Alternative Treatments For Headaches

There are now many alternative and natural treatments to help people who suffer from headaches and migraines. In this article, I write about these type of remedies and also recommend the types of food people should avoid if they are always suffering from headaches and migraines.

 

There are many causes of headaches including:

 

• Excessive amounts of alcohol
• Over eating
• An incorrect posture
• Too much stress 
• Problems with teeth
• Problems with a person eyes

 

It is important that we learn to deal with stress and to become more care-free. A lot of people react to stressful situations by turning to alcohol. This can only add to their problems and can lead to even more headaches. 

 

If the person drinks to excess they may wake up with a hangover. If this happens to you I would advise you to drink plenty of water as you are likely to be dehydrated. Vitamin C is also useful to remove the alcohol quicker from your body.

 

If you are unable to live a stress-free life, it may be worth looking at alternative treatments. These are the types of natural therapy I would advise:

 

• Osteopathy
• Acupuncture
• Homeopathy
• Yoga
• Tai Chi
• The Alexander Technique

 

There are also certain foods and drinks which are a must to avoid for people who have regular headaches. These include:

 

• Citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit
• Chocolate
• Cheese
• Alcohol

 

Migraines

 

Headaches are annoying enough, however migraines can be severely painful. I have suffered with migraines for a number of years and have now studied the subject seeking a cure. I am determined to not have to live my life, having these migraines regularly throughout the year, as the pain is unbearable. Maybe I am a bit of a wimp, but they really do cause me a lot of grief.

 

There are a number of reasons or causes for migraines. These include bright lights, certain foods or loud noises. I have to say that I think my own migraines are caused by stress and anxiety. I have always been a worrier and have suffered with a low self-esteem for most of my life. There are many reasons for this lack of confidence, which I will not bore you with at this stage.

 

I decided that I needed to deal with my stress as well as learning about how to eradicate the migraines. 

 

I am now able to relax and have accepted that no one person is perfect. I realise that I will make mistakes and as long as I learn from them, then that is OK. Worrying does not help me in any case therefore I have to stop doing it.

 

I have also used alternative health therapies to help me to reduce my stress including:

 

• Herbal remedies
• Meditation
• Yoga
• Tai Chi

 

I still have headaches as I have to admit that I do like to have a few beers around once a week. I have not however had a migraine for around nine months now. I am a lot happier in life and have learnt how to manage my levels of stress. I regularly meditate and use other natural remedies as mentioned above. This is what has helped me and I hope it helps you too.

Alternative Therapies For Asthma Treatment -- Biofeedback Holds Promise

Recent research has shown that asthma attacks can be effectively treated using alternative therapies. Learn about biofeedback as a means to control asthma.

 

Are there effective alternative therapies for asthma? Many researchers believe biofeedback holds promise as a way to help asthma patients. 

 

What is biofeedback all about? It involves measuring a person's body processes like heart rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin response, etc and providing this information to the person in real time. This creates awareness of these processes and in turn, can help the person gain conscious control over related body functions. 

 

For instance, scientists have shown that a person can consciously influence his heartbeat. In fact, some studies at the National Institutes for Health have indicated that patients can be trained even to lower their blood pressure. 

 

Biofeedback training is part of what is called complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It was Dr. Neal Miller, a neuroscientist at Yale who first said that it is possible to exert conscious control over automatic body functions. The scientific and medical establishment of the time scoffed at his statement and held that such things are impossible. 

 

However, subsequent research by several groups has shown that control over unconscious body functions is indeed possible. Many patients have found relief from migraine using biofeedback training. Some researchers are studying the possibility of using biofeedback as the main treatment for high blood pressure problems. 

 

How does biofeedback apply to asthma?

 

During an asthma attack, the muscles around the airways are inflamed and contracted. If these muscles can be relaxed, air would flow more freely into the lungs and the distressing symptoms of asthma would be alleviated. Biofeedback systems train the patient to accomplish just that. 

 

In addition, asthma patients often have abnormal breathing patterns. The Society for Applied Psychotherapy and Biofeedback says that 'barrel breathing' is one such pattern. This is when the asthmatic takes in a deep breath and then doesn't fully breathe out. Instead, they take several shallow in and out breaths without emptying their lungs completely. 

