Has anyone tried acupuncture for PD

[Yhae]

I've heard from some people that didn't help them. some people are very positive about it.

[ElliotGreen]

I've used Yin Tui Na, gentle supportive hands on therapy. Acupuncture may be contra-indicated for PD, at least in some areas of the body. According to Dr Janice Walton-Hadlock, in PwP, the stomach meridian is flowing backwards. In such a case, acupuncture needless would just increase the electrical flow in the wrong direction.

[glenandgerry in reply to ElliotGreen]

I found it quite difficult to find someone knowledgeable about Yin Tui Na (& Parkinson's) however my husband had about 10 sessions last year with someone we had to travel for 1.5 hrs each way to see. After 6 months my husband stopped going as he didn't feel any benefit. Have you found any benefit, and how for how long have you been having Yin Tui Na?

[ElliotGreen in reply to glenandgerry]

For our purposes, the Yin Tui Na necessary is not difficult and it doesn't really require much training at all. Janice Walton-Hadlock had instructions in a book available on pdrecovery.org.

Basically, I lay in bed in such a way that my good friend, sitting in a chair, could hold my foot. He would hold the injured area with a "firm but gentle" supportive grasp.

I shook and released. I felt much better after a session and would also sleep much better, too. Definitely worked for me.

[glenandgerry in reply to ElliotGreen]

That's amazing (and what a good friend you have!) I actually have the book but didn't feel confident to perform the technique myself, so went to see a Chinese massage therapist but, although he did a great all over massage, he didn't actually perform the foot holding.

Maybe I will attempt to do it myself. It's just trying to find the time that's a problem sometimes. For how long did your friend hold your foot, and what was the injury?

Thanks

Gerry

[ElliotGreen in reply to glenandgerry]

I hear you. 45 minutes or so. A soccer injury, the joint behind the big toe.

[TazmanianDevil]

Junk science.

[PDGal4]

I have been going to acupuncture since my diagnosis 7 years ago. Been through quite a number. The first was an MD also trained in acupuncture. She was amazing and I saw her for several months until she moved out of the area. I went to a series after that, some Chinese, others trained in the US. The acupuncturist I see now, I love. She trained in San Diego in acupuncture and Chinese medicine. She treats many symptoms such as pain, slow digestion, sleep issues, etc. and works on dyskinesia, dizziness, whatever my problem/symptom of the week is. I do believe it's helpful. I've settled into bi-weekly visits.

[Dajudge]

I tried it several times but got no relief or improvement from the treatments.

dajudge

[Jandeb]

I see a Chinese doc whose lineage precedes the Maoist destruction of classical chinese medicine and eventually reconstructed a watered down version. I am treated not as a PWP, but as an individual. Since PD is a multisymptom condition this makes sense. He uses herbs and acupuncture that is modified about ever six weeks to account how the previous treatment changed things.

[etterus]

I have been seeing an Acupuncturist for several years. I do find it helps for the non motor symptoms such as constapation and uringency . It’s also been helpful for pain, insomnia anxiety etc.

[etterus]

It’s not a miracle but it’s not another pill with side effects!!

[janers]

My acupuncturist gives deep tissue massage along with the treatment. I find that is really helpful For loosening my stiff shoulder.

[Divii]

didn’t help me

[pearlette]

I have tried it on 4 occasions. 2017 immediately after formal diagnosis.

The physio clinic i went to was owned by a doctor who pivoted from the end of his residency training and learnt traditional Chinese acupuncture.

He gave me 60 days of treatment. I did feel subjectively better but I had just started l-dopa ( Sinemet)2 weeks before the acupuncture so ......

2018 from a London based Traditional Chinese medicine clinic. The senior doctor who owned the clinic also worked as a clinical epidemiologist in a London teaching hospital.

I saw one of the other Beijing trained TCM doctor's who had done a modern university TCM degree .She had done her her intern year and residency alongside regular allocation doctor's in a stroke unit and an acute cardiology unit.

She offered me a personalised treatment plan with traditional Chinese herbs augmented with Acupuncture without stopping my Sinemet and rasagiline.

The herbs were weighed out every week into daily dose bundles. They looked like a bowl of pot pourri .You "cooked" the herbs in 2 litres of distilled water and strained it.

You had to finish drinking it over 24 hour

Every 2 weeks or longer the doses of individual herbs were adjusted based on response and a TCM style medical assessment starting with the pulse. I continued this for 4 months.

I learnt a lot about TCM and she learnt a lot about Western medicine.

I had to stop as I moved to a job where I was commuting further away from the clinic

That gave me a sense of well being and subjectively less frequent dystonia

2018 September

Had a 8 week course of weekly acupuncture again from a Chinese TCM doctor's in Yorkshire while working there.

Less tiredness, was working 56 hours a week with a Friday shift of 24 hours on call bearing in mind I was 57 years old at the time.

Dystonia was pretty mild and I walked uphill regularly on the Yorkshire dales.

A western trained doctor who learnt from a recognised UK accredited programme offered me a 6 week course. Had no benefit so I stopped (2023 July)