Acupuncture for Cluster Headaches

September 29, 2016
David started having headaches 25 years ago. Although he just suffers from them every 3-4 years, the headaches are severe and normally linger for 2-3 months. The attacks start from the inside corner spread to the back of his right eye. They can come at anytime and last 10 minutes to 3 hours. The pain can be so strong that it makes him want to bang his head. After  trying various medications for 10 years without any effect, David was sent to see a consultant, who believed the headaches was caused by a narrowing of his nasal. Two operations were then carried out for his nose but they couldn't stop the headaches. Finally he was given a diagnoses of cluster headache. 

This time the headaches started 10 days ago. David followed a friend's advice and decided to try some acupuncture. On the day he came to my clinic, he was having a headache. His pulse was fast and his tongue was bright red with yellow coating. These indicated a heat patern of his problem. I used some points in his head, neck, back and feet. After the treatment he said he felt better and very relaxed. When he came back a week later, he was having an ichy feeling on the right side of his nose, which he said was a sign of onset of a bad headache. But there something positive - he'd only had one attack and a few moments of discomfort after the last session of acupuncture. Then I gave him a similar treatment and afterwards he said the ichy feeling was gone. He promised to come back if the headaches bother him again and went with a big smile. Since then, I haven't heard from him for months.       
 
 
 

Cupping: it's not just for Olympians

August 10, 2016
“Athletes train extremely hard for years, so they are not going to waste time on something that doesn’t work or may harm them,” 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/health/cupping-its-not-just-for-olympians/

Continue reading...
 

Acupuncture 'doubles the chances of getting pregnant through IVF' - but is the placebo effect?

July 5, 2016
  • Over 46 per cent of women undergoing acupuncture treatment conceived
  • While only 21.7 per cent of the women became pregnant in the other group 
  • Treatment may be offered as a possible method of improving IVF outcome
  • Expert says it may only work due to patient spending time with practitioner
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3674013/Acupuncture-doubles-chances-getting-pregnant-IVF-used-improve-fertility-outcomes-future.html#ixzz4DXTWGYcY 

Continue reading...
 

Differential cerebral response to somatosensory stimulation of an acupuncture point vs. two non-acupuncture-points measured with EEG and fMRI

May 17, 2016
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25741269 Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9: 74 By Till Nierhaus 

Abstract

Acupuncture can be regarded as a complex somatosensory stimulation. Here, we evaluate whether the point locations chosen for a somatosensory stimulation with acupuncture needles differently change the brain activity in healthy volunteers. We used EEG, event-related fMRI, and resting-state functional connectivity fMRI to assess neural responses to standardized needle stimulation of the acupunctu...

Continue reading...
 

Acupuncture Accelerates Recovery After General Anesthesia: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

March 21, 2016
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25797640 J Integr Med. 2015; 13 (2): 99-104 By Gemma M 

Abstract 

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture anesthesia was created in the 1950's in China and continues to be used there today during most major surgeries. It is widely used in China for such complex operations as brain, heart, and abdominal surgery. It is popular in China because it is economical, practical, and beneficial to the patients. With acupuncture anesthesia there is less bleeding during surgery and there...

Continue reading...
 

Electroacupuncture for Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance and Psychological Distress in Breast Cancer Patients with Aromatase Inhibitor-related Arthralgia: A Randomized Trial

January 27, 2016
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25077452 Cancer 2014; 120 (23): 3744-51 By Mao JJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although fatigue, sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety are associated with pain in breast cancer patients, it is unknown whether acupuncture can decrease these comorbid symptoms in cancer patients with pain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on fatigue, sleep, and psychological distress in breast cancer survivors who experience joint p...

Continue reading...