A doctor comes around on acupuncture

Some folks remain skeptical about acupuncture. That’s understandable. In the western world, and in particular the United States, the practice is still relatively new and its popularity is still growing. Compared to acupuncture’s use in the east, and to traditional medicine’s history in the west, acupuncture here is still in its infancy in some ways.

Acupuncture is a safe, reliable, and natural way to relieve pain, and in particular, address the root causes of pain and discomfort. But its methods are not taught in western medical schools, so many doctors remain skeptical of acupuncture’s benefits and efficacy.

Dr. Conor Lavelle was one of those doctors. An emergency room doctor, Dr. Lavelle sees many patients who are complaining of chronic pain stemming from diseases like fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and more. Dr. Lavelle refers to the “pain ladder” introduced by the World Health Organization in 1986, as a guide for doctors ascribing pain management to patients. Near the top of that ladder are prescription opioids, which we now know can be damaging. But for years, doctors have thrown medications at pain problems.

“Pain is one of the most common reasons patients come to the ER,” Dr. Lavelle writes in Quartz. “Yet, we as doctors are notoriously poor at managing it. We undertreat it, sometimes sending patients home from the hospital when they’re still very uncomfortable, even to the point of being unable to perform important daily tasks like cooking and cleaning.”

Lavelle had always been aware of acupuncture, but hadn’t tried it and wouldn’t suggest it to patients because of a perceived lack of consensus around its benefits. Over the years, that has changed. Numerous studies have been done showing acupuncture’s ability to treat a wide range of pain symptoms and their root causes. So Dr. Lavelle went to try acupuncture for themself.

“After my acupuncture session, I left the clinic feeling noticeably better than I had before I arrived,” Dr. Lavelle writes. “I felt loose. My head was clear. My shoulder wasn’t sore.”

As the American Pain Society endorsed acupuncture for chronic pain management, and after experiencing the benefits firsthand, Lavelle is no longer a skeptic.

“When a frustrated patient, walking the dark path toward opioid addiction, asks me if they should try acupuncture, at least now I can tell them it’s worth a shot.”

If you suffer from chronic pain, acupuncture is more than just worth a shot.

Is Acupuncture replacing opioids as the treatment of choice for pain?

Stephen Newman of Cleveland, Ohio has for years dealt with two rare and painful conditions. Ankylosing Spondylitis is an inflammatory arthritis of the spine, and common variable immunodeficiency, which is an inherited immune disorder. Both conditions bring with them painful side effects, which Stephen had been dealing with since his teens—back then, he was told it was probably merely growing pains.

But the pain continued into adulthood. Primarily, Stephen had been treating the discomfort with prescription painkillers. Additionally, he received infusions of antibodies to support his weak immune system. 

Of the medications, Stephen said: "They don't address the underlying cause, so I was still in pain and the damage is being done from the inflammation and autoimmune disorder It was only treating the surface symptom.”

Eventually, Stephen tried acupuncture. "Once I started doing the acupuncture and everything to treat the underlying cause, that's when I really started to get better…my doctors can't believe how well I'm doing now." Acupuncture has helped Stephen so much that his immune disorder recently went into remission.

Hopefully, there will be many more Stephens out there in the future who turn to acupuncture to treat pain and discomfort rather than rely on opioids. In Ohio, Medicaid has recently expanded to cover acupuncture treatments after an opioid task force determined that additional treatments be available for people dealing with chronic pain.

The trend appears to be going in the right direction. According to government surveys, 1 in 67 people say they get acupuncture every year; it may not seem like a lot, but that’s up from 1 in 91 people just a decade ago.

“We have a really serious problem here,” said Dr. Mary Applegate, medical director for Ohio’s Medicaid department. “If it’s proven to be effective, we don’t want to have barriers in the way of what could work.”

The evidence is certainly showing that acupuncture does work, and is much safer than opioids for treating pain.

Acupuncture for Fibromyalgia Pain

Pain, fatigue, feeling like you’re just in a fog. For some of us, these symptoms come and go and are easily manageable. But for those who suffer from fibromyalgia, these symptoms persist and greatly affect quality of life. For many sufferers, symptoms can begin after a physical trauma, infection or event that causes major psychological stress, but for others there may be no single cause.

According to the Mayo Clinic, “Repeated nerve stimulation causes the brains of people with fibromyalgia to change. This change involves an abnormal increase in levels of certain chemicals in the brain that signal pain (neurotransmitters).”

There are many ways people try to treat fibromyalgia pain, including medication. However, one treatment in particular is proving to be most effective in potentially restoring fibromyalgia patients to a fruitful and pain-free life.

A recent study performed at the Oregon Health and Science University showed that Individualized acupuncture in a group setting significantly decreases fatigue and pain in fibromyalgia patients, compared with standard group therapy—a treatment that has previously been shown to be helpful for fibromyalgia patients. Thirty patients who reported moderate to severe pain were treated, half of which underwent standard educational group therapy and half of which received individualized acupuncture treatments within a group setting. The half who received acupuncture treatment did so in 40-minute sessions, twice a week for a 10-week period.

The results were clear.

“Those who underwent group acupuncture showed significant improvements, which were sustained and even improved four weeks after treatment,” the results of the study said. “Fatigue scores in this group improved by 25%, and pain decreased by 2.8 points.”

With nearly 10 million people across the US suffering from fibromyalgia, chances are you may know someone who is in need of treatment from the pain, fatigue and “fibro fog” associated with the disease. If so, acupuncture may be just what they need.

