Acupuncture

[Tormod]

Since we are in the mood for alternative treatment today, I want to say something about acupuncture.

 

I am a convert. Of sorts. :wink:

 

Ten years ago I would laugh in the face of anyone who claims acupuncture works. I was literally dragged into an acupuncture clinic to try to solve a sleeping disorder which I have had since I was a kid. It didn't work.

 

However, a few years later I had a serious back problem. I just woke up one morning and couldn't move. I was actually unable to stand up. I called the doctor who said I had to come over as soon as I could move, but had to expect at least three weeks of recovery before I could walk upright again.

 

Only problem was...I was supposed to get married 7 days later. So I somehow managed to get into the car and go see the acupuncturist (is that the right term?) and lo and behold with her help I was back on my feet in 3 days. I think it does help that she was also a "real" physiotherapist but all she did was stick needles all over my body for 30 minutes each day for three days.

 

After this I saw her regularly for a while because I needed help with my sleep problems and massive stress problems. This did not have the desired effect. I did feel that the treatment helped, but it did not last and it did in no way help me solve my problems (eventually I resorted to sleeping pills, which did solve my problem after 3 years...)

 

So while I have actually experienced "being healed" by acupuncture, I am not 100% convinced that it can solve everything they claim it can. It seems to work fine for muscle problems, aching in joints, and stiffness and other related things, though. As a supplement to regular medicine (and particularly physical activity) I think it is the real thing. I no longer visit my acupuncturist but I would probably do it if I experience muscle problems again.

 

Has anyone else tried it?

[sundog]

Hi Tormod,

 

Yes, I've tried it. It worked for both my mother and myself.

 

Throughout my childhood I suffered migraines. They would come in clusters, sometimes as frequent as once or twice a week, which meant I was missing a lot of school. The various medication I was given to try was completely ineffective, the only cure was 12-24 hours in a darkened room. My mother not only suffered migraine, but also Asthma. When I was 14 years old my mothers GP referred her to a friend of his who practised acupuncture. She went to see this guy, but didn't really like his bedside manner, and after a few visits she didn't feel any better so stopped going. Later she found out about another acupuncturist and started receiving treatment from him. A couple of sessions later she was feeling a little better, so she then asked me if I would like to try it for my migraines. At the time I was doubtful because nothing had worked so far, but I was willing to try almost anything to get rid of this disability.

 

I don't know about the methods used by your acupuncturist Tormod, but with mine, once the needles were in place, each one was wired to a electrical panel. The acupuncturist would slowly turn some knobs on the panel which sent small pulses of electricity to each of the needles. Though not painful, it would actually make my muscles twitch when turned too high. When the output of the electric panel was set at comfortable levels the Doctor would leave for 10-15 minutes, then return to increase the output a little more and leave for another 15 minutes.

 

I had 10 weekly sessions of acupuncture and from the first one to this day I have never had a migraine since. Well, there was one case a couple of years ago, but that was self inflicted, I spent too much time around LOUD music at a party, something I normally avoid because of my "tinnitus" (a constant ringing in the ears). But other than that, I have been free of migraines. I do still get headaches, but doesn't everybody.

 

As for my mother, she only received part treatment because she wouldn't allow the Doctor to put the needles in certain places, like in the temples or below the eyebrows. But even though the Doctor was restricted in what he could do for her, she has still benefited from it. She no longer gets migraines the way she used to, certainly not the nausea that comes with migraine, and her Asthma is all but gone.

 

If anyone tries acupuncture and find it gives no relief, try a different acupuncturist as their methods seem to vary. The first one my mother went to put needles in different places to the second guy.

 

 

sundog

[Aki]

It always scares me when I see on tv people get 50+ stitches on the body. Doesn't that hurt? Even when you pin yourself with a thumbtack, it can hurt a lot

[Tormod]

It always scares me when I see on tv people get 50+ stitches on the body. Doesn't that hurt? Even when you pin yourself with a thumbtack, it can hurt a lot

 

Apparently this is one area in which acupuncture really seems to work (pain relief, and even taking away the sensation of pain completely). They use it during births etc now instead of the usual stuff they inject into the mother's thorax. I know it worked for my wife.

[sundog]

It always scares me when I see on tv people get 50+ stitches on the body. Doesn't that hurt? Even when you pin yourself with a thumbtack, it can hurt a lot

 

Hi Aki,

 

No, it doesn't hurt at all. The needles they use are extremely fine. They are thinner than any syringe needles, and certainly thinner than a thumb tack. I think a mosquito bite may be comparable.

