Jeff Rippey

It depends on what, exactly, the mental illness is. For issues like mild to moderate anxiety or depression, yes, acupuncture can often be an excellent treatment choice.

For more severe anxiety or depression, acupuncture can still help, but it's best to combine acupuncture with more conventional treatment options like pharmaceuticals and therapy.

For things like OCD, schizophrenia, borderline personality and so on, again, it's a question of severity. In these cases, you will definitely want to couple acupuncture treatment with more conventional pharmaceuticals and therapy treatments.

Whatever the condition and severity, please make sure you're seeing a provider who is state licensed and nationally board certified in acupuncture/Chinese medicine. A person like this will have an L.Ac. or R.Ac. credential and either a Dipl Ac or Dipl OM board certification. To find a provider with these qualifications, go to NCCAOM.org and use their "Find a Practitioner" look up.

Generally, yes, acupuncture can be a good treatment for facial nerve issues. There's a fairly good track record with things like trigeminal neuralgia and Bell's palsy. I've personally gotten good results with partial facial paralysis due to stroke.

When dealing with these issues it's particularly important to make sure your provider is an actual acupuncturist and not someone offering "acupuncture-like" services under the scope of some other medical license. You need to make sure your provider has an L.Ac. or R.Ac. credential and either a Dipl Ac or Dipl OM board certification. To find someone like this you can use the "Find a Practitioner" look up at NCCAOM.org

Somewhere around 5% of the population simply do not respond to acupuncture. It doesn't matter who they see or how many sessions they receive; acupuncture isn't much benefit.

For the other 95%, acupuncture can offer benefit, but how quickly a patient might see results is going to depend on the details of their health issue, how good the acupuncturist is, and how quickly that person responds to treatment. There are a lot of variables to this particular equation and it's very difficult to provide an exact answer - especially without seeing the patient and providing some level of diagnosis.

Most studies show an acupuncture loading dose being somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 treatments - usually spaced one week apart. Patients will typically start to see improvement in their issue about halfway through that course; somewhere around treatment 4 or 5.

The answer is: nothing good.

Acupuncturists undergo thousands of hours of training on needle technique and anatomy specifically so we can avoid this occurrence.

If the needle gets close to a nerve, a patient might experience a short lived electrical sensation - like a pins and needles type feeling that propagates up or down from the needle site.

If the needle is inserted in to a nerve then the patient would experience sharp pain. Sometimes this pain will resolve with the removal of the needle, sometimes this pain will last for days or weeks until the damage is repaired.

Lastly, sometimes the damage is severe enough to cause lasting issues like pain or loss of motor control.

Like I mentioned earlier, acupuncturists undergo a lot of training in anatomy, in particular the anatomy around acupuncture points, specifically so this doesn't happen. Different points have different needling depths and insertion angles so that we can avoid getting a needle directly in to a nerve. I've set thousands of needles and have never directly hit nerve tissue. Sometimes we're close, sometimes we need or want to be close to nerves or nerve bundles, but we work pretty hard to avoid getting a needle directly in to nerves.

When you should start acupuncture to address a fertility issue depends a lot on whether you're trying to use acupuncture as a stand-alone treatment or whether you're using acupuncture in conjunction with other fertility therapies.

Assuming both you and your partner have been checked out and there are no structural issues or problems with sperm quality. Also assuming you're using acupuncture as a stand-alone approach you're probably looking at 3 months of weekly treatment. It's best if both of you receive treatment during this course.

If you're using acupuncture in conjunction with other conventional fertility treatments, I'd still start acupuncture at least a month or two ahead of the conventional procedures. For invitro fertilization and implantation, there are some studies showing increased success with an acupuncture session immediately before and immediately after the implantation procedure.

When dealing with fertility issues you want to make sure you're seeing a board certified and state licensed acupuncturist rather than a chiropractor or physical therapist who might be offering "acupuncture-like" services under the scope of their DC or PT license. You'll be best served by an L.Ac./R.Ac. who has a ABORM (American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine) certification. This will be someone who attended and graduated from an accredited school of Chinese medicine and then received extended training specific to fertility and reproductive issues. To find someone like this, you can go to ABORM.org and use their "Find a Practitioner" look up.

For an issue like hair loss, we typically turn to herbal medicine and use acupuncture as an adjunct or add-on therapy.

Assuming you're seeing an actual board certified, state licensed acupuncturist, yes, acupuncture is safe over the entire course of a pregnancy. You want someone with an L.Ac./R.Ac. credential and preferably a Dipl Ac/Dipl OM national board certification.

This is a good question and it's something every potential acupuncture patient should be asking of their provider. I specialize in pain management and I have a general rule of thumb I employ to figure out how often a patient needs to be seen.