Write here…

Aches and pains? Ditch the Ibuprofen.

We all know the feeling. Maybe you slept in the wrong position, or upped your physical exertion in an effort to exercise more. Maybe you banged a knee or elbow playing a sport or stretched too far while horsing around with your kids. Or maybe you’re just getting old (it happens!). Worse off, those who complain about consistent aches and pains may suffer from arthritis.

It’s almost like second nature for many of us to head straight to the medicine cabinet and grab for the ibuprofen bottle. Pop a few in and go on with your day. The problem is that medications like ibuprofen only address the symptom and don’t have any regenerative ability. While tears and serious injuries may require surgery and/or physical therapy, the root cause of every day aches and pains can get worse if only treated with something like ibuprofen and physician prescribed pain killers (not to mention the addictive properties of the latter).

Thankfully, there is another way—acupuncture. And a recent study performed in China has put some data behind what is becoming more commonly known; that aside from being the safer, natural alternative, acupuncture is more effective at treating arthritis than ibuprofen.

Researchers at Yueyang Hospital sampled 80 patients who suffer from arthritis, administering either ibuprofen or a combination of acupuncture and tui na massage. The second group received acupuncture treatment daily for 20 minutes for 20 days, followed by a 20 minute massage treatment. The acupuncture and tui na treatments were successful in 90% of patients as opposed to 87% in the ibuprofen group – a small but meaningful difference given the safety and holistic differences in the two approaches.

A further study showed that of acupuncture and tui na, acupuncture was the more meaningful and effective of the two treatments for arthritis. We figured!

Acupuncture Being Used in the Treatment of Pain from Breast Cancer

According to a recent post from Time Magazine entitled, ‘Here’s a Promising Way to Treat Pain in Breast Cancer Treatment,” the power of acupuncture is now being used to reduce drug-related joint pain in patients.

Through the course of breast cancer treatments, the article explains that many patients are often prescribed medications called aromatase inhibitors, which protect against the disease recurring, and can come with difficult to manage side effects including terrible joint pain. But according to research, acupuncture might have the ability to help reduce the pain and make taking the medications more manageable.

The article goes on to explain that one of the remaining on the aromatase inhibitors is important in preventing the disease from going back and yet, according to Dr. Dawn Hershman, professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia University and vice chair of SWOG, ““But we know that they don’t work if people don’t take them, and we know the most common people don’t take them is because they develop side effects.”

A study conducted by Hershman and her colleagues examined 226 patients with early stage breast cancer who were divided in to three groups and over 3 months one group received true acupuncture treatment, one “sham” or superficial treatment, and the third group receiving no treatment at all.

Halfway through the study, 58% of the women in the group receiving the true acupuncture reported at least a 50% reduction in their pain levels. Furthermore, twelve weeks after the treatments had stopped, the differences between those that received true acupuncture and those who did not “remained significant.”

This promising result provides hope to patients struggling with pain as a side effect to the potentially life-saving medications, and increase the likelihood they remain on them. The study explains, “Hershman says the findings should give patients and doctors confidence that acupuncture may provide some benefit to women experiencing joint pain due to aromatase inhibitors.”

Acupuncture has long been an alternative treatment method to chronic pain, and as the article supports, “A growing body of evidence suggests that acupuncture may be effective at reducing pain from a variety of sources, and in a variety of populations.”

It continues, “Experts don’t know exactly how it works, but one suggestion is that it may trigger the release of the brain’s natural painkilling chemicals, says Hershman.”

Celebrities Turning to Acupuncture to Help Relieve Chronic Pain

 In Lady Gaga’s recently released Netflix documentary “Gaga: Five Foot Two” the star is seen at her most raw and vulnerable, navigating her stardom, personal life, and inner battles. At the forefront of her struggles appears to be her chronic pain stemming from fibromyalgia and a past traumatic injury.

Typically a bubbly, high energy star with dynamic dance moves on stage, Gaga is shown in the documentary writhing in pain, sobbing through spasms and visiting with doctors and other therapeutic professionals. To help combat the pain, she is also seen receiving acupuncture treatment in a teaser for the documentary.

Acupuncture for chronic pain isn’t a new phenomenon, but thanks to celebrities like Lady Gaga and others who are opening up about their own personal and physical struggles, it’s becoming more and more popular, which can only be a good thing.

In fact, Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker shared a photo on Instagram just this week of himself receiving facial acupuncture for his painful Trigeminal Neuralgia, a condition that affects the nerve responsible for carrying sensation from your face to the brain.

Hollywood star Sigourney Weaver is also quoted as telling the Daily Mail in 2012, “The body is an amazing instrument with great self-healing properties, and things like acupuncture and massage help the body regain strength and health. I’d much rather that than pump my body full of chemicals.”

So, how exactly does acupuncture help provide relief from chronic pain?  In the simplest terms, the insertion of acuneedles in specific meridians and points can help to stimulate secretion of endorphins (natural pain killing hormones) as well as the release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter said to help enhance an overall sense of well-being.

Acupuncture also helps to release any blocked qi, which can help to stimulate a natural, internal healing response of inflammation and other pain-inducing physical conditions.

Whether you suffer from headaches or general discomfort from tension, musculoskeletal pain or pain stemming from illness or disease, acupuncture is a holistic and natural method of pain management and relief.