 

 

sundog

[Tormod]

Hi Aki,

No, it doesn't hurt at all. The needles they use are extremely fine. They are thinner than any syringe needles, and certainly thinner than a thumb tack. I think a mosquito bite may be comparable.

 

I agree. I do remember feeling "uncomfortable" sometimes but it never hurt.

[Aki]

Ah, then I want to give it a try. Because I carry lots of textbooks in my backpack, a lot of the time the lower part of my back is really sore. It sounds like acupunture can help, well I hope it doesn't cost too much.

[Tormod]

Ah, then I want to give it a try. Because I carry lots of textbooks in my backpack, a lot of the time the lower part of my back is really sore. It sounds like acupunture can help, well I hope it doesn't cost too much.

 

I think acupunture is good for this. However, simple physiotherapy should help as well. Or simply some exercise... :wink:

 

Acupuncture costs a bit over here but not more than physiotherapy. Give it a shot if you get a chance and let us know how it works for you.

[TINNY]

So no one can give any scientific explanations for all these alternativetreatment?

If I'm not mistaken, they are mostly from the East particularly China. Does this have anything to do with Eastern Philosophy? Some sort of intuition-based knowledge?

[Aki]

I thought acupunture started in China..

[TINNY]

Yeah, from China. So this is the medical theory according to wikipedia:

Traditional Chinese medical theory holds that acupuncture works by redirecting qi “vital energy” in the body. Pain or illnesses are treated by attempting to remedy local or systemic accumulations or deficiencies of qi. Pain is considered to indicate blockage or stagnation of the flow of qi, and an axiom of the medical literature of acupuncture is “no pain, no blockage; no blockage, no pain.”

There's also some info on its potential risks on wikipedia.

[Hajderman]

Acupuncture works and it is the best known therapy for some sorts of deseases. It cured me from very severe form of asthma and my father is acupuncturologist so I see effects on his patients every day.

[TeleMad]

So no one can give any scientific explanations for all these alternativetreatment?

 

For acupuncture, possibly the body's own endogenous morphines ... endorphins.

 

"Researchers have examined the possibility that endorphins are at least partially responsible for the pain-reducing effects of acupuncture and placebos (Fields & Levine, 1984; Murray, 1995; Watkins & Mayer, 1982). Such tests rely on the drug naloxone, whose only known effect is to block morphine and endorphins from binding to receptors. Any procedure that reduces pain by stimulating release of endorphins becomes ineffective when naloxone is administered. With the injection of naloxone, acupuncture and placebos do, in fact, lose their power - suggesting that, ordinarily, endorphins help them do their work." (Psychology and Life: Sixteenth Edition, Richard J. Gerrig & Philip G. Zimbardo, Allyn and Bacon Publishers, 2002, p80)

 

But then note this:

 

"In the Chinese technique of acupuncture to control pain, fine needles are inserted at specific locations and are either heated or twirled by the therapist. Several theories have been proposed to account for the positive effects, but none is widely accepted or proven. It has been suggested that the pain relief may result from the release of endorphins, but how acupuncture stimulates endorphin release is not known; the acupuncture points do not correspond to the distribution of any of the major peripheral nerves." (Fundamentals of Anatomy & Physiology: Sixth Edition, Frederic H. Martini, Benjamin Cummings, 2004, p513)

[theblackalchemist]

But dosent this process involve disturbence to the nerve ??

by this figure it does seem so but tell me do they pierce the needle deeply ??

:):shrug::lol::shrug::lol::shrug:;):shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug:

so how exactly does this work then ??

 

Curious

TBA

[Michaelangelica]

I thought acupunture started in China..

So did I

 

I read a research review only yesterday (!)about acupuncture and depression.

The consensus was that it does not help.

I didn't post it because I thought it was too depressing.:)

 

(Do other people have that eerie thing happen where you meet a word for the first time and then immediately afterwards see it 2-3 times then maybe never again.

Like the only article I have ever read on acupuncture was yesterday and today someone starts a thread on it in hypography?

Is there a word for this phenomenon?)

[Tormod]

Like the only article I have ever read on acupuncture was yesterday and today someone starts a thread on it in hypography?

Is there a word for this phenomenon?)

 

Yeah - welcome to the club. The thread is from 2004... :)

 

*But* - earily enough - last week I started to go to the very same acupuncturist mentioned in the first post in this thread! I am having acute inflammation in both my achilles, something which has become worse since I have been running with it for a while.

 

I've had three treatments so far so it's too early to say if it works or not. Will report back!

[Jay-qu]

I would be willing to give it a shot one day, at the moment I dont really have anything that I could 'test' it on though.