accupuncture (? for Silver & anyone else who has tried it)

Silver:

You said in another post that you've found accupuncture to be helpful with pain relief... How long was it before you got results? I decided to give it a try and I've been once already but no change at all after the first visit. It didn't get worse OR better at all. My doctor told me to give it 3 visits and then find someone new. The accupuncturist said give it a month (about 4-5 visits) before giving up. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Ry

 Hi All,

  I also tried accupuncture in fact I tried it several times over the years and my biggest problem with it was just laying on the table for the amount of time the session lasted. I found that I was usually in more pain after having to lie flat on my back for a half an hour to an a hour that it took to do it. So I guess you could say it did more harm than good for me. I do know a lot of other people who have CP and tried it and have had wonderfull results. In the end I think it's just different for everyone however I do know you have to go into it with an open mind and a possitive attitude to have any hope of it working. Good luck with it. I'm out for now, Toritoo

Have a tolerable pain day all.

Okay, that is a funny picture! Imagine all of us just walking around town with dozens of little needles sticking out of us all over! LOL!

Well, I went for my second treatment today. Thanks to all of you for your comments - it sounds like this is just like everything else where it works for some but not for others. My first treatment was not fun at all because I had to lay on my stomach which is excruciating. They tried to stack pillows under my stomach to make it bearable, but I couldn't tolerate it very long at all and had to stop. I could feel the needles in the muscles that are spasmed and that made me think maybe this would do the trick to interrupt the spasm, but probably I needed to have them in longer. This time he set up a massage chair for me so I didn't have to try the stomach position again and he also used smaller super-tiny needles. I was able to get through the whole thing, but I didn't really feel anything going on. I don't feel better or worse, actually. It's like I didn't do anything at all.

I am going to give it another 2-3 times before I give up, I think. It isn't hurting, and thankfully it is covered by my insurance. At this point, I'm desperate for anything to give me even the tiniest sliver of relief!

Thanks again for the replies.

Hi Ry,

 

I had acupuncture a few years ago for my back.  It was covered by workman's comp.  It was for back pain, shoulder, neck, arm pain as well as weak left hand.  I found that it did help my right side, but never my left side.  The "suction" cups they used also helped.  However, so much depends on the acupuncturist you see.  I saw 4 different ones at this doctor's office.  One of them actually gave me vertigo - a result of the needles on my head - and probably lack of experience of the acupuncturist.  It took a different one to get rid of the vertigo and I never let them put needles above my neck again.  One of the ways I found to tell which one was a "good" experienced acupuncturist, is that there was no pain when they inserted the needles.  Quite frankly, the best one I saw was asian.

Hope you're feeling better.

 

Lisa AKA pain

Red,
Since you're paying out of pocket, and your appointment is next week, when you go ask about your doctor's training. Is it in traditional Chinese acupuncture? And also how long he/she's been doing this, etc. That way if you're not getting some improvement you can evaluate if there's another practitioner with different experience/training. If I was paying, I'd probably take a traditionally trained, experienced, non-MD practitioner over an MD who's had training in the US in some westernized version. Of course, if you can get both in one person, that's great! And the bottom line is if you get some help with your pain.

Let us know!

Hi all,
I have been getting accupunture for chronic abdominal pain for the last five years. I get it 1-2 times a week and truly feel I benefit from it. My doctor went through five years of training for it and is very good. When I first started, I went five times a week for about 2 months. Then we backed off to 3 times and now 1-2 times. At first, he charged me very little because I was a guinea pig for him. He hadn't ever treated my kind of pain before. Now I pay $25 a visit which is still quite cheap. My insurance doesn't cover it. It not only helps with my pain but it also relaxes me. I will tell you that I honestly didn't think it would work when I started it. My boss was bugging me to try it and I figured it couldn't hurt. Now, I am a true believer! I still have to take pain meds but was able to cut the amount in half. Good luck to you!
Tina

Thanks for the advice PAlady and ryand! I will let you know the outcome. I was just telling my hubby that personally I don't see how inserting thin needles into someones back could possibly help but I'm willing to give it a go if it can take care of this back pain. So I'm gonna go in with an open mind - or at least try! :)

Ryand, I went in today but didn't have the accupuncture treatment yet. I start them on May 9th. But he did do the energy test on my legs. Did you get that too? He said the normal range for energy is around the 200-400 mark but my legs barely registered at 10. So he says that can also be the reason why my legs feel like lead weights all the time! He said he recommended I see him twice a week for about a month and maybe do a monthly maintenance treatment. How often do you go in?

