A Trip to my Acupuncturist

[lanikai]

Well,, these last two months has been filled with members full of health issues.. for a long time I stray away from using pain killers unless absolutely necessary.. I have on many occasions used alternative treatment.

although for some issues health providers are non negotiable

But one source of relief for me over the years has been my acupuncturist ... no.. not the fancy "New age" advertise on TV ones.. this dude is in a little hole in the wall... he is originally from Tibet.. and does not like his Picture taken. (Political of course) ..

but after pulling hairs to get my Mom and Dad in .. my Dad was scheduled to see a specialist .. he has what is described as a narrowing of the spinal cord and thus experiences extreme pain in his legs and back..

He is forced to sleep in an upright position and gets pretty nasty when the pain chronic.. Mom has neck (surgery long ago) and was not able to lift her arm up at all.. let alone sleep at night.. so, enter the Son .. who is trying to be a "good Son" .. and help when ever I can..

Well, enough is enough I told my Dad .. "You got nothing to loose except your pain"!! My deal is.. if you can get the "edge" taken off it will be like night and day..

A month and 3 treatments later... Dad has cut his pain in half.. has more energy due to the herbs given him (medicine comes from nature after all).. and Mom has full flexibility in her arms and shoulders....

It works for nerves.. and most of the time that is what is causing the most pain..

A~C

L

[Toadtorrent]

Nice. I have friends and family who hold very senior medical positions in hospitals you would have heard of, and none have discounted any of the Asian alternative treatments - namely accupuncture, Chinese herbal medicinal treatments and other stuff. I remember getting deathly ill on a visit one time, and this one relative started pulling out Chinese herbs - this is a guy who's had his picture on many of the industry mags as a top doc. Stinky stuff...but pure gold.

Acupuncture has an amazing success rate and can be an alternative great for lots. I'm glad you have found a solution that can work for you and your father. Pain management is tricky business. Keep your mind open...and hope stays true.

[Agrippa]

Acupuncture isn't really considered "alternative" any longer and hasn't been for some time. The same pretty much goes for Chinese herbal medicine and a lot of other old traditional practices. Well, I don't know about the US of course, but not in most of Europe anyway.

The efficacy of acupuncture is empirically proven and has been accepted for quite a while. My own GP says they have better results with acupuncture in pain management than they have with any other therapy (they have two acupuncturists/massage therapists affiliated with the practice). Basically what's left under the "alternative" label today (although what's fully accepted and not varies somewhat from country to country) is the really alternative stuff - homeopathy, all sorts of "healing" of course, playing around with crystals and various other mildly amusing things. Basically the stuff that has miraculous effects according to word of mouth and articles in glossy magazines, but stubbornly refuses to have any effects at all in clinical trials.

[Johnkaz]

I have a common bad back (lower vertibrae) that flares up from time to time. A few months ago I put it out and went to a local chiropracter, he used acupunture on more than one occasion to help and soon sorted me out.

[Ronin]

Yes, acupuncture is not some smoke and mirrors voodoo, it really works.

Although I personally have not certified in AP (yet), I teach Tai Chi and perform Reiki and Shiatsu treatments. I have trained in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean martial arts over the past 25 years. It is amazing how well the body responds to many of these modalities.

I had a wicked sinus headache yesterday brought on by a weather front. I used accupressure points on myself to pretty much eliminate it.

Good stuff.