Acupuncture

I have started seeing an acupuncturist for back pain. Before I saw her I was cramming all kinds of pain pills every few hours. After 3 weeks no more pain pills. AND it's covered by my insurance. She is also an MD too

What's her phone number?

I did it once, and they put a light blanket over my legs after the needles were in (some of them in my legs), and after a few minutes or so, the blanket shifted and 3 of the needles that were near my knees ended up being pushed to the side and causing some unpleasant pain.

I had pain in that area (I'd never had before) for several months (6+ months) after that incident, so I've never tried it again. That was at least a decade ago.

helped a great deal with my TMJ

When I had money I had treatments weekly to help me with a pain in my lower back. All I can tell you is I fell asleep immediately and when I woke up I felt incredible. After the back pain went away I continued going to help me deal with stress and anxiety. Well worth the money.

I had it for back and knee pain. I wanted to believe in it but it didn’t do anything for me.

It has helped a lot of people for pain and other issues - but I don't think it's permanent. But any relief from constant pain is good.

It doesn't hurt at all.

It's really interesting how the hell they came up with this - sticking tiny needles to move energy. Fascinating.

No treatment is 100% effective - so it is always worth a try and it can't hurt you.

Ibuprofen works faster.

I had acupuncture to quit smoking in the 90's. I had tried everything else. It worked! The craving disappeared. I haven't even been tempted to go back since then. I told at least friends about it and they were able to quit too. This was in the day when almost everyone smoked and you could smoke almost everywhere. It is unexplainable but true.

Ever hear of the placebo effect? The sunk cost fallacy?

Huh. r9 - where did they put the needles in your body? All over, or just (a) specific area(s)?

Specific to the reason you're there. For instance I asked for the lose weight needles and she put them in my ear

Point taken r10 but if it works, ...especially for something like quitting smoking...

I wonder if anyone's ever gone in and said "gimme the Quit Drinking Needles."

I've never heard anyone claim that Acupuncture helped them to stop drinking.

[quote] I wonder if anyone's ever gone in and said "gimme the Quit Drinking Needles."

I've seen it advertised as such.

I have had it a few times. I was in excruciating pain from cervical radiculopathy, popping opioids, steroids, nsaids - heat, ice, nothing gave relief. honestly I contemplated suicide. one treatment from an acupuncturist and I walked out with no pain - it was amazing. eventually the pain did return, but not as bad. PT and regular acupuncture and chiropractic visits keep me pain free.

I wish I could say it helped me! I went through a phase about ten years ago where I was having chronic yeast infections, like weekly! It was a veritable nightmare! I had read that dousching with youghurt was good for them, so I tried that, but all that happened was I wound up with clumps of Boysenberry youghurt coming out of inside me for weeks! LOL!!! I didn't have health insurance at the time (LONG STORY!) so I aske my neighbor, a gay man namre Leon, if he would asist me with accupuncture. Well, long story short, Leon ran out of regular pins so he wound using some from my cork board, suffice to say there was blood all over my sofa and two days later, guess who had another yeast infection! LOL! Sometimes you can't win em all!

you sound too nice to be Cheryl

Is Accupuncture anything like AccuWeather???

Yes I had terrible neck pain brought on by stress years ago. I couldn’t even turn my head the pain was so bad. A few acupuncture sessions and I felt so good. It works!

I know two people who had acupuncture treatments in an effort to quit smoking. One started smoking again in less than two weeks. The other person lasted about three months because she broke both wrists while ice skating.

25 years ago I was in a group camp situation where an Asian acupuncturist volunteered an afternoon. I was having some foot pain. She put a needle in my ankle and I felt and heard a loud zing. Other people heard it too... not as loud as I did. She said to me " you have very powerful chi". ( She explained that chi is someone's life force). Didn't really help my foot pain, but I learned about my powerful chi and I remind myself of that when the going seems tough

I tried it for smoking - it helped for a short while but it didn't work in the long run. Doesn't mean it does't work for some people.

It's always worth trying.

They say that if you don’t feel it working after several sessions, it won’t work.

It's a pseudo science because we don't know exactly how it works. What is chi and where is it located? It doesn't show up on an MRI and you can't cut open a body and find it.

I love calling it the placebo effect when there are decades of research showing its usefulness in veterinary medicine. I remember an argument about this based on work at Cornell, with horses, and the researcher asking the skeptic ,"So you think the horses got better because they wanted to believe the treatments helped them walk?" The blank look was priceless.

Science is a method and process. A tool for understanding. Not the only tool. Science isn't a religion but many followers think it is.

"It's a pseudo science because we don't know exactly how it works." It's 2025 and scientists are still arguing how electricity 'works', and will tell you they really don't know what it is, either. (knowing something's effects is not knowing what it is.)

Is 'pseudo' the right term here - since it means not genuine of a sham?

There have been tons of western trials that have confirmed its efficacy - including non-humans. To me, that's not pseudo - that's more of an unknown science since we can't properly assign how it works all the time.

It works for a lot of people and situations - that's undeniable and why most US insurance companies will cover the cost. Believe me, insurance companies would NOT pay for it if they didn't think it was a lower-cost, beneficial treatment.

^I think anything that isn't hard science can be considered pseudoscience. That's the beauty of it, it's equal. There's a lot of scientific knowledge, principles, experiments, case studies behind acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine but not double blind and peer reviewed and reverse analysis, it's just not possible. It's easy to imagine a future where a computer could measure and analyze in real time the chi of the patient and Dr. but not today.

Acupuncture is based on the principle of chi which science can't measure or even define. You can't do controlled experiments because the process involves the chi of the subject AND the of the practitioner. It's not just putting needles in the right places, they manipulate the chi "pulling" or "pushing" as required. It's a healing art.

Think about a massage therapist who connects with you vs. one who gives you a rubdown. You can't measure it (well, sometimes you can!) but you definitely know the difference.

As an alternative to opioids for pain relief, I think I will consider it when I am older and have arthritis. Unlike pre-manufactured pills, it seems like it would depend a great deal on the doctor; some people can tell things about your body (your posture, whether you favor one side) just by looking at you. It’s a real ability people have; not necessarily the same in every medical school graduate. It’s not something people learn by rote.