anyone who has acupuncture as part of their MC support

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Gabes-Apg
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anyone who has acupuncture as part of their MC support

Post by Gabes-Apg »

had my acupuncture apt tonight....

my acupuncturist (shauno) was interested in what other MC people are having done at their acupuncture apts.

a) what type of acupuncture treatment (is it chinese based, japanese based, mixture, other)
b) when they are doing the treatment what type of things are they treating (inflammation? any meridians in particular, and this is dependant on the type of acupuncture treatment they are doing)
c) any other information they are willing to share.

Shauno has had some Crohns patients in the past but as they were elderly and had multiple health issues he was mostly treating whole body symptoms and was not sure if the acupuncture was definately helping.

He is keen to learn what is going to work best for symptoms like this
we have tried a slightly different regime of treatment tonight,
Gabes Ryan

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ant
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Post by ant »

Gabes

I have done acupuncture twice. (well, I am in China :smile:) Once before MC dx for dizziness and it did seem to help. Second time for MC and it did not....in fact I had D shortly after, but that may have been co-incidental. So, for me, the jury is out....

All best, Ant
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Post by Ginny »

Gabes, I have been seeing an acupuncture for three months now and he is been working on building my strength first and the inflammation second. I personally have seen quite an improvement, considering I was barely getting through the day and could not wait to crawl in to bed. I was very active before this disease and I now am able to play some golf in the evening after a day at the office. At first I thought my strength, let's work on the "real" problem, but now I understand. The mind and body gets stronger and I have ammunition now to fight the bad days. I highly recommend acupuncture, but don't expect it to fix you overnight. I believe he is using the Chinese based treatment. Ginny
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Post by Linda in BC »

Hi Gabes:
About 9 years ago while I was still living in Calagary, after dx with MC but before I had figured out that I was casein intolerant, I went to a Chinese actupuncturist , a Dr. King, I believe it was, who was from China for treatment of the MC. I went for probably 9 visits, and became symptom free for 6 months. I am not sure of the details of the treatment he used ( it was my first time getting acupuncture) but these are the things he did: inserted the needle thingys (can't rember where but there were a lot of them, hooked them up to some kind of a low electrical current thing, used a heat light on my tummy, and moxa stick, told me I was cold (?) / damp (?) (this is how I remember what he said anyway) and that I should not drink overly cold or hot liquids, should always dry my hair with a blow dryer before leaving the house after washing it, and he put me on a brand of black cohosh that I cannot get here in Creston. He also had me do visioning of light and warmth going to my stomach area. What ever he did worked , and as I said, I was blissfully symptom free for six months. Then I moved here, had a very stressful month and whammo, the D came back full force. I tried another actupuncturist here ( a canadian who was trained in Chinese methods), but had no success at all. It was not possible for me to go back to Dr. King as i now lived 400 miles away or so.

I am fairly convinced that a lot of my MC problems come from stress ( and most of my other health problems for that matter, too!) ... my body's way of dealing with it, and that is why I think the accupunture worked for me. It must have aligned the meridians , set everything back up as it was supposed to be, got the energy flowing correctly again. If I can relax, like when I am off during the summers, I am very noticeably better. Also , something else that supports my "stress" theory at least as far as things like my high blood pressure, is that I am having the same effect of lowed blood presssure from the LDN, as I did with the L-glutamine... it has been normal for the past two days since starting LDN, without taking any medication. The BP med I normally take, that works like a charm for me, is Atnolol and it lowers adrenalin somehow. Adrenaline/stress/ illness/ relaxation/improvement... all seem to be tied into my situation. That is why I do have hopes of the LDN helping me. I would use actupuncture again if that was an option for me as it was the only thing that has ever worked!!!!!
Linda
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Post by Joefnh »

After talking with Gabes and others where I work, I am in the process of finding a local practitioner. I have never done this before, but have heard good things for the most part about this type of treatment.

I hope I don't get 'needled' too much from others over this decision... :lol: Sorry very bad attempt at humor.

