ACUPUNCTURE

[Afibtastic]

Has anybody tried this and has it been successful for episodes? Has been recommended and I remember reading about it years ago but had forgotten. Then I suppose finding a practitioner that is skilled enough. Cheers

[CDreamer]

I have had Acupunture for arthritis and sea sickness, helped enormously, reducing stress and pain. I did experiment with using Acuseeds placed by Acupunturist for ‘palpitation’ - really hard to do for yourself accurately. Hard to really know if it helped as I rarely get AF these days and only when I have an infection, may have lessened the intensity? It’s certainly not going to cure your AF but it may help you cope?

[Ppiman]

I think the answer, given all the studies on this odd form of medicine, is... it's very unlikely to help in the long term (i.e. when any placebo effect wears off).

But science is still a mystery in part (a shrinking part, it is true). So, I would try it with a positive mind and hopefulness. I would not pay for many treatments, however, as there seems even less justification for a longer course than for a single one, even though the seems to be the norm with practitioners. It would worry me that if it doesn't work at all well the first time, then it could become a drain on my finances and a source of income for the practitioner, not all of whom are genuine.

I also would fear the lack of training and medical knowledge of alternative practitioners, having know a few over the years quite well.

Steve

[madgrannyBeth]

I had PAF since 2016 and because of the pandemic and nhs strikes etc, it wasn’t diagnosed until 2020 and I had to then wait four years for an ablation. In that time the episodes escalated from every 6 months up to every three weeks. In an effort to slow it down until I could have the ablation, I had acupuncture every three weeks. I was warned it could actually start an episode while the acupuncture was being done, but thankfully for me that never happened and the episodes slowed down to about every six weeks, and stayed that way until I had the ablation a couple of months ago. I don’t think it’s a permanent solution, and it might not help everyone, but it made me feel I’d taken control of the beast. Just make sure you use a practitioner who understands about AF.

[Afibtastic in reply to madgrannyBeth]

Thanks. I will try to find one. Won't be easy I am guessing