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Acupuncture is one of the biggest "medical" scams. Any of you had any "success" with it?

PlusThirtyOne

PlusThirtyOne

What DOES my username mean...?
PLEASE tell me i'm not the only one who understands that this shit is fabricated nonsense!

My parents are trying to get me to try acupuncture and i'm refusing because it's all made up crap that has NO base in science based medicine. They're insisting on paying for it so they think that makes it okay. Obviously, for sooooo many reasons, i'm refusing to go or let them pay out the ass for what equates to "hopes and prayers". Supposedly my other relatives have seen some minute "improvement" in their health after trying it. They've supposedly "done their homework" but not enough to realize that 90% of the "history" of it was literally made up and written by newage hippies. My homework doesn't match up with theirs so it seems that makes ME the idiot...

This debate is SO DUMB. i can't even.
What the hell am i supposed to do?!

...besides giving in and letting some quack stick needles in my ass...
 
Slytherin Umbreon

Slytherin Umbreon

Black Lives Matter
I don't think I've heard of Acupuncture since that one scene from Final Destination.
NOPE.
 
Ovidia Dragoness

Ovidia Dragoness

Udder Derg
Banned
Slytherin Umbreon said:
I don't think I've heard of Acupuncture since that one scene from Final Destination.
NOPE.
Click to expand...
I'll pay for it if you do this to your face.

1435717785220
 
GarthTheWereWolf

GarthTheWereWolf

Captious Lycanthrope of Forum Legend
I have no experience with acupuncture.

I think the "Chi" aspect of it is total bullshit. But I am curious as to its supposed pain relieving effects for a few reasons. I could see several ways of how it could "possibly" relieve pain. (besides the obvious placebo effect)

Dulling nerve pain due to the needles penetration causing an increase in adenosine production around the penetration site.
Release of endorphins from skin stimulation
Distraction from pain elsewhere due to the pricking sensation of the needles

Problem with acupuncture that that I can see is that its hard as hell to actually test what is real and what is merely placebo effect. Doing a double blind test is almost impossible since unlike a pill you cant just make one fake and one real. People are going to -know- when they're being stuck with needles and even using non-puncturing ones could skew the results since the physical sensation of touch can effect pain levels.

Overall it seems medically suspect, but I would be curious to see the results if someone someday manages to find a more conclusive way of testing it. My biggest concern from actually trying it would be hygiene. A lot of places that offer acupuncture seem sketchy to me and not likely to follow proper aseptic technique, so I would be concerned about getting an infection or some other gross skin condition.
 
Simo

Simo

Professional Watermelon Farmer
I'll have to comment at length when I have more time, but I had some very amazing experiences, in treating chronic facial pain/TMJ, though I was indeed a skeptic, and thought there was no way it would do anything. But the effect, I would compare to a really, really relaxing massage. The practitioner held a degree from both China and the US, and both his father and grandfather had practiced, I later learned. But the office was amazingly clean, nicer than many medical facilities. I have a low pain threshold, and, a fear of needles, but they were so thin, I did not really 'feel' most of them, much at all, and they were individually wrapped.

But as it is late, I'll have to give a more detailed description; certainly, it also induced some very curious states that were between being awake, and dreaming. But the degree of relaxation was notable, and I found, better than a professional massage, in terms of relief of pain from muscular tension, having tried many other options, from muscle relaxers, to Benzodiazipines, and had the benefit of not being habit forming, in the way those meds can be.
 
HistoricalyIncorrect

HistoricalyIncorrect

Shekel collector
I had problem with nervous system and i was desperate to get rid of it so i tried the needlework. Obviously it was fail like Operation Barbarossa
 
Saiko

Saiko

GTWT Survivor
I consider it to be one of those things that’s at least worth trying. Yeah, it’s not well-understood scientifically; but it’s a unique instance of alternative medicine both sounding plausible and generally being a safe option to consider. It claims to relieve pain and tension, presumably does so by stimulating nerves in some weird “magic” way (unexplained but potentially explainable), isn’t an inherently dangerous procedure, and either obviously helps or obviously doesn’t. So as long as people aren’t being tricked into getting acupuncture to treat a ruptured appendix or something silly like that, it has about as good a risk/reward ratio you can possibly get.
 
PlusThirtyOne

PlusThirtyOne

What DOES my username mean...?
GarthTheWereWolf said:
Doing a double blind test is almost impossible since unlike a pill you cant just make one fake and one real.
Click to expand...

