I have a damaged nerve in my spine, caused by lifting something too heavy while in the service in WWII. My right leg started hurting in 1971 and is still hurting today - every day in the big toe area and now is practically down the whole leg, including the sciatic nerve. Have had surgery, no help. Been to Mayo Clinic who called it "damaged nerve root" Have tried TNS and Implant of Spinal Chord Stimulator. Doesn't help much now. Takes the edge off for a short period, but I think it just substitures one kind of pain with another, therefore the stimulator ends up being a different kind of pain, making me feel better for awhile. It's hard to explain. Is there ANYONE that has ever tried an acupuncture specialist for something similar to this? I have been told sometimes they can help, but it is not lasting - isn't covered by insurance and difficult to find one with good reputation, etc. My earlier research has led me away from one for several reasons. There is so much pain in this country, of all kinds, it makes me wonder why there isn't more information available? That is - if their procedures work. It seems reasonable, doesn't it? PLEASE, could some of you out their give me some opinions or your experiences with this old kind of pain relief treatment, good or bad? Frankly I am afraid of additional damage and/or spending money that I don't have for nothing.
I would be most grateful. Thanks any who responds, in advance.
paparuss5
Last edited by paparuss5; 06-21-2004 at 11:38 AM.
Reason: mispelled word
Re: Need information about using an Acunpunturist!
Hey pappy, It's just like any other modality, It helps some and not others. MY brother got great relief from acupuncture, He would come home and sleep for hours after a session. It is something that's more of a maint type thing.
More than anything It's a matter of a doc having the touch. Much like trigger point injections. Anyone can learn the meridians and proper placement, but there is more to it than inserting a needle 2.2 cm left of the axial and transverse plain junction. They learn mapping or the body, but not all map makers and readers pick up the gentle suttlties of every different patient.
It's best to find one recomended by a patient. Don't let race determine your confidence, Being of any specific decent doesn't make one doc better at acupuncture than the other, Yes it's an eastern art, but it doesn't mean you can't find a westerner that has the touch and it doesn't mean all easterners do.
I know cases that absolutely prove that's true. An asian doc had given acupuncture such a bad name in my brothers town that patients literally had to be talked into letting someone else give it a shot. My brothers western doc change the mind of a small comunity about acupuncture after an eastern doc destroyed most peoples confidence or willingnes to even try again.
Trigger point injections are the same. You can learn the spots and learn where not to inject, but it comes down to a matter of having that touch.
If the practioneer is an MD you may be surprised and your insurance may cover it. Many alternative therapies and non FDA aproved therapies are covered. Chiropractic has become more and more accepted as a form of physical therapy and vists are covered by most insurance, up to the same number of vists they will pay each year for regular PT. IF it works well, you will find a way. If you never try, you will never know.
Good luck, Dave
Re: Need information about using an Acunpunturist!
This is my 3rd time trying to respond! I hope it takes.
I have neck pain and TMJ disorder which causes headaches, facial pain, neck, shoulder pain.
I've had acu. before, with no results. I had gone to a chiro that was certified to perform acu. Two years later I am trying another doc. One that only performs acupuncture. I have had 25 treatments. I notice some improvement, but no "cure" yet. I met a man in his office that was bringing his wife in for treatments. He said he went to him for lower back pain and it took about 25 treatments but that after that he never had back pain again (5 years before). He said the problem is people give up too soon. Understandable since it is expensive. Other people claim he is a miracle worker and they had exhausted all their options, but that this man healed them. I met another man that was going to help his kidneys functions. He went over 50 times, spent over 3K and it never did anything for him.
The doc I go to is a 75 YO old doc that only performs (for 40 years now) acupuncture. I decided to try it again because, well, epidurals are the latest craze, which I tried, which was temporary, then I read about lasting damage they could cause. I've had enough lasting damage. I wanted to try a route that is completely reversible. Acu. is 2,000 years old. It's still here. I felt that held some weight. I go to the acu. 2-3 x week, chiro 2x/wk. Ice, heat, relaxation...It's a big investment in time and money. Most days I feel better than I did before, but not cured.
