Migraines and acupuncture

I don't take antivirals on a continuing basis so I don't expect to 'get tired of' them but you can bet if the bottom falls out, I will be looking high and low for something else to try. That's how I finally got the success I have had to this point and I would keep trying if need be. In the mean time, it's kind of nice to be able to kick back and relax for a little while. May it continue for me and may you continue to have success with your issues as well.

 

I want some sweet and sour chicken--- delicious stuff, not so sure about needles with electrical currents in my hear though.

 

Acupuncture for patients with migraine: a randomized controlled trial.

CONCLUSION:
Acupuncture was no more effective than sham acupuncture in reducing migraine headaches although both interventions were more effective than a waiting list control.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15870415

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19160193

Acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis.

Twenty-two trials with 4419 participants

There is no evidence for an effect of 'true' acupuncture over sham interventions, though this is difficult to interpret, as exact point location could be of limited importance.

 

It's pretty easy to interpret. When the 'true' treatment works no better than the sham treatment it means the effect from the 'true' treatment is placebo. If I give one group a 'real' pill (medicine) and another group a sugar pill and the results are the same then we know that the real pill has no effect greater than the placebo effect from the sugar pill.

Great finds on those studies Sir Lanc.

 

Not really. Both pills could have something in them that work. I know of a study where both pills worked. Since that is not always the case with placebos one has to wonder if it was the placebo effect or perhaps there was something in both pills. It's not very scientific to just assume there wasn't anything we don't understand going on. In fact there is nothing less scientific than assuming we know everything.

There have been studies that showed that shunt operations don't work any better than sham operations. Yet, we know that with some surgeons and some patients they can be outstandingly successful. Sometimes we just don't know the whole story and sometimes things are not conveniently spelled out in black and white as hard as we try.

 

I just asked a friend this question so now I'm asking you - Why do practitioners invest money and time to become acupuncturists, go to China to study, invest money in a studio, etc. if the data show that it doesn't work?

What makes a person want to practice acupuncture? The person I saw was a medical doctor and not someone that got certified in 3 weeks.

 

Interesting. The person I saw was Chinese-- but she was also a nurse-practitioner. She said that she thought that Western Medicine was wonderful for some things, but was a dismal failure for others, where she believed that Chinese herbs and acupuncture was much more successful, based on what she saw growing up, and what she saw after moving to the US and becoming not just a nurse but a nurse-practitioner. So she went back to China for several years (don't know how many) to train.

 

My family dr who was a fantastic diagnostician suggested at one point i see an accupuncturist. She made a point of sayint the one she rcommended was a real chinese doctor not a three week wonder.

I never saw the chinese doctor because i found an answer that worked before i got down the list.

 

Intrepid, It takes FOUR years of a post-graduate education to become a Chinese Medical Practitioner. The "three week wonders" you speak of ARE the MD's, Chiropractors, and anyone else you mistakenly think has more credentials. Because of a strong lobbying body, they have been allowed to take an (extremely) abbreviated course which covers nothing put a handful of point prescriptions, which may or may not work on the individual they are treating. It misses the entire point of Chinese Medicine...and avoids theory all together. The REAL acupuncturists are exactly who you should be seeing, not someone with a "fancy" degree that impresses you.

 

So you decide to pick on me because...your religion told you to?

NOBODY on this thread has had success with acupuncture, and I haven't said anything negative about.

Go stick some needles in you and chill.

 

acujen wasn't picking on you I don't think. Just clarifying what she means when she says acupuncture as opposed to what other people may mean. My dr made the same point as I mentioned.

 

Read closely.

Like I give a crap about anyone's fancy degree. My MD had the 4 year acupuncture degree...and she told me not to go as nothing she did was working for me.

 

I figure if I have to read closely to find an insult, then I need to find something else to do

 

Imagine if sugar was the cure. How cool (and cheap!) that would be. A Life Saver could literally be a life saver.

A friend of mine's father is a GP. When she and her brother were kids he used to give them Fruit Tingles (I don't know if you have those in the US) for all that ailed them. Worked well most of the time, except when she broke her toe. Thirty years later and she's on the waiting list in the public hospital system to have complicated surgery to allow her to walk without pain. Meanwhile, she's still sucking on the Fruit Tingles. She says the pink ones work the best.

 

My "religion"? You really are a twit, aren't you?

 

Food for thought----- I found an acupuncture needle in my sweet and sour chicken today at lunch. Be careful an do your research please.

Stick with the great food and leave the needles behind.

 

Frankly, I agree with you on the placebo effect of many, many alternative treatments and I wouldn't spend a nickel on them. I tried them and nothing worked. Homeopathy, acupuncture, some other stuff where they look in your eyes and check your iris and come up with all kinds of diagnoses. I am even wary of chiropractors and osteopaths, although I did have a better experience with the chiro I saw. The osteopath sucked and I will not let anybody manipulate my neck or back.

Every practitioner I've seen had years of experience, all kinds of diplomas and certifications hanging on the walls, studied with this, that and the other person. I am curious to read anyone's positive experience with acupuncture, because quite honestly, I have yet to meet one person in real life, that received any kind of relief or healing from it.

People can try whatever they want, and I was one of those people, but I doubt any of this brings healing unless your mind convinces you that it does.

 

What doyou think of the study where sham surgery equalled the result of shunt surgery?

 

I think it's absolutely fascinating. Do you have a reference or a link where I could read about it?

The Placebo Effect is incredibly powerful, and intriguing. It is a lot more than 'wishful thinking' which is what most people think it is and therefore they find it extremely difficult to accept that the Placebo Effect may have eased their symptoms. We often read things like "You can't placebo yourself out of vertigo or an asthma attack" as though the effect relies on people a) knowing that they've been given a placebo and b) that it is a conscious action on their part.

We also know that there are variances within the Placebo Effect itself - so that people may get a bigger effect based on the colour of the pill or on the 'invasiveness' of the procedure - so a placebo delivered intravenously works better than a pill etc.