If your pain levels are routinely below 5-6/10 on the VAS pain scale, then we can usually get good results at one treatment per week for 4-5 weeks.

On the other hand, if your pain levels are routinely above 6/10 on the VAS pain scale, then it's very helpful to have 2-3 treatments per week for a couple of weeks. Usually this will bring the pain levels down to the 5'ish range and we can go to one treatment per week until we find the maintenance interval or the pain resolves.

You shouldn't be expected to commit to several treatments per week for an indefinite interval. Likewise, you shouldn't have to receive treatment once per week for the rest of your life. Generally as the pain starts to come under control, we start to spread the treatments out until we find some level of tolerance. On the low end this can be one treatment every 4-6 weeks, on the high end it could be one treatment per year.

Whether or not acupuncture can help is going to be largely driven by why the nerve pain is occurring. In cases like trigeminal neuralgia, radiculopathy on the neck, sciatica, or lower limb neuropathy acupuncture can often be a very successful treatment.

Nerve impingement can sometimes be tricky to treat. Again, though, with the right acupuncturist, this can usually be improved.

If the problem is more structural, like a laminectomy of the low spine followed by instability in the area, then, in my experience, acupuncture will be of limited use.

In cases where the symptoms are indicative of nerve issues: burning or shooting pain, pins and needles sensations, numbness, or loss of sensation a patient's first stop should always be a neurologist. There are times when these issues rise to the level of a surgical emergency and it's better to know that sooner rather than later.

If the neurologist has ruled out major problems, acupuncture can often help. This is a case where you need to make sure you're seeing an actual acupuncturist rather than a chiropractor or physical therapist who has minimal training and is offering "acupuncture-like" services. You want someone with an L.Ac./R.Ac. credential and preferably a Dipl Ac./Dipl OM. board certification. To find someone like this in your area you can use the "Find a Practitioner" lookup at NCCAOM.org

The "how many treatments" question is one I get a lot. It's very difficult to answer for several reasons:

1. The Chinese diagnostic system takes in to account individual factors in presentation. Three people could walk in to my clinic with pain in the same or similar locations but, from the perspective of Chinese medicine, all three could be experiencing the issue for different reasons. Those different root causes will have different treatments. Some root causes respond faster to treatment than others and some people respond faster to treatment than others.

2. Even in the conventional medical system, there are a variety of reasons why a patient might experience pain. There are also a variety of pains: from neurologic to more structural problems like osteoarthritis. Knowing what is causing a particular patient to experience pain is half-way to understanding how to resolve the pain.

3. There are a variety of different systems of acupuncture. Some of these systems are better for dealing with certain kinds of issues relative to other systems. Without knowing what kind of acupuncture your provider practices, it's hard to know whether or not there's a good fit between that system of acupuncture and your issue.

4. As in conventional medicine, some practitioners are just better with certain kinds of issues relative to other practitioners. There's an add-on here specific to acupuncture: depending on where you're located, there could be providers who offer "acupuncture" without having attended school for Chinese medicine or actually being licensed or board certified as an acupuncturist. Without knowing whether or not you're seeing a board certified and state licensed acupuncturist and what that person's track record is with issues like pain it is, again, difficult to predict what a course of therapy might look like.

I work mainly in pain management and my sweet spot for most pain issues tends to be around 4 or 5 treatments. if you're seeing someone who doesn't work much with pain (or isn't a board certified acupuncturist), you could be looking at more like 8-10 treatments.

Usually, yes, acupuncture can offer relief for foot neuropathy. In diabetic neuropathy, it can sometimes be difficult to get traction if the blood sugar isn't under control.

In a case like this, it's important to make sure you're seeing a nationally board certified and state licensed acupuncturist. You'll be looking for an L.Ac./R.Ac. credential combined with Dipl Ac/Dipl OM board certification. To find local providers you can use the "Find a Practitioner" lookup at NCCAOM.org

For the management of arthritis pain, acupuncture can be very effective. Most studies show an 8-10 treatment loading dose followed by up to 12 months of pain reduction or relief. In the long run, this can be much more cost effective than pharmaceutical pain management.

Usually we'd look to herbs and dietary modification to accomplish this task. Acupuncture can certainly help, but it's more of an adjunct treatment.

Sometimes, yes, acupuncture can help with dermatitis. If you've tried changing soaps (body, shampoo, laundry detergent) and the dermatitis persists then acupuncture can be helpful.

This is a case where it's fairly important to see a provider that understands the Chinese diagnostic system - in other words, someone who attended and graduated from an accredited school of Chinese medicine. You'll be looking for a couple different credentials: L.Ac./R.Ac. and/or Dipl Ac./Dipl. OM. If you need help locating a local provider you can start with the "Find a Practitioner" link at NCCAOM.org.

