Jeff Rippey

Headache is a very complicated issue, particularly if they're chronic. Chinese medicine recognizes something like 6 different types of headache, each of which has a different core treatment. Without knowing a lot more about your headache, I cannot provide any information that would be useful to your treatment.

If you want to try Chinese medicine for your issue, go to NCCAOM.org and use their 'Find a Practitioner' lookup to get a list of local providers.

Usually, yes, acupuncture can be an excellent treatment for low back pain.

It's very difficult to say where needles might be placed. I know this isn't what prospective patients like to hear. There are two main reasons why I can't answer this question:

1. I don't know why you're experiencing back pain. In any medical system, treatment hinges on a correct diagnosis. If an MD misses on the diagnosis and prescribes the wrong treatment (medication or surgery), the patient doesn't get better and sometimes they get worse. Chinese medicine is a complete system - meaning it has a coherent, internally consistent diagnostic method.
Without having a diagnosis, inside the Chinese medical model, I have no way of knowing what treatment is appropriate and therefore no way of specifying where needles might be placed.

2. Acupuncture is not a monolithic system. There isn't one and only one system of acupuncture that everyone practices. There is classical Chinese acupuncture, modern Chinese acupuncture, Taiwanese acupuncture, Japanese acupuncture, a couple different systems from Korea, at least 4 modern western approaches to placing needles, and probably another half-dozen that I'm either not remembering or not aware of. Bottom line: even if I specified a set of points that might possibly be useful to you, there's no guarantee that a licensed acupuncturist local to you will be using the same system of acupuncture in the same way that I do. They might choose to use an entirely different treatment approach, in which case you're going to be pretty confused.

Here's what I can tell you: pain is one of the main conditions for which there is abundant and excellent scientific evidence regarding acupuncture's effectiveness. It doesn't really matter where the needles are placed as long as your pain is either reduced or relieved. A good acupuncturist practicing any system should be able to accomplish that task.

I don't know, I rarely use acupressure. Compared to acupuncture, acupressure is a distant second in terms of time to relief and duration of relief. On top of that, acupuncture is a lot more comfortable relative to pressure techniques.

If you want to try Chinese medicine to help with your issue, go see a board certified and state licensed provider in your area. You can start at NCCAOM.org's "Find a Practitioner" look up to get a list of local folks.

Yes, acupuncture can be a very successful treatment for sinus allergy. There are some excellent studies out of Germany showing acupuncture outperforms the usual allergy treatments and is more cost effective over the long term.

Answering the "how" question isn't as straightforward as most people like to think. We have an approximate how for many of acupuncture's effects, but what we still don't know is why should a solid needle exert that kind of effect in the first place. There is, in essence, an infinite regression of "how" or "why" and we aren't very far down that chain when it comes to acupuncture and Chinese medicine. A big part of the problem is that acupuncture doesn't fit in the western science box - so investigations are something of a square peg/round hole proposition.

Speaking more generally, the usefulness of acupuncture in anemia is going to depend on what kind of anemia we're talking about. If this is iron deficiency anemia or pernicious anemia, the patient will need to address sources of B12 and iron. This is done usually through dietary adjustment and supplementation. There are some acupuncture techniques which are thought to "build blood" or strengthen the organs that, in the Chinese model, are theorized to deal with the manufacture of blood, and these can often be helpful to these patients.

If this is an auto-immune anemia, acupuncture can help to down-regulate the immune system. At this point, patients will want to combine acupuncture with more conventional medical treatments.

Assuming the pain in your hip isn't due to something serious like avascular necrosis or severe degenerative disease, yes, acupuncture is an excellent treatment for pain.

There are a couple of things I'd do straight off:

1. Make an appointment with your ob/gyn and make sure the IUD is still properly located.

2. Assuming there's nothing wrong with your IUD, your next stop should be either your primary care or a GI specialist. We need to make sure there's nothing serious going on with your small intestine or the descending colon. A hernia would be unusual, but also not out of the question.

If the MD's can't come up with any reason why you're experiencing this pain/discomfort, go to NCCAOM.org and use their 'Find a Practitioner' lookup to get a list of local, board certified providers of Chinese medicine/acupuncture. Look at their websites, call around, make an appointment with whomever is closest or whomever gives you the best vibe.

It's hard to say what might be happening without understanding what kind of provider gave you electrical acupuncture, why they thought it was appropriate, what points they stimulated, and what level of electricity was utilized.

My best guess is: electrical stimulation may not have been an appropriate treatment for your issue and/or the provider used too high a frequency during the treatment.

The first thing I'd do is contact the provider and let them know what you're experiencing. They may have some idea what's going on and what it might take to correct the problem.

If you received this treatment from a provider other than a board certified, state licensed acupuncturist (like a chiropractor, physical therapist or other licensed provider), then I'd try to locate an actual acupuncturist in your area and go for a consult. You can use NCCAOM.org to locate local, board certified, providers. The bottom line is: there is a world of difference between someone who trained in, got certified and licensed in, and practices only Chinese medicine and someone who is trying to bolt acupuncture/Chinese medicine on to some other framework or licensure with minimal to no extra training in Chinese medicine.

There are several points which can be useful in the treatment of anxiety. The problem here is that I don't know why *you* are experiencing anxiety and therefore couldn't point you in a beneficial direction.