 

As a result, their lungs can't be refilled with fresh air since they never empty fully when breathing out. 

 

Using a process called pneumographic biofeedback, asthma patients learn to recognize their altered heart rates that occur during barrel breathing. And they learn to change their breathing pattern to lower their heart rate as well as improve oxygen intake. 

 

Some studies have concluded that this type of biofeedback treatment not only reduced the symptoms of asthma but also brought down lung inflammation and resistance to normal breathing. The heart beat variability biorhythm treatment has also resulted in lowered medication use and better pulmonary function. 

 

The National Institutes of Health advices asthma patients who wish to use biofeedback training to work with a competent trainer and to keep their doctor fully informed. The latter is important because asthma patients should be monitored regularly and medication may need to be adjusted from time to time. 

 

Overall, biofeedback treatment is one of the more promising alternative therapies for asthma.

Alternative Medicines That Work For Me

There is a lot of hype about alternative medicines, and some of them are certainly without much value. Of course there is a lot of hype about regular medicines, many of which do as much harm as good. The fact that natural remedies and treatments rarely hurt people as much as prescription drugs is one reason to at least try them. Here are a few that I can vouch for from experience.

 

Tea Tree Oil

 

I had a lump on the side of my nose, growing slowly, bleeding at times. I had it for years, and the one time I asked a doctor about it, he wasn't sure if it was actually cancerous. I read somewhere that tee tree oil might work. I bought a bottle at a health-food store for $6. I applied a drop to the lump each day, and in less than six weeks, the lump was gone completely.

 

Coincidence? After having the growth for years? I don't think so. In fact I had another growth years later on my neck, and for several years, I couldn't remember what I had used the first time. When I found a clue in some old notes, I used tea tree oil on that growth, which was even larger than the first one. It was gone in about six weeks.

 

St. John's Wort

 

When hiking in Canada, I cut my foot. The gash was deep. I found St. John's Wort (Hypericum perfolatum), which has been proven to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. I mashed up a few leaves and bandaged them to the cut, replacing them occasionally. I have honestly never seen a cut heal faster.

 

St. John's Wort is one of the better known alternative medicines now. It is used as an anti-depressant, with numerous studies showing its effectiveness. It is also used by some as a temporary mood-elevator. This effect isn't proven yet, but whenever I've had tea made from the plant, it tasted awful and left me happy for two hours. Anecdotal and subjective evidence (I'm not even entirely convinced), but interesting.

 

Valerian Root

 

When my wife has cramps and pain, nothing works better than a cup of tea made from valerian root. You can get the tea in many stores now. I wouldn't try driving after having valerian root. This is a powerful relaxant.

 

In fact, valerian root is too strong for some people. A gentler herb that will relax you is chamomile. You can find this as tea too. It makes a great drink with honey, just before you are ready to go to bed.

 

There are so many alternatives out there. I have stopped a headache just by chewing on willow twigs. I have stopped diarrhoea with oak bark (careful - this can hard on the liver in large doses). I have watched a friend's poison ivy rash disappear overnight with the application of jewelweed juice. 

 

I am sure that I have tried just as many alternatives that didn't work, too, but you know what? Put all the ineffective ones together and the cost probably doesn't add up to the cost of one visit to a doctor. As for the effective ones, well, no doctor yet has introduced me to one of them. You have to do your own research on alternative medicines.

Alternative Medicines - Why The Silence?

If there are alternative medicines and natural treatments that really work, why don't we hear more about them? I don't think there are many true conspiracies around, but this is one of those areas that makes me wonder. The movement between government posts and positions in the pharmaceutical corporations is well documented. This easy movement between the boardrooms and the FDA and other agencies certainly leaves room for abuse and "back door agreements."

 

More often than not, though, there is just a conspiracy-of-common-interest that prevents safe alternative medicines from coming to market, or from becoming widely known. For example, drug companies don't want the competition of safe alternatives to their drugs. Meanwhile, it is politically safer for the FDA to not allow a product, because if they approve something and it causes any problems, they get the blame. This is a convenient coinciding of interests.