Actually there HAVE been double blind tests with controls. There were tests done where patiens were merely poked with wooden toothpicks and were told they were having acupuncture. Same results as "real" acupuncture. i could go on.

Ya see, i HAVE done my homework! My family are treating me like i don't know what i'm talking about when in actuality, i've read and learned FAR MORE than whatever "history" they got. Please, by all means, SHOW me these historic texts. (they're literally fake) PROVE to me that acupuncture isn't less than a few hundred years old. (it is) SHOW me some consistency between these maps and charts. (there isn't) Explain to me how tattoos on my earlobes can stop nerve pain. (yes, that's a thing) -and please please PLEASE explain to me why several authors of acupuncture textbooks have already admitted to making shit up on the fly. (thus the inconsistency between charts)

Seriously. 80% of acupuncture patients quit after their 2nd or 3rd appointment so acupuncturists have to keep making up new gimmicks. Acupuncture is FRAUD and it's been outlawed in most Asian countries for that very reason. Acupuncture only has a market in the US. it's literally a hipster fad that just won't die.
 
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quoting_mungo

quoting_mungo

Well-Known Member
I've had ear acupuncture for my anxiety. Not only has it helped (not so much long-term, but to me getting almost an hour of relaxation while the needles are in is a small wonder in itself), but the spots that supposedly correspond to eg the lungs have hurt like a bitch the times I've come in while my asthma's been raising its ugly head. While that could be confirmation bias, I've at least never not had some variety of breathing issue when it's hurt badly.

I don't know how much I believe in the acupuncture point to organ mapping in general, much less the notion of treating organs with acupuncture, but when it comes to tension and things related to it, I can see reasons it could/would work - if I can relieve a (particular kind of) headache by pinching my neck muscles, it makes sense to me that agitating certain points could tweak overtense or knotted-up muscles to relax.

I'm sure there are "acupuncturists" out there who are total scammers, but I wouldn't assume that automatically means all of it is baloney. I got my acupuncture at a state outpatient psych clinic, and I certainly wouldn't be able to if the (Swedish) health board didn't think it had merit as a scientifically backed/proven treatment method.
 
Fallowfox

Fallowfox

Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
I looked it up and there is no scientific evidence that acupuncture works.
Some people claim they feel better because of it, but people also claim they feel better if you give them placebos.

@quoting_mungo Unfortunately several european national health services fund treatments that have no basis in science.
The UK's NHS funds acupressure therapy and homeopathy for some patients, for example, even though they admit on their website that there is no scientific proof that these treatments work:
www.nhs.uk: Complementary and alternative medicine
The NHS additionally warns that, in the UK, no formal qualifications or experienced are required for a person to practice acupuncture, because it is entirely unregulated.
 
Ovidia Dragoness

Ovidia Dragoness

Udder Derg
Banned
The reason why acupuncture seems to "work" is because of the setting that it happens in. The reason people are relaxed is because it happens in a calm enviroment. You'd get the same outcome and probably a better outcome if you just got a massage at a spa.
 
B

Blue Fire

Guest
PlusThirtyOne said:
PLEASE tell me i'm not the only one who understands that this shit is fabricated nonsense!

My parents are trying to get me to try acupuncture and i'm refusing because it's all made up crap that has NO base in science based medicine. They're insisting on paying for it so they think that makes it okay. Obviously, for sooooo many reasons, i'm refusing to go or let them pay out the ass for what equates to "hopes and prayers". Supposedly my other relatives have seen some minute "improvement" in their health after trying it. They've supposedly "done their homework" but not enough to realize that 90% of the "history" of it was literally made up and written by newage hippies. My homework doesn't match up with theirs so it seems that makes ME the idiot...

This debate is SO DUMB. i can't even.
What the hell am i supposed to do?!

...besides giving in and letting some quack stick needles in my ass...
Click to expand...
Acupuncture is a process which stimulates blood flow to different parts of the body improving function and relieving pain. It is painless and it is proven to work. @Ovi the Dragon
 
B

Blue Fire

Guest
Ovi the Dragon said:
The reason why acupuncture seems to "work" is because of the setting that it happens in. The reason people are relaxed is because it happens in a calm enviroment. You'd get the same outcome and probably a better outcome if you just got a massage at a spa.
Click to expand...
Acupuncture is not about being "calm" or anything. It is about stimulating nerves and increasing bloodflow as needed.
 
Fallowfox

Fallowfox

Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
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