Acupuncture? | Arthritis Information

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Does anyone have any experience with Acupuncture?

I have never had it... I don't know anyone who has ever had it, but from what I've read... it can sometimes help with RA.

All the meds aren't working and I was thinking about giving it a try.

Herbs and correct foods are working. Acupuncture helps the flow of blood.

One's needs correct herbs and natural foods to continuously making adustments internally to 'tame' the disease and gain body health gradually. I did that almost 2 decades and have since never taken any med.

I had acupunture when i was first diagnosed, i had the little needles inserted in my knees, ankle area and behind my ears, it helped after a couple of sessions but then stopped working. My aunt swears by it though, I might even try it again.

I've had about 30-35 sessions, going 2 times a week.  I have mixed connective tissue disease; Lupus/Rheumatoid/Raynauds/Sjorgrens.

The downside to it is that it is per visit "out of pocket".  Don't want to do the math, lol, then I'll freak.

Is it working?  Well, I am having less pain.  I'm still in a flare, still swollen, still tired, but have less pain in my joints.  Is it the Prednisone?  Is it the MTX?  Is it acupuncture? 

I'm going to taper down on acupuncture to one time a week because of the expense although my acupuncture guy thinks I need 2 times a week do to the severity of my disease.

Also, it doesn't hurt and can be relaxing.  Yes, there are points that are uncomfortable, but it's not bad.

Whew...80 bucks per visit out of pocket?  Wow.  When are insurance companies going to realize that alternative medicine is a viable treatment and cover it the same way as conventional medicine? 

I have no experience with acupuncture but have heard it can work rather well.  I know I have certain points on my body that when massaged I can feel the blood flowing better and it helps with the swelling. 

I have tried it more than once and it stirs up my inflammation, the physio reckons he can see it happening under my skin as he does the acupuncture?  I know I can certainly feel it.  Janie. I tried acupuncture when I had the fibromyalgia, but not the RA.  I went for 8 sessions to give it a good try (at a pop then) and unfortunately I didn't find it helpful.  That's not to say that it doesn't help others, so if you can do it, it's worth trying.I am doing acupuncture, once a week ( a pop) massage therapy once a week ( a pop) and sts stimualtion-its an electrical shock type of thing, doesn't hurt, and its supposed to reset the sympathetic nervous system.  I have several other issues besides ra, which I take weekly humira injections and I am down to 3.5mg pred.

I have been doing these more alternative therapies for about 2 months now and yes, they are helping.  What exactly is helping, can't say for sure.

Honestly, I was totally skeptical about the acupuncture.  However, immediately after the first session, I had a odd reaction.  I felt almost "high" as in the drugs I did when I was younger where coming out.  I honestly felt like I was detoxing.  My whole body felt tingly for several days.  Its hard to explain, but my body feels more open after the treatments.

We have realized that I need long treatments, I lay there for almost an hour with the needles but it usually doesn't really hurt.  Just some warmness and tingly and some odd sensations.  Once in a while, a needle will hurt but nothing to bad.

I say give it a try!!  Is it going to cure you and make everything 100 percent ok, I doubt it but will it help, probably!

Hi,

I had medical acupuncture (as opposed to Chinese style) a while ago and it was the only thing that helped with muscle spasms in my back. I am very lucky that my GP is a qualified medical acupuncturist adn in the UK GP services are free! Medical acupuncture has helped me with pain and muscle spasms, having the needle inserted directly into a muscle which is in spasm can "unlock" the spasm and relax the muscle which is bliss. I tried Chinese style acupuncture several years ago for my skin but after 3 months it had no effect (apart from on my finances - it was expensive). I think different things work for different people - my advice is to check the Practitioner is qualified and then give it a go!

KT

I went when I was first diagnosed.  (@.00/session).  My insurance covers accupuncture if you go to a specific provider.  However, I paid this out of pocket because I wanted to go to someone who was highly recommended.

It really didn't help the RA.  It definitely made me more relaxed.

I went through a long series of acupuncture a few years ago when I first
started getting symptoms of RA. Had so many headaches so I went to a very
reputable acupuncturist and he did many treatments on my head and neck.
I think it did some good but didn't really get to the root of the problem. The
thing I think that I came away with was his office was so relaxing and I left
there feeling better. I think that type of medicine just has an over all good
feel to it. The acupuncture was expensive and my insurance would not pay
for it so I had to quit. I have been thinking of going back to help me with
my weight loss.

KT297 posted "I had medical acupuncture (as opposed to Chinese style)".  There is no such thing as medical and Chinese acupunture as all acupunture derive from Traditional Chinese art of treatment dated back many centuries. Today, the treatment is recognised and accepted in western medical hospitals all over the world.

Acupunture may not cure RA but inserting needles in acupoints help the the working of the channels, pulse, vital energy and blood of the body. I had a few sessions of acupunture past 25 years.

Only correct herbs and foods can cure arthritis as what I dumped meds 2 decades ago. As the disease is chronic time is one factor to gradually reverse the severity and constantly adjust autoimmune/metabolic disorder to healthy level. Herbs can ease pain without side effect,  without drugs.

Hi,

Not sure about in other countries but in the Uk we do make a distinction between chinese style and medical acupuncture - the qualifications for the two are different and they are used differently. For example medical acupuncture is not used for things like losing weight, stopping smoking etc but for pain management (it has been scientifically proven to alter the way the brain deals with pain), for treating muscle problems etc. I'm not suggesting one is better than the other but they are different in the UK and used here in different ways. There are a growing number of GP's offering medical acupuncture and I am aware of practitioners who offer a combination of both (although not free on the National Health Service). Interestingly I saw a documentary on the research into medical acupuncture and they scanned the brains of people having acu and having a placebo (complex fake needles). The brains of those having acu showed a marked response in the pain centre of the brain where the ones having the placebo showed no activity in that part at all. The overall conclusion was that the acupuncture didn't take away the pain but changed the way it was dealt with by the brain and made it easier to cope with - absolutely fascinating!

KT

So, how do you do placebo accupuncture?They used needle carriers exactly like the ones for the real needles but the actual needle (protruding from the handle bit) was very short. All the subjects had tape put over the needle but in the placebo ones this held the tiny needle against the skin to give a sensation that something was happening and with the people having real acu it had no function apart from to make them all seem the same. None of the people had had acu before so it made a good control sample. They tested the placebo needles on a different set of volunteers, using both and testing if they could tell the difference without knowing which was which.
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