 

Also, natural products, like silymarin (Milk Thistle Extract), which is used all over Europe to treat poisonings and to protect the liver, are legal here, but not well known. This is because, as a natural product, there is no way to patent it. Without being able to exclude others from selling it, no company can afford to spend the millions it would take to get it approved as a medicine here.

 

A natural product also can't be marketed heavily. Imagine if a large company spent millions to promote a medicinal herb. As soon as they got the public's attention, all the smaller companies could undercut them on the price, since they spent nothing on marketing, and a plant product is usually the same no matter what the name on the label. No company wants to spend big money on a product they don't have an exclusive right too.

 

When a plant isn't approved as a natural treatment, there are no pharmaceutical reps out there educating doctors about it (Didn't you know that's how doctors keep educated?). In addition, even if a doctor has read about a useful plant, he is more likely to face a malpractice suit for an allergic reaction to an alternative medicine than from killing someone with a "standard and accepted" treatment. Which do you think he'll recommend?

 

Companies face the same issues of liability. In addition, the companies are limited in what they can say about these natural products. This is why you can look all over the box that some plant medicines come in, and never once see a mention of what it is for. It is tough to learn about these natural treatments, isn't it?

 

In other words, if you want to know about alternative medicines and medical treatment, you have to look outside the mainstream for your information. You have to read the magazines that cover these alternatives, and sometimes, when it is safe, you have to even experiment a little on yourself. 

 

As for my own approach, I like to see that there is actually some real research that demonstrates a benefit. Anecdotal evidence doesn't mean much. People get better all the time, and credit whatever they happened to be using at the time. On the other hand, if it is inexpensive and safe, like eating blueberries to improve vision, I'll try almost anything once.

 

Do natural treatments work? Sometimes. I have twice removed skin growths from my face that may have even been pre-cancerous. They were there for many years, yet it took just weeks to make them disappear using a simple and cheap natural product. I have also witnessed the fastest healing of a cut (on my foot) that I've ever seen, after applying a common plant to it. Some alternative medicines really do work.

Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine means different things to different people. Alternative medicine encompasses many different approaches from massage to Chinese medicine and yoga. Alternative medicine means practices or medicines that are used instead of the usual, or standard, ways of treating diseases or illness. Examples of complementary and alternative medicine are meditation, yoga, and dietary supplements like vitamins and herbs. Alternative medicine means that it is different to the dominant health care system and potentially can replace it. 

 

Traditional Chinese Medicine is the oldest continuously practiced medical system in the world and is used by one third of the world's population as a primary health care system. Health is defined as a state of physical well-being, mental alertness, socially adjusted, and spiritually developed. Health care is not about drugs and the cost of drugs.

 

Conventional Medicine

 

Conventional medicine is continuing to lose market share. More and more people want options beyond what many consider to be essentially a high-tech slash, burn and poison medicine. Conventional medicine is used to describe the services that treat the symptoms of a disease or illness with prescribed medications and surgeries. Conventional medicine treats the ailing part of the body but may not address the underlying causes of the illness or disease.

 

Traditional practitioners don't express hopefulness when their medicine fails as they treat diseases first and then people secondly. On the other hand alternative practitioners, often encourage patients to be hopeful even when the situation is hopeless as they aim to treat the mind, body and soul of their patient.

 

Medicine is directly related to the biomedicine and health sciences. The term 'Medicine' today refers to the fields of surgery, clinical medicine and the medical research. Medical mistakes appear to be increasing, and if they are not, then at the very least, the publicizing of them is increasing. It makes people wary.

 

Herbal

 

Herbal medicine is a booming industry in the United States. The American market for herbal remedies has doubled the last couple of years. Herbs may be harmful if taken for the wrong conditions, used in excessive amounts, combined with prescription drugs or alcohol, or used by persons who don't know what they are doing. Just because an herbal remedy is natural, does not mean it is safe!

