The research conclusion: “Acupuncture is effective in the treatment of functional dyspepsia, and is superior to non-acupoint puncture" -- which is one reason why it is important to see an Acupuncturist who is a Practitioner of Chinese Medicine rather than a professional w/ only 40 to 300 hours of training (vs 4 years of full time Chinese Medicine school). Ask me more about this at DrMLucas@AcupunctureWoman.com. You may notice that, in this study, the patients were treated 5 times in a week for 4 weeks -... this is why I have said for years that once a week acupuncture is not the most effective way to be treated. Frequent treatment >>>> cure >>>>>see you in a month or so for future prevention. You don't take your Nexium once a week do you? Or your anti-depressant? Why then rely on once a week treatment for relief or resolution of your symptoms/condition?Dyspepsia is indigestion and involves symptoms including abdominal pain, bloating, an uncomfortable sensation of heaviness or fullness after eating, nausea, belching and heartburn. Dyspepsia is often linked to GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), gastritis and gastrointestinal ulcers. In many cases, dyspepsia is not linked to an underlying organic disease which makes it another perfect condition to be treated with Chinese Medicine. In allopathic/Western/modern medicine, dyspepsia is often treated with prescription drugs (proton pump inhibitors). However, **long term use of PPIs is linked to gastric cell atrophy, which may lead to cancer**.Researchers examined a total sample size of 712 patients. Patients received 5 acupuncture treatments per week for a period of 4 weeks. Follow-up was documented 12 weeks following the treatment period. All groups improved, however, Group 1 ("real" acupuncture points) had over a 70 percent success rate. Group 1 received specific acupuncture points on the stomach meridian. The group with the lowest success rate was the sham acupuncture group with only a 34.75 percent improvement. At The Colorado Center of Traditional Medicine we bill health insurance when acupuncture or manual therapy is covered. Follow this blog at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=777691 read more..
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease-Acupuncture Successful-Acupuncture Treatments-Functional Dyspepsia
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Acupuncture Treatments-Back Pain
Why do I need a number of acupuncture treatments when I only need to see my MD once?
Ahhhh .... the ever frequent question about why you need more than one acupuncture treatment in order for your chronic symptoms to go away ..... i.e., be miraculously cured. My pet peeve: when people get one acupuncture treatment after suffering through 10 years of back pain and then say it didn't work. Healing takes time. Even a small cut takes time to heal and sometimes healing takes effort (i.e., more than one treatment, change in lifestyle, etc.).
So here's the deal. You see your MD once and come home with Vicodin for your pain, birth control pills to control your PMS, diuretic for your high blood pressure, Protonix for your acid reflux or GERD, Imitrex for your migraines, etc. etc. You need a pill box. If you really think about it, theoretically you are seeing your MD every day - in fact sometimes more than once a day since you need to take your pain meds more than once a day. Further, some of these pharmaceuticals are only masking the cause of your pain or other symptoms while the promise of Chinese Medicine is to find the cause and treat it; treat the root.*
Take my own back pain as a case study. I've had years of back pain probably mostly sports induced (structural damage). I was at the point of seeing surgeons for opinions, being offered all manner of prescriptions, etc. etc. .... the story of many people who have back pain. But I KNOW that the body can change despite what some diagnostic tests show - I see it in my patients every day.
I wanted to change my situation. Bone on bone. You might rightfully ask, how can any treatment besides surgery and pain meds deal with that? Well, acupuncture, structural yoga therapy, and deep tissue massage seem to have me on the very right path! WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS PATH? - I want to be healthy and active not drugged with the condition that is causing the pain continuing to get worse. I am now faithful in receiving regular acupuncture treatments and taking Chinese herbal formulae. I see a dynamite structural yoga therapist and do the postures that she teaches me and receive MT. I am considering canceling my next MD/spine specialist appointment because the AM crookedness, stiffness, and pain are minimal now and I am back to being able to do my AM workouts which I couldn't do 4 months ago. Yay!!
Your body CAN change; it's a matter of whether you are willing to find the proper cache of treatments/practitioners and then DO the work! Do I get discouraged sometimes, wish I didn't ever have to do any work to be pain free or not stiff? I do. But when I look at the alternatives, I'm super happy that I have found therapies that work.
*Naturally there are some conditions that can't be "cured" by dealing with the cause when they are too far gone. But, quality of life, for example pain reduction, chemo induced nausea relief, etc. etc., can be much much better. read more..