I'm not quite sure what you're asking here. Are you wondering about needle sensitivity getting worse before it gets better or are you wondering about your health issue getting worse before it gets better?

Let's assume the second case. Health issues do sometimes get worse before they get better. Ideally we want a nice smooth reduction in symptoms until either the patients' issue resolves or we hit some tolerable level which we then maintain with sporadic treatment.

Sometimes what we get is spiky behavior in the symptoms with an overall trend towards reduction. If patients and providers aren't keeping an eye on where they started, where they are now, and what the overall trend line looks like, it can sometimes feel like they're just treading water or the symptoms are getting worse.

There are also times when a "healing crises" might occur. If this happens, usually the patient's symptoms increase dramatically for 24-48 hours and then rapidly drop off to virtually zero. I try to avoid this with my patients, but different individuals respond in different ways to treatment and sometimes this is unavoidable.

Lastly, acupuncture is somewhat unique in the medical world in that there are providers who can technically offer "acupuncture" without having attended school for Chinese medicine. Usually these people have a fraction the training of a licensed acupuncturist and where they generally fall down is in the Chinese diagnostic methods. Imagine someone trying to treat you for a broken bone without being able to use x-rays and you have the general idea. I've had patients who received "acupuncture" from a non-licensed acupuncturist for several visits; their symptoms never got better and sometimes they do get worse.

Please make sure your provider has one of the following credentials: L.Ac./R.Ac. and/or Dipl Ac./Dipl OM. This is the only way to ensure you're being treated by someone who attended and graduated from an accredited program of Chinese medicine. If you're having trouble finding someone with these credentials in your area, you can use the "Find a Practitioner" lookup at NCCAOM.org.

Sometimes, yes, acupuncture can be a good treatment for rash or other skin issues. The first thing I usually recommend for patients with this type of problem is to change soaps (body, face, shampoo, laundry). if the rash persists, then we look at diagnosis and treatment.

For a case like this, it's important to see a provider who has one of the following credentials: L.Ac./R.Ac. and/or Dipl Ac./Dipl OM. These are going to be people who attended and graduated from an accredited school of Chinese medicine and they're usually nationally board certified. If you need help finding someone in your area, you can use the "Find a Practitioner" lookup at NCCAOM.org.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "cure thyroid". Are you hyper-thyroid, hypo-thyroid, do you have a Hashimoto's diagnosis, some kind of growth/cyst/tumor? There are a lot of issues that can affect the thyroid, some of which might respond well to acupuncture, some of which will require conventional treatment and some of which might respond best to conventional treatment plus acupuncture.

I don't use acupressure very much. I've found that acupuncture using needles usually provides the quickest and longest lasting result.

I'd suggest starting with your primary care physician to determine exactly what is going on with your thyroid. This will usually involve some blood work and may involve ultrasound or other imaging.

Once you have a conventional diagnosis and understand the conventional treatment options in terms of risks and benefits, take your lab and imaging results to a board certified and state licensed acupuncturist (use the "Find a Practitioner" lookup at NCCAOM.org to find a local provider) and have them give you a consult to see if there's anything Chinese medicine might be able to offer.

Once the growth plates are fused, there are very few treatments that I'm aware of which will increase height; acupuncture definitely won't do it. For reference - in females the lower limb growth plates typically fuse between 12 and 18.

I have seen acupuncture utilized to address uneven limb length in younger children, but this is a case where the growth plates are still open.

It depends on what kind of thyroid problem we're talking about. I've used acupuncture to successfully help manage hyper and hypo thyroid conditions where the T3/T4 values weren't hugely out of range. Sometimes when the labs are way out of range your best bet is to combine acupuncture with conventional pharmaceutical therapy.

If this is a Hashimoto's case, there are some dietary changes which must be made in order to get a handle on the autoimmune aspects. The biggest single thing a Hashimoto's patient can do to assist the treatment is eliminate wheat consumption - this ends up being a stumbling block for the majority of patients. I've gotten good results for Hashimoto's patients who were able to successfully manage their diet. Not so good results for those who couldn't.

In this type of case it's critical you make sure you're seeing a nationally board certified and state licensed acupuncturist (someone who actually attended and graduated from an accredited school of Chinese medicine). If you're not in CA, you can use the "Find a Practitioner" lookup at NCCAOM.org to find practitioners in your area.

I'm sure there probably is. There are lots of reasons why someone might experience gas. Some of these reasons are related to dietary choices and some might be related to internal organ imbalances. Without seeing and diagnosing a patient, it's hard to provide a one-size-fits-all home based solution.