The diagnostic model of Chinese medicine is very different from conventional medicine's model. A condition like "anxiety" that, from the standpoint of conventional medicine, might be monolithic (i.e. they consider it a single thing) could have multiple different causes in the Chinese model. Treatment hangs on accurate diagnosis, without some idea of what the root cause is *for you*, I cannot give you any actionable advice.

Here's what I can do: if you want to try Chinese medicine to address your issue, go to an expert. You can use NCCAOM.org to get a list of local, board certified providers.

Two things:

1. Acupressure's effectiveness pales in comparison to acupuncture's. Treatment effects using needles come on faster and last longer. In my experience, there's really no comparison, acupuncture is far superior in helping people get where they want to be with their health issues.

2. Acupuncture, at least in my experience, is not all that effective with tinnitus. This condition is something of a Holy Grail for acupuncturists. It takes sustained treatment over several months, using needles to maybe achieve some improvement in tinnitus.

Do I think acupressure can cause any lasting improvement to tinnitus? No, I do not. Do I think acupuncture can cause any lasting improvement to tinnitus? Sometimes, but it takes a great deal of treatment. If Chinese medicine is something you want to try, I'd suggest going to NCCAOM.org, use their "Find a Practitioner" lookup, and visit a local, board certified acupuncturist.

Usually, yes, acupuncture can be very successful in the treatment of migraine. I work with this condition a lot and I'm typically able to get excellent results for my patients.

Assuming your provider is a board certified and state licensed acupuncturist who knows which points to avoid in pregnancy, yes, acupuncture would be completely safe.

It's hard to say what might be happening without understanding what kind of provider gave you electrical acupuncture, why they thought it was appropriate, what points they stimulated, and what level of electricity was utilized.

My best guess is: electrical stimulation may not have been an appropriate treatment for your issue and/or the provider used too high a frequency during the treatment.

The first thing I'd do is contact the provider and let them know what you're experiencing. They may have some idea what's going on and what it might take to correct the problem.

If you received this treatment from a provider other than a board certified, state licensed acupuncturist (like a chiropractor, physical therapist or other licensed provider), then I'd try to locate an actual acupuncturist in your area and go for a consult. You can use NCCAOM.org to locate local, board certified, providers. The bottom line is: there is a world of difference between someone who trained in, got certified and licensed in, and practices only Chinese medicine and someone who is trying to bolt acupuncture/Chinese medicine on to some other framework or licensure with minimal to no extra training in Chinese medicine.

If you still have an active COVID infection, you need to stay at home. If this is a lingering cough after all other symptoms have resolved and/or it has been more than 10 days since you tested positive or developed symptoms, yes, acupuncture can probably help.

Yes, acupuncture can usually help a great deal with chronic sinusitis.

Do you know why you're experiencing hip pain? There can be a variety of issues in play - some of these things acupuncture can help and some it cannot.

If you have mild to moderate osteoarthritis of the hip, imbalance in the hip flexors/extensors, mild labral tear, bursitis, pinched nerve in the low back, piriformis syndrome, or something else along these lines, yes, acupuncture can probably help.

if you have severe osteoarthritis with loss of cartilage and bone spurs, severe labral tear, or some other issue where most MDs are suggesting surgery, acupuncture can probably help to manage your pain while you wait for your surgical date.

If you have avascular necrosis of the hip or severe lower spine degradation with leg weakness, loss of bowel/urination control, or numb and tingling in the ano-genital area, no, acupuncture is not appropriate at all and you need an immediate neurological or orthopedic consult.

Do you know why you have shortness of breath? Is this a case of COPD? Asthma? Emphysema? Do you have anemia or a cardiac condition? Any of these, plus a raft of other potential conditions, could cause shortness of breath. Acupuncture is not going to be an appropriate treatment in all cases.

If you haven't already done so, I'd suggest your first stop should be your primary care physician and, possibly, a pulmonary specialist. If the problem is garden variety COPD or asthma, then acupuncture can probably help. If neither your primary care nor the specialist can figure out what's going on, then acupuncture might be able to help. If this is something like cancer, a heart issue, some sort of autoimmune anemia or some other fairly serious condition, acupuncture might help, but not by itself - you'll want to combine conventional medicine with Chinese medicine at this point.

There are a variety of different kinds of anemia and, without knowing specifically what we're talking about, it's hard to say how useful acupuncture might be for you. There are acupuncture techniques that are intended to 'build blood' and they can sometimes be useful for anemia patients.

For garden variety low iron anemia, diet is the usual place to start. You need to make sure you have sufficient vitamin b12 and a good source of iron. If you happen to be vegan/vegetarian, this is likely where you're falling short. B12 is only available from animal products (eggs, meat, dairy) and the human digestive system is adapted for heme iron (iron in the 2+ state which only comes from meat). You won't be able to fix this issue and remain vegan/vegetarian without some level of supplementation.

If this is more along the lines of pernicious anemia, then the problem is precisely low B12 and you'll need to address that shortfall.

If this is some other type of anemia (like an autoimmune condition), then you'll want to combine acupuncture with more conventional therapies along with dietary adjustment or supplementation.

If you have an active infection, acupuncture isn't going to be much help - you need antibiotics. Acupuncture can help reduce or manage any symptoms you might be experiencing until the antibiotics kick in and resolve the problem, so there's still a place for it in your therapy.