I'm hoping this works too! :) I am going to give it a month or so and if I find no relief then I might go see a chiropractor. I have a lot of issues with my back. You should ask to see if they do the energy test - not sure if there is another name for it or not. It's sort of interesting. It can work for both the upper and lower part of your body. This doctor was very funny and nice - I really liked him. He had me hold a metal rod in my hand - the metal rod was attached to a machine - another wand was what he tested the energy levels. He place the wand on my foot and the needle barely moved so he looks at me and says "Are you sure your alive??" lol He then proceeded to tell me what is normal and what is not. But he had me also test my arms and hands in which the needle flew up to 200 or so but then he would put the wand back on my legs and almost nothing. According to him, this will help him pinpoint my more troublesome areas.

I'm wishing you the best too Ry! :) I hope this works for you.

Palady - he didn't charge me anything for the test. In fact, my whole consultation visit was free. The treatments however, I have to pay $65 per visit because my insurance doesn't cover it.

Hi Ryand! :) I just wanted to give you an update on my acc. appt. I went in this morning and the doc had me lie on my back. He then had me hold a metal bar again which was connected to an electric wand. He put the wand on my leg, clicked it and asked me if I felt that. I said, felt what? He started to laugh and said I had some serious lack of energy flow. So he tried the wand again on various parts of my leg and the only place I felt it was on my left foot by my toes. It was then I told him Ohhh so it's supposed to be electric jolts?? And he just chuckled again because seriously I had no feeling whatsoever. So then he started placing the needles. He wanted to get my energy level up before working on my back. He put one in each foot, 2 in my legs, 1 in my hands and one under my collar bones. The ones in my feet hurt but rest of them didn't. I had to lay there for 30 minutes and try to relax - umm not that easy when my back was hurting and there was a bathroom next to me in which people were going in and flushing every 5 minutes! But anyway, as I was lying there, my right side of my body started getting realllll warm and my left started to freeze! It was such a wicked experience! By the time the 30 minutes was up, my left side was actually aching a bit from the cold. So I get dressed and that is when I realized that my right side did actually feel better! I no longer have that heavy fatigued feeling in my right leg - now my left, that is another story. That seems to be a bit worse. So anyway, I just thought I would let you know how my appt went. I go in for my second treatment on Monday.

Hi, Red! Thanks for the update. I was just thinking about you today and wondering i you'd gone yet. I am SO excited for you that you had some results so quickly!! It will be interesting to see if you continue to see improvements and if it feels the same each time. I am especially curios to hear how he treats your back when you get to that point.

I have had my 4th treatment now, but unfortunately I still haven't had any results at all. They had me lay in the fetal position on my side again and still used the small needles. I was in a bad way for the 3 days before that appointment, so that made my back extra sensitive to the needles. A few of them really hurt when he put them in, and what's really weird is that they hurt even worse when they took them out! Isn't that strange? The one thing they do that I really like is called "Moxa" treatments. After they put the needles in, they light this cigar looking thing (that's the Moxa) and hold the hot end very near to the needles. The heat really penetrates into the deeper part of my back, so while they are doing it I really do feel a tiny bit of relief. I wish it lasted longer, though. As soon as they stop, the pain get right back up there. You should ask your guy about it and see if they will do that for you too.

I have decided to give it one more treatment before giving up on it. PAlady, it was interesting to hear you say 10 visits. But I suppose since I'm not seeing any improvements 5 is enough, right? I don't want to give up too soon. The doc was very honest with me and said this just doesn't work for everyone. He seemed to feel really badly that I haven't gotten any better. Maybe 5th time is the charm!

Let me know how you feel after a few days, Red. I hope you get some enduring relief - and also for the other leg!

Ry

I think that this may work to help ease the leg heaviness but I seriously don't know if it's going to help my back pain. I'm gonna cross my fingers though! :) Ry, you have say to yourself and click your heels 3 times - 5th time is a charm, 5th time is a charm, 5th time is a charm! :)

PaLady, yeah, I know it's not a cure but any sort of relief I can get I will gladly take! :) I am highly restricted in the pain meds I can take because of my Uc. So, I'm hoping that this can bring long term relief - or at least until the docs can figure out what is wrong with me.