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Post by tex »

The problem with trying several different treatment methods at the same time, is that when remission finally arrives, (and it will, assuming that you diligently remove all of your food intolerances from your diet, and carefully maintain that diet), you will either attribute it, (arbitrarily), to the last treatment you added to the program), or, (more logically), you won't have the foggiest idea what part was played by each respective type of treatment. That's not an insurmountable problem, in the long run, assuming that you will subsequently be able to figure out which treatments can eventually be phased out, (and settle on an appropriate time frame for doing so).

That said, I firmly believe that everyone should do whatever they feel they need to do, in order to achieve remission in the fastest possible way. There is no question in my mind that stress plays a much bigger role in this disease, than the mainstream medical community attributes to it. Therefore, any means that can be harnessed to either reduce the prevailing level of stress, or alternatively, reduce the effect of stress on the body, is certainly worth trying, (provided that it is affordable, and not otherwise counterproductive to recovery).

With alternative treatments, faith in the technique is probably a prerequisite, because without trust/faith, the placebo effect is lost, and IMO, the placebo effect, while important in virtually all treatments, (even those involving drugs), is especially important in areas involving the treatment of stress relief, and other "intangible" issues.

Please keep us updated on how it goes.

Tex
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Olivia-Micro-Colitis
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Post by Olivia-Micro-Colitis »

Joe-Nice Pic!
Gabes-I've been wondering about this stuff too. I'm not gonna lie i've been pretty skeptical but it might be worth a try
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Post by Gabes-Apg »

woo hoo - we know what olivia looks like!!!!

hey lovely, how is the stool blood thing? did you see someone? is it still happening?


I have used acupuncture for over 10 years.
Gabes Ryan

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Post by Joefnh »

Olivia-Micro-Colitis wrote:Joe-Nice Pic!
:oops:

Thanks Olivia -- Blush -- It was one of the few times someone was able to talk me into getting in front of the camera.


Your pic is nice as well!

How goes the battle with the military doctors

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Post by Joefnh »

Gabes what have been the main symptomatic benefits that you have seen with these treatments

--Joe
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Linda in BC
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Post by Linda in BC »

Re: believing or not and it's affecting results

When I tried the acupuncture, I did not have any expectations that it would work, I was just desparate. I did have an open mind tho (can't hurt, might help attitude) and figured if the Chinese culture had been using this sort of thing as it's main medical system for thousands of years, there must be something to it..I mean if not, I was sure they would have looked elsewhere for solutions.

I was truly "gobsmacked" ( my new word that I learned from my potty people friends :smile: ) when it did work!
Linda
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Olivia-Micro-Colitis
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Post by Olivia-Micro-Colitis »

still dealing with the blood thing.....we've being doing our inspection all week so i've had no time to see a doc. plus i haven't had time to pick up my meds been out for over a week now bc of this stupid inspection.
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Post by Umber »

I have been doing acupuncture for a little over two years with huge success in lots of area's regarding my health. I went in to my appointment last week with MC symptoms, I wasn't certain I would make it through the 40 min treatment without dashing off to the restroom. I told my acupuncturist, he handled it, and within minutes my stomach completely settled down. I am a huge believer in this! I love it.

With that said! Acupuncture is only part of my health regimen. The other part includes diet, mental health, exercise and most important......stress managment. Stress takes a huge toll on the body...it is lethal for me!

In my opinion, acupuncture is important, but its only one piece of the puzzle.

Hugs,

Lori
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Post by Ginny »

Agree totally with Linda; had no expectations but was willing to try it after a friend recommended this clinic. AND I am so glad I did. The added benefit I get is absolute calmness during the treatment, which is hard to imagine when you are are "needled" all over the body.

I have no doubt that stressed caused my problem and I believe it will take a combination of "therapies" to bring me back to normal. Lori is right;acupuncture is only one piece in the puzzle. Ginny
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Post by Joefnh »

Olivia, the labs I work in are located on Hanscom AFB, and I love it when the AF division (66th Fighter & Logistics Wing) we work with has their inspections and security exercises. I can't imagine trying to deal with all that.

Good luck, I hope you are able to get back to your doctor soon.

--Joe
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