My advice is similar to Shore's. You won't know unless you try. If you're in Florida, he has 3 offices in South Florida, one in Boca Raton, one in Sunrise, and one in West Palm Beach. I don't think I can post his name, but if you type in acupuncture and those 3 cities in a search engine, you may find him. If you're anywhere else, look for someone who specializes in it, not one that just took a week long certification course. If you don't start noticing some relief quickly, move on and find another. I felt pain free the first day I had it. It returned, but no meds for a day was something for me.
This guy uses LOTS of needles, then hooks up certain sets of them w/mini jumper cables and turns on microamps. My tissue becomes the "closed circuit". It is uncomfortable at first, but w/in 15 minutes I am asleep (treatments run 40-60 minutes). It is $60 a visit. The first two weeks I was exhausted...falling asleep in the middle of the day. That subsided and now I feel energized, but the pain has not been totally eliminated, yet.
Re: Need information about using an Acunpunturist!
Hi Del,What you describing is a combination of acupuncture and a modality called TINS, Unlike TENS which doesn't rech deap tissue, using the needles and low amps allows deeper stimulation and like he descrbed "renewing or reinforcing the natural circuits or meridians. I have had TINS, and I've done acupuncture but never both, I also have a TENS unit. The tens unit didn't take long to max out out at every setting and no longer worked.
The acupuncturist I saw also said you have to give it at least 4-6 treatments to see if will be effective. The guy that did TINS was a physiatrist and was fed patients from a large ortho group for all their EMG studies and TINS treatment. The doc claimed to a Pain management doc, which anyone with a script pad or a modality to relieve pain can do, But The physiatrists believed that he could manage any and all pain with enough TINS and at that point I at had already seen several PM docs that had the same basic idea, Opiates were bad, the right antiD or modality could manage any and all pain.
I do believe there are truly gifted practioneers of acupuncture just as there are truly gifted other docs. It took me a dozen different PM docs and 3 surgeries to find a group of docs that could pretty much offer any modality you can think of but never insisted you continue a therapy that didn't work.
I did the long acting opiate route for several years after trying every non opiate method offered or heard of, untill changes in the mechanics of my spine and failed hardware required something more invasive, "the pump"
I kind of lok at pain management as a bell curve, each patient falls somewhere on it based on their level of pain, exposure and tolerance to opiates "Pain med needs" and condition. Even if you have a pump or ause LA opiates, It doesn't mean you can't benefit or reduce your intake of meds with alternative modalities like AC or TINS.
The sciatic nerve is just one particular nerve of many that run down your legs originating from the Lumbar spine. Different levels effect different parts of the legs and feet. The sciatic may be the big toe nerve, But I haven't been able to load a dermatome map in several months which shows what nerves run down what paths to the feat.
Pain that runs down the leg to the big toe may very well be the sciatic nerve, then agan it may be from a different nerve branch stemming from a different level of the lumbar spine.Sciatica can be cause by several differnt problems, The sciatic never pases throgh the glutious max and minimus and periformis as most lumbar nerves do. Spasms of these muscles can squeeze a nerve and produce the described symptoms.
Surgey may not be the answer, acupunture, trigger point injections or TP presssure, TINS and other methods to release the spasm to stop the muscles the nerves pass through from contracting and putting pressure on that specific nerve causing radiculopothy may very well offer great relief. Not trying some of these minimally invsive modalities and going straight to the script pad would be a shame if something with less of a trade such as dependence could really help, It would be a shame not to try.
Re: Need information about using an Acunpunturist!
Hi Dave and Paparuss,
Interesting. I knew of TENS, but never made the connection that that was what was happening at a deeper level. I forgot something else this doc does in addition to the needles and the microamps...infrared heat.
Linear Mode