 

Acupuncture

 

Acupuncture needles are usually inserted to a depth of about a quarter of an inch into the skin. The therapist gently twists or twirls them for up to 10 minutes, leaving them in five to 20 minutes longer; or stimulates them with a weak electrical current; or heats them with a burning herb such as mug wort (see moxibustion). Acupuncture was used as an illustration of medical irrationality before James Reston's fortuitous appendicitis brought it to the United States. From the impact of the LA Leche League on the advisability of breast-feeding to current studies of botanical medicines such as ginger, echinacea and ginkgo biloba, folk and alternative medicines have continuously influenced medical research and practice.

Alternative Medicine to Lower Your Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure, there are alternative medicines that can help.  Home remedies are cost effective and eliminate the unfavourable side effects of prescribed drugs.

 

Home remedies and homeopathic medicine have begun popular over the years as an alternative to prescription drugs. Many people are not aware that there are also home remedies available to lower your blood pressure. What is nice about a home remedy is the lower cost and eliminating the unfavourable side effects of prescribed medicines. Another advantage of home remedies is that while it may be used to alleviate one symptom, it often has other health benefits. Many home remedies can be found in your local supermarket and health food store.  

 

If you suffer from high blood pressure, here are a few home remedies. These remedies will not only lower your blood pressure but are good for your general health too.

 

Below are a few home remedies to help lower your blood pressure:

 

• Potassium and Magnesium. Foods high in these minerals are bananas, molasses, soy and bananas. Some fruits such as watermelon and grapes are also a good source. Not only will these foods lower your blood pressure but are beneficial to your overall health too.
• Garlic has many beneficial properties that improve overall health, including lowering your blood pressure. Consumption of garlic will also reduce blot clot occurrences in individuals. It is believed by some researches that garlic will also lower the triglyceride levels.

 

Therefore, you are probably wondering what a triglyceride is. A triglyceride is a glyceride that occurs naturally in tissues and consists of three fatty acids that are bound together in a single molecule. They are an important energy source forming much of the fat stored in the body.

 

You can research on how to lower your blood pressure using home remedies in many ways. The internet has a wealth of information dedicated to home remedies and homeopathic medicine to lower your blood pressure. Bookstores and libraries also offer an abundance of information. With a little research, you can find alternatives to prescription drugs for lowering your blood pressure. 

As with any alternative health remedies, consult with your physician before discontinuing any prescribed medicines. Abruptly taking your prescription medicine could have serious and long-term effects on your health.

Alternative Medicine is Preventive; Western Medicine is Curative

An important differentiator between alternative medicine (acupuncture, herbs, yoga, etc.) and Western medicine (drugs, surgery) is how the practitioners view disease.  In alternative medicine, disease is seen as something to be avoided. In Western medicine, we see disease as something we must wait for, then cure.

 

Have you heard the term ‘wellness’? It has two contexts, one in alternative medicine and one in Western medicine.

 

In the alternative medicine world, ‘wellness’ means taking care of yourself so you don't get sick. Let's find ways to avoid cancer, heart disease, mental illness. We can do this through changing our diet, exercising more, and changing our energy fields.

 

In Western medicine, we wait until we get one of these diseases, then we rush heroically to ‘beat the disease’. In Western medicine, the term ‘wellness’ means ‘early detection’ of disease. If you walk into a ‘Wellness Center’ in a hospital, you'll see mammogram screening rooms, MRI machines and other tools to scan for the existence of disease.

 

Is that wellness? To me, it's not. Wellness is about staying well, it is about avoiding disease in the first place. When a person is told ‘You have cancer,’ it is a major blow to their psyches, and their lives. Why go through that if you don't have to? Why not do whatever you can to avoid that terrible day?

 

Western medicine treats the ‘pre-detection’ part of life as a kind of random soup of nothingness. You can't really do anything about any of these diseases, you just get them or you don't. No rhyme or reason to it, it just hits you, and then you deal with it.

 

Genetics is a big factor in the Western medical model. If you get cancer, ah, well, it was in your genes that you'd get it. You see, your great grandfather had cancer, so it was inevitable that you'd get it too.

 

Huh? Unfortunately, Western medicine can't explain why siblings get or don't get diseases supposedly passed on from their parents. One sister dies of cancer at a young age (because of genetics) and the other sister lives to be 100 (genetics).

 

For my part, I'm going to take the best care of myself possible, and not play a silly waiting game for disease.

