Acupuncture treatment.

[goldfinch]

The placebo effect can be very strong. So if you find something that works for you, stick with it even if all the research shows it is "just" placebo. The nice thing about placebo is it doesn't have the side effects of many drugs! A friend of mine had been on so many medications, pretty much her entire life, and decided that she was tired of them all. So, with her doctors' help, she got off all of them. She has celiac and some food allergies, so she went on a pretty strict diet, no wheat, soy, dairy, sugar, and no meat because she's vegetarian. (She had already quit caffeine & alcohol.) And she started acupuncture. After 10 sessions she dropped the acupuncture but kept all the other changes. She said the acupuncture didn't seem to do anything, but I was glad she had it as part of her getting-off-meds, because it made it a little less scary.

In other words I also believe that any acupuncture effect is placebo, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, if it works for you. You might think about quitting sugar. She'll have a bit of sugar once in a while, and the very painful cramps come back when she does. But it's hard to quit sugar, it's all around us all the time, and a stressful time of your life is maybe not a good time to try it.

I don't entirely disagree but have reservations. If an underlying problem needs fixing the placebo effect will not fix it. So, the risk is that an effective treatment is not sought. For example, people with asthma treated with acupuncture sometimes feel better--the placebo effect. But their lung function is not better. They just think it is. So, the treatment is worse than no treatment at all because you don't know your lung function is impaired. Also, unlike less invasive placebo treatments, acupuncture does have risks. You may have no positive effect and keep trying and trying treatments, wasting time and money. You may get better on your own and think it was the treatment, also wasting money. The placebo effect also tends to "wear off" with the passage of time. So you get a temporary boost in feeling better but you end up back where you were.

If a problem is anxiety related there are better ways to address the issue. Relaxation techniques aren't invasive and aren't a pill and can be effective.

I just generally have a problem with misleading people and that is what practitioners are doing, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

[Brandi]

I really appreciate the positive and the objective views on this subject. I understand the placebo effect may bother some. But I believe the mind is a trick player in all this. Mine is subject to believing things that aren't there. But if it works who care's? I am not doing this wrong in any way. I am taking med's for this but they are not working well. And I am too young I believe. But I have been a stressed person all my life. Thanks in part to very immature parents who put me in a position at a very young age to be responsible for 2 young children and a house. So I have carried some of this stress into my adult life. But I am dealing with it. Like I said I do yoga, meditation, biking, hiking and art. But I believe that Dr's are all to quick to give meds. My Dr is open to other things I want to try as long as I keep him informed. And I do believe that research has given this form of treatment a better look and believes for some it does help. If it works who cares right? I was looking for answer's as far as how long it takes to take effect.Oh and my insurance pays for 70% percent of it. Which considering how much I pay for insurance these days and not use it a whole lot, I am happy to get something as relaxing as this from it.