Acupuncture

[Luc]

There’s no doubt many people have found acupuncture to be effective in treating not only physical pain, but also depression. But what about trying acupuncture in WD? Have you noticed any improvements? Or, perhaps, it turned out to be too stimulating? At what point of the WD time-continuum did you try this type of treatment?

[Sheila]

“….So, what kind of research do we need? Consider the following example. Acupuncture as a treatment is more than two thousand years old and is regularly used in China to treat a multiplicity of diseases. It is based on the theory that there are energy meridians in the body and that when they are out of balance, susceptibility to disease increases. Because this paradigm does not fit Western medical concepts of disease causality, it has essentially been dismissed. The medical community has limited acupuncture’s potential usefulness to pain relief and therapy for nausea from chemotherapy. Such limited use contradicts research reported at a 1997 Consensus Development Conference on Acupuncture held at the National Institutes of Health, which covered basic studies on mechanisms of action from acupuncture treatments, including the release of opioids and other peptides in the central nervous system as well as changes in neuroendocrine function. Studies found acupuncture also influenced other physiological systems including substances that constrict and dilate blood vessels, those that stimulate or calm the nervous system, and those that affect reproductive and immune function.

Close examination reveals that acupuncture needles are not inserted in places that would logically elicit these effects based on traditional anatomy. So what can explain them? It is interesting that many of the molecules in the body (water molecules, protein molecules, etc.) are dipoles. A dipole has both a positive and a negative charge, sort of like a magnet except the strength of the attraction isn’t constant. Theoretically, the structure of dipoles would allow them to align with other dipoles in “strings.” Is it possible that the acupuncture meridians are strings of dipoles held together by their electric charges? If that is the case, the structure of these meridians might be partially determined by the geometry of the body. If such meridians exist, the insertion of acupuncture needles might function to modulate their orientation by changing the vibration of atoms in nearby molecules, resulting in the propagation of an electromagnetic wave along the meridian.Since the chemical properties of atoms and molecules are determined by their electron configurations, which in turn determine the types of bonds they form with other molecules, a perturbation at a particular point in a meridian might be associated with a specific range of chemical changes (for example, neuroendocrine or immune changes).

The concept of longitudinal electric modes based on the dipolar properties of cell membranes was introduced by Frohlich in 19681. From a technical perspective, and according to his theory, components with electric dipole oscillations interact through nonlinear long-range Coulomb forces and thus establish a branch or branches of longitudinal electric modes in a frequency range of 1011-1012 sec-1. If the rate of energy supply to the relevant components is sufficiently large, it gets channeled into a single mode which then presents a strongly excited coherent longitudinal electric vibration whose wavelength depends on details of the geometrical arrangement of the components.

This is only one example, and it illustrates that relevant and potentially fruitful avenues are not being pursued in biomedical research because of a dominant paradigm that is no longer valid. It is time for an open discussion in the biomedical community about the fundamental assumptions that influence its work, and quantum theorists should be part of that conversation.”

From: Biomedical Research Needs a Paradigm Shift
by Sarah S. Knox, PhD
http://www.noetic.org/noetic/issue-n...ical-research/

[stan]

phobia of needle, not for me

[Chris]

i also have a problem with needles. So, I might never have tried it (I mean--who really wants to be a human pin cushion?) except for a funny twist of fate.
I was living in Japan, with not much japanese to speak of, and a friend took me to her doctor because I had should pain. Due to language limitations, I had no idea what kind of doctor he was. SO, I am lying on my stomach and I don't feel a thing and pretty soon I have dozens of needles in my back. Painless.

Now, my current Chinese-style acupuncturist is quick to point out that Japanese needles are thinner and not inserted as deeply. But that is not the point; the point is, I would [probably] never have tried it if not for that serendipity of a lucky accident.
Recently, As I am in w/d, I went to acupuncture for my knee pain and then again for anxiety. Suffice it to say for now, it was a life changing treatment. To say I am a believer in acupuncture is an uber mega understatement.

[Chris]

i've had good results with acupuncture

[Iggy131313]

who here has tried it? and did you find it helpful?

[Luc]

Though I do not doubt that acupuncture may help, especially in middle to late stages of WD, its efficacy in treating WD very much hinges on a specific approach taken by the accupuncturist. The thing is that hardly any of them has ever heard of WD, let alone understood its very mechanism. Who has anyway...? Now, the whole idea would be to, as in the case of exercises for instance, to create some WD <-> accupuncture model. Its basic rules would for the treatment be; incrementality, high empathy for the WD-patient and tailoring the accupuncture procedure to both WD *and* the patient (our symptoms, though so many of them being identical, may still vary a lot).

[Luc]

i've had good results with acupuncture

You're talking here WD, Annie, or other, more "mainstream" ailments? If it's WD, please tell us more about it.

[Sheila]

That's a great story, annie.

Luc -- It would be great to create an acupuncture protocol for SSRI w/d. It has to eschew many of the normal stimulating parts of the typical acupuncture protocol. I think Alto has trained her acupuncturist well. It would be great if he published his protocol.

[Luc]

The history of acupuncture;


Acupuncture is a very ancient form of healing which pre-dates recorded history. The philosophy is rooted in the Taoist tradition which goes back over 8000 years. The people of this time period would meditate and observe the flow of energy within and without. They also were keen to observe man's relations with nature and the universe. There were many sages of this period, but the most legendary was Fu Hsi, who lived in the Yellow River area of China approximately 8000 years ago. By observing nature, he formulated the first two symbols, a broken line and unbroken line. These symbols represented the two major forces in the universe – creation and reception - and how their interaction forms life. This duality was named yin-yang and they represent the backbone of Chinese Medicine theory and application. Fu Hsi then discovered that when yin-yang fuse, a creative action occurs, and this gives birth to a third aspect. Fu Hsi then pondered on how this triplicity occurs eight times and this led to the eight trigrams and then 64 hexagrams of the I-Ching (Book of Change). The I-Ching shaped the thinking for years to come and every influential book on Chinese Medicine is based upon its fundamental philosophy.

The primitive society of China is divided into two time periods- The Old Stone Age(10,000 years ago and beyond) and the New Stone Age (10,000-4000 years ago).During the Old Stone Age knives were made of stone and were used for certain medical procedures. During the New Stone Age, stones were refined into fine needles and served as instruments of healing. They were named bian stone - which means use of a sharp edged stone to treat disease. Many bian stone needles were excavated from ruins in China dating back to the New Stone Age.

The most significant milestone in the history of Acupuncture occurred during the period of Huang Di -The Yellow Emperor (2697-2597). In a famous dialogue between Huang Di and his physician Qi Bo, they discuss the whole spectrum of the Chinese Medical Arts. These conversations would later become the monumental text - The Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine). The Nei Jing is the earliest book written on Chinese Medicine. It was compiled around 305-204 B.C. and consists of two parts:

The Su Wen (Plain Questions) -9 volumes - 81 chapters
The Su Wen introduces anatomy and physiology, etiology of disease, pathology, diagnosis, differentiation of syndromes, prevention, yin-yang, five elements, treatment, and man's relationship with nature and the cosmos.
The Ling Shu (Miraculous Pivot, Spiritual Axis)- 81 Chapters
The Ling Shu's focus is Acupuncture, description of the meridians, functions of the zang-fu organs, nine types of needles, functions of the acupuncture points, needling techniques, types of Qi, location of 160 points.

More at: https://www.acufinder.com/Acupunctur...of+Acupuncture