’s a huge fan. With Livia, you know the cramps will stop once you begin using it. When you just take Advil or another painkiller for cramps, you aren’t really sure it will help.
Our only wish for this device is that the battery would last longer with continuous use. Other than that, it’s a true lifesaver when you’re in pain from menstrual cramps.
Livia is now available at Best Buy. So, try it out and you’ll see how you don’t have to live with cramps anymore.
