blue paradise
Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2016
- Messages
- 26
- Reason
- DX FIBRO
- Diagnosis
- 00/2010
- Country
- US
- State
- CA
There have been a number of previous posts on acupuncture and whether or not these treatments have helped, but unfortunately those threads have been closed. So I guess I’ll just start a new one explaining my own experience. If anyone would like to share their recent experience with acupuncture, please participate in this thread.
After many friends suggested that I give acupuncture a try, I left my skepticism and fears aside for a while, and with an open mind made an appointment to see a local licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of “Traditional Chinese Medicine”.
In a nutshell it has been a very positive experience! On my first visit, the acupuncturist conducted a very lengthy and thorough interview about my medical and mental health. She then suggested treatment with acupuncture and described how it works. She also does moxibustion, cupping, aroma therapy, and herbs, by the way.
She explained that she has had many patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. She was honest and forthright, and said that acupuncture will not cure CFS or Fibro, but for some of her patients, it has helped alleviate the symptoms, including fatigue, pain, and memory and concentration problems. The more chronic the illness of a patient, the more treatments it might take for relief, and not every patient has had improvement. She said that she would also treat my depression, anxiety, insomnia, and adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) with acupuncture. She also pointed out that unlike drugs and some other therapies, there is no negative side-effects with acupuncture.
I’ve been going for treatment twice a week for about a month now, and will reduce treatment to once a week for a few weeks. There after, she usually suggests a once-a-month tune-up, as needed.
The acupuncture sessions are conducted in private rooms. I lie on my back on a normal padded drs. examination bed, fully clothed. She asks me how I’m doing, any significant changes in my condition since the last treatment, and she also checks my pulse on both wrists.
I consider myself one with a very low pain-threshold, but I found the needles to be easily tolerable. The needles are gently inserted in various parts of my body, including my head, ears, arms, legs and feet. There is usually no pain at all, and if there is any on insertion, it only is slight and last for a very brief moment. The acupuncturist told me they are “thinner than cats whiskers”.
About 20-24 needles are used in each session and takes about 5-10 minutes to place. She then turns down the lights in the room and leaves me for 30-45 minutes to rest. The room is softly lit with a lava-lamp apparatus that emits soft glowing colors on the walls and a white smoke. There is also peaceful new-age music softly playing in the background. I am surprisingly very relaxed and often nod off while I rest. I barely feel the needles. She leaves a buzzer/pager in case any needles feel uncomfortable. So far I’ve never had to use the buzzer. I come away after each session, refreshed, calm, and in less pain.
I was very pleasantly surprised after I came home from the first session to feel “something different”. It’s hard to explain, but I believe the acupuncture almost immediately helped with my anxiety and depression. Now with a month of treatments under my belt, I feel that the treatments have also helped to some degree with my pains, brainfog and memory problems. I can’t explain how acupuncture works, but for me, it just does.
Unfortunately, these acupuncture treatment are not covered by Medicare, so I must pay out-of-pocket. The cost does add up, but I think for the level of relief it has brought me, it is well worth the price. I am hopeful that the treatments continue to be effective after I reduce the number of treatments.
Thanks for listening. Peace to all.
After many friends suggested that I give acupuncture a try, I left my skepticism and fears aside for a while, and with an open mind made an appointment to see a local licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of “Traditional Chinese Medicine”.
In a nutshell it has been a very positive experience! On my first visit, the acupuncturist conducted a very lengthy and thorough interview about my medical and mental health. She then suggested treatment with acupuncture and described how it works. She also does moxibustion, cupping, aroma therapy, and herbs, by the way.
She explained that she has had many patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. She was honest and forthright, and said that acupuncture will not cure CFS or Fibro, but for some of her patients, it has helped alleviate the symptoms, including fatigue, pain, and memory and concentration problems. The more chronic the illness of a patient, the more treatments it might take for relief, and not every patient has had improvement. She said that she would also treat my depression, anxiety, insomnia, and adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) with acupuncture. She also pointed out that unlike drugs and some other therapies, there is no negative side-effects with acupuncture.
I’ve been going for treatment twice a week for about a month now, and will reduce treatment to once a week for a few weeks. There after, she usually suggests a once-a-month tune-up, as needed.
The acupuncture sessions are conducted in private rooms. I lie on my back on a normal padded drs. examination bed, fully clothed. She asks me how I’m doing, any significant changes in my condition since the last treatment, and she also checks my pulse on both wrists.
I consider myself one with a very low pain-threshold, but I found the needles to be easily tolerable. The needles are gently inserted in various parts of my body, including my head, ears, arms, legs and feet. There is usually no pain at all, and if there is any on insertion, it only is slight and last for a very brief moment. The acupuncturist told me they are “thinner than cats whiskers”.
About 20-24 needles are used in each session and takes about 5-10 minutes to place. She then turns down the lights in the room and leaves me for 30-45 minutes to rest. The room is softly lit with a lava-lamp apparatus that emits soft glowing colors on the walls and a white smoke. There is also peaceful new-age music softly playing in the background. I am surprisingly very relaxed and often nod off while I rest. I barely feel the needles. She leaves a buzzer/pager in case any needles feel uncomfortable. So far I’ve never had to use the buzzer. I come away after each session, refreshed, calm, and in less pain.
I was very pleasantly surprised after I came home from the first session to feel “something different”. It’s hard to explain, but I believe the acupuncture almost immediately helped with my anxiety and depression. Now with a month of treatments under my belt, I feel that the treatments have also helped to some degree with my pains, brainfog and memory problems. I can’t explain how acupuncture works, but for me, it just does.
Unfortunately, these acupuncture treatment are not covered by Medicare, so I must pay out-of-pocket. The cost does add up, but I think for the level of relief it has brought me, it is well worth the price. I am hopeful that the treatments continue to be effective after I reduce the number of treatments.
Thanks for listening. Peace to all.