 

Alternative Medicine is Holistic, Western Medicine is Reductionist

Alternative medicine is a label that seems to apply to many practices from acupuncture to yoga to vitamins to massage. How is alternative medicine, or holistic health, different from what we in the United States call ‘modern medicine’?

 

The major difference between alternative medicine, or what I'll call ‘holistic health’, and Western medicine, is in approach.

 

A Western doctor, or MD, sees his duty as searching out disease, diagnosing it, and treating it. If he does that correctly and effectively, he's done his job. Most often, this means the doctor prescribing a pharmaceutical drug or a surgical procedure to remedy the situation. The patients is passive in all of this. 

 

A holistic health practitioner sees her duty as an educator and a facilitator. She feels that the body can heal itself, and it doesn't necessarily need outside influences (drugs, surgery) to heal from an illness or to prevent an illness. In holistic health, the patient is an active participant.

 

This is the best and the worst thing about holistic health! The patient is actively involved in the healing process. Everything you know about your body says that this is the right approach. It makes so much sense. That's the good part. The bad thing about this is that it is HARD WORK for the patient. In most cases, the patient must make changes to their lifestyle. Change your diet, do more exercise, stop using sugar, do these stretches, stop negative thoughts, meditate twice a day, etc.

 

Making lifestyle changes is immensely difficult. The only time it's easy is when you are faced with a life-threatening disease. When you find out you have lung cancer, it's pretty easy to quit smoking. However, it's far too late by that time. Lifestyle changes need to come before the illness becomes manifest.

 

Let's examine one of the big differences between holistic health and Western medicine: holism versus reductionism.

 

Holistic versus Reductionist

 

This is a major shift in perspective. Taking a holistic perspective means that you cannot understand a single problem with a single part of the human body without looking at the whole person. We use the short-hand ‘mind, body, spirit’ to refer to the whole person.

 

This is not how a Western doctor is taught to see a patient. He sees the patient as the disease. This is an epileptic, it is not a whole person who has epilepsy. He feels that he can administer a drug or perform a surgery that will cure a person's liver without making any difference to the rest of the person.  Of course, this is never possible, so when the inevitable ‘complications’ arise, the Western doctor deals with those one at a time, often causing additional problems for the person, whether in body, mind or spirit.

 

Even those three parts of the person are treated by separate people in Western society. The body is the domain of the medical doctor. The mind is the domain of the psychiatrist. Spirit is left to the priest, rabbi or pastor. There is no overlap in roles, except for referrals from one to the other. In our bodies, of course, there is tremendous overlap. A loss of connection to God or the universe will cause no end of mental and physical problems. Mental stress causes many physical diseases, as we well know. Who can coordinate between these in the Western system? No one.  Problems falling ‘through the cracks’ between mind, body and spirit is a common failure of Western medicine.

 

A holistic practitioner understands the interconnections between mind, body and spirit. They work on the connections, and, although the practitioner may not be an expert in all three, they focus on the overlaps rather than ignoring them.

 

In my opinion, a holistic approach is better in almost every case for almost every person. Understanding the linkages between mind, body and spirit is essential to understanding how to stay well and how to heal. Western medicine can play a part within the scope of holistic health by offering emergency solutions to problems that arise quickly and need to be fixed immediately.

Alternative Medicine Cervical Cancer Prevention

Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer in young women and is one of the most common causes of cancer deaths among women, particularly in minorities and in impoverished countries. Like all cancers, cancer of the cervix is much more likely to be cured if it is detected early and treated immediately at its initial stage with the alternative medicine through natural medications with no side effects at our centre. 

 

Cancer of the cervix occurs when the cells of the cervix change in a way that leads to abnormal growth and invasion of other tissues or organs of the body. It is caused primarily by a sexually transmitted infection with an oncogenic strain of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Studies have shown dietary intervention and nutrient supplementation to be effective in preventing cervical cancer. Additionally, local escharotic treatment combined with systemic treatment shows significant potential in reducing dysplasia

 

Cancer that forms in tissues of the cervix (organ connecting the uterus and vagina). It is usually a slow-growing cancer that may not have symptoms, but can be found with regular Pap smears (procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix and looked at under a microscope).

 

The uterine cervix is the lowest portion of a woman's uterus (womb). Most of the uterus lies in the pelvis, but part of the cervix is located in the vagina, where it connects the uterus with the vagina.

 

One of the key features of cervical cancer is its slow progression from normal cervical tissue, to precancerous (or dysplastic) changes in the tissue, to invasive cancer.

 

The slow progression through numerous precancerous changes is very important because it provides opportunities for prevention and early detection and treatment.

 

Other possible risk factors include the following:

 

• Giving birth to many children.
• Having many sexual partners.
• Having first sexual intercourse at a young age.
• Smoking cigarettes.
• Oral contraceptive use (the Pill).
• Weakened immune system.

 

Cervical cancers don't always spread, but those that do most often spread to the lungs, the liver, the bladder, the vagina, and/or the rectum.

 

Self-treatment is not appropriate for cancer under most circumstances. Without medical treatment, the cancer will continue to grow and spread. Eventually vital body organs will not be able to function properly because the cancer will take their oxygen and nutrients, crowd them out, or injure them. The result is very often death.

 

Although self-treatment is inappropriate, there are things you can do to reduce the physical and mental stresses of your cancer and its treatment.

 

Maintaining good nutrition is one of the best things you can do.

 

• You may lose your appetite during your treatment.
• Common side effects 
• People who eat well, take in enough calories and protein. 
• keeping up your calorie and protein intake.

 

The following lifestyle changes may help keep you stronger and more comfortable during treatment:

 

• Engage in mild physical activity 
• Rest is equally important
• Quit smoking.
• Avoid alcohol. 

 

Treatment of cervical cancer is directed at preventing precancerous cells from becoming cancerous cells.

 

• This is usually a step-by-step process
• The deepest cells must be removed 

  

Cervical cancer begins with abnormal changes in the cervical tissue. The risk of developing these abnormal changes has been associated with certain factors, including previous infection with human papilloma virus (HPV), early sexual contact, multiple sexual partners, cigarette smoking and taking oral contraceptives (birth control pills).

 

Treatment of cervical cancer is directed at preventing precancerous cells from becoming cancerous cells. The key to preventing invasive cervical cancer is to detect any cell changes early, before they become cancerous. Regular pelvic examinations and Pap smears are the best way to do this.

 

Avoidance of human papillomavirus infection is becoming increasingly important in the prevention of precancerous and cancerous changes of the cervix:

 

• Early age at first intercourse is associated with increased risk
• Likewise, barrier protection, such as condom use, may prevent HPV infection, although this has not yet been fully studied.
• Early tests found an experimental vaccine to be effective against the virus responsible for half of all cases of cervical cancer. 
• Quitting smoking may decrease your chances of developing cervical cancer.
• Genetic material that comes from certain forms of HPV has been found in cervical tissues that show cancerous or precancerous changes.
• These findings demonstrate a strong link between the virus and cervical cancer.
• Because HPV can be transmitted by sexual contact, early sexual contact and having multiple sexual partners have been identified as strong risk factors for the development of cervical lesions that may progress to cancer.

 

Possible signs of cervical cancer include vaginal bleeding and pelvic pain. These and other symptoms may be caused by cervical cancer. Other conditions may cause the same symptoms. A doctor should be consulted if any of the following problems occur:

 

• Vaginal bleeding.
• Unusual vaginal discharge.
• Pelvic pain.
• Pain during sexual intercourse.

 

Tests that examine the cervix are used to detect (find) and diagnose cervical cancer.

Certain factors affect prognosis (chance of recovery) and treatment options.

 

Treatment options depend on the following:

 

• The stage of the cancer.
• The size of the tumour.
• The patient's desire to have children.
• The patient’s age.
• The type of cervical cancer.

 

Treatment of cervical cancer during pregnancy depends on the stage of the cancer and the stage of the pregnancy. For cervical cancer found early or for cancer found during the last trimester of pregnancy, treatment may be delayed until after the baby is born.

 

The process used to find out if cancer has spread within the cervix or to other parts of the body is called staging. The information gathered from the staging process determines the stage of the disease. It is important to know the stage in order to plan treatment.

Alternative Medicine - What Happens During Acupuncture Treatment

Acupuncture is one of several popular alternative therapies tracing its roots to traditional medicine in China more than 5,000 years ago. Although the treatment is regarded as one of the most common and oldest worldwide, acupuncture only started to become recognized in the US after New York Times journalist James Reston wrote a feature on how his post-surgery pain was eased by doctors in China in 1971 using the procedure.

 

1. The Basis Of Acupuncture

 

The treatment assumes something called qi (pronounced key) - energy in living beings that passes through twelve meridians or invisible energy lines in the body. Each line links to a specific organ system; the belief is that any imbalance in qi flow leads to a disease. The key component of acupuncture treatment is the insertion of needles into key points on the meridian lines to renew balance. These extremely thin, metallic needles are aimed at specific anatomical points and controlled manually or by electrical stimulation. An individual usually feels relaxed and energized after acupuncture.

 

2. Modern Treatment

 

The US Food and Drug Administration reclassified these needles as medical devices in 1997, from the earlier classification as experimental. The FDA notes that over $500m are spent by people in the country every year for the treatment, for which a good number secure insurance coverage. The agency's main restrictions with the needles are that they be non-toxic and sterilized and that they be used only once and discarded immediately after.

 

• Acupuncture is endorsed by the National Institute of Health
• Is practiced by dentists, doctors and other health practitioners

 

3. Increasing Acceptance

 

Increasing acceptance of acupuncture was highlighted by the National Health Interview Survey in 2002, which indicated that the number of American adults turning to the treatment surged from 2.1 million in 2001 to about 8.2 million the following year. The interest in acupuncture also received a boost from the impatience individuals had with the failure of conventional medicine.

 

4. How Does It Really Work?

 

Acupuncture reportedly induces the release of endorphins in the body, relieving an individual from pain. Other effects attributed to the therapy include influence over neurotransmitters, or substances transporting nerve impulses; promotion of circulation; and effects over the body's electrical currents and autonomic nervous system. Many common ailments and undesirable conditions are addressed by acupuncture treatment.

 

5. Commonly Treated Conditions

 

• Sinusitis
• The common cold
• Smoking and other addictions
• Migraines
• Tennis elbow
• Infertility
• Menstrual cramps
• Obesity
• Low-back pain
• Asthma
• Arthritis
• Carpal tunnel syndrome

 

6. Procedure

 

On the first meeting, acupuncturists usually ask new clients to fill up a personal health record prior to an interview. A session then has the client answer questions that cover main health issues, diet, emotional and psychological profile, and overall lifestyle and regular activities. The therapist should also be informed by the individual of any current medication and treatment being taken. During this interview, one can also expect the practitioner to evaluate pulse points and establish how healthy the individual's twelve meridians are. A diagnosis is then given, followed by the use of between 6 and 12 needles as treatment is commenced. Patients keen on acupuncture must realize that the exact placement on target points on the meridians is more important, not the number of needles used.

 

The initial insertion may make the patient feel pricked or stung. However, the treatment should be painless and comfortable for the duration that could extend to an hour or more. An individual should immediately tell the acupuncturist to discontinue if he feels any numbness, discomfort or pain. Variations of the treatment may involve use of herbal medicine - capsules, tablets or tea made from Chinese herbs to boost the therapy. Some practitioners also integrate cupping - a suction effect created with the use of glass cups on the skin, in part to promote blood circulation and continuous qi flow.

 

7. Rising Popularity

 

The recent withdrawal of the Vioxx painkiller has raised apprehension over pain relievers available in the market. This concern, combined with statements from the NIH and other government and health organizations that side effects from acupuncture are significantly lower, has made more individuals turn to the treatment, particularly for pain relief. Several studies have also shown how acupuncture has helped patients with osteoarthritis, post-chemotherapy nausea and even depression. Despite all the apparent positive feedback, those considering acupuncture should still consult regular doctors and health-care professionals for advice on their conditions first. If they decide to pursue the treatment, they must make sure that the acupuncturist or practitioner they see is highly-qualified and certified by organizations such as the American Academy of Medical Acupuncturists.