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'Say 'ah' to acupuncture' - from CNN Health

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On Wins and Needles - Acupuncture part of Street Sense's holistic routine. The winning path for Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby did not begin on the rail, as most people think. It might have begun two days before the race with an acupuncture treatment to promote healthy, open "paths" through the horse's body.

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Acupuncture Proves Useful in Helping Stroke Victims - The China Medical University hospital is inviting more stroke victims to take advantage of its rehabilitation therapy program, which uses acupuncture and scientifically made Chinese medicine, a hospital official said Wednesday.

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American Healer gets a Chinese award for his work in TCM- Dr. David Molony, 54, a resident of Pennsylvania, was honored at People's Hall, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, for his accomplishments in advancing the science of Chinese medicine with legislative chambers and international medical non-government organizations.

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Survey Finds Over One-Third of Americans Now Using Alternative Medicine

Written by Thomson Medstat
15 February 2007

More than 37 percent of U.S. households regularly turn to alternative treatments for everything from headaches to diabetes, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Medstat, a business of The Thomson Corporation (TSX;TOC;NYSE:TOC).

Thomson Medstat's 2006 consumer healthcare survey asked 23,000 adults about their use of alternative medicine and found:

-37.2 percent of U.S. households use some form of alternative medicine. The most common reason was to improve general wellness.

-Alternative medicine use is most prevalent among those with annual incomes exceeding $100,000 and those with post-graduate college degrees.

-Nearly two-thirds of respondents said their physicians were aware of their use of alternative medicine.

-41.9 percent said at least some of the costs of their alternative treatments were covered by insurance.

-Herbal supplements and massage/chiropractic care were the most commonly used alternative care, followed by mind/body practices, energy therapies and naturopathy.

Alternative medicines are broadly defined as therapeutic or preventive healthcare practices such as homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic and herbal medicine.

Despite the potential for dangerous interactions between alternative and prescription medicines, the study found that affluent, highly educated Americans are driving the growth of the alternative market.

Nearly half (49.9 percent) of households earning more than $100,000 per year sought alternative treatments in the past 12 months. Likewise, 49.6 percent of those with post-graduate degrees used alternative medicine. At the lower end of the income/education scale, utilization dropped to 30 percent in households earning $15,000-$24,999 per year and to 18.1 percent among those without a high school diploma.

"Alternative medicine use has become so widespread that it is now critical for traditional, Western physicians to factor a whole new set of potential interactions into treatment decisions," said Dr. David Schutt, associate medical director at Thomson Medstat. "Knowing the statistics behind alternative medicine use is a good start, but further study of this area is necessary."

The study suggests that doctors are increasingly making it a habit to ask patients about their alternative medicine use and history. In total, 64.1 percent of respondents said their physicians were aware of their use of alternative medicine.

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It might not be a bad idea for people with overactive thyroids to supplement their standard treatment with Chinese herbal medicine, a new review suggests. Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland produces too much thyroid hormone, causing problems that can mimic the effects of a shot of adrenalin, said Jeffrey Sandler, M.D., an endocrinologist with Scripps Mercy Hospital and Whittier Institute in San Diego. "It stimulates the heart rate, can raise blood pressure, breaks down muscle and can cause weakness and weight loss."

Increased thyroid hormones can lead to higher body temperatures and warm, moist skin as well. The cause of hyperthyroidism is typically Graves' disease, where cells of the immune system work against the thyroid gland. Hyperthyroidism is most common among women and the drugs used to treat it have been around for about 50 years, Sandler said. In extreme cases, doctors turn to surgery and radiation. In this new Cochrane Library review, the researchers looked for studies that compared hyperthyroidism patients who took Chinese herbal medicine alone to those who took it in combination with Western treatments.

Visit the News-Medical Net website to read the rest of the article and the final decision about herbs and thyroid issues.

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Imported drugs plan fails: The Senate defeats an effort that would have allowed Americans to purchase prescription drugs from abroad. In a triumph for the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate on Monday killed a drive to allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from abroad at a significant savings over domestic prices. On a 49-40 vote, the Senate required the Food and Drug Administration to certify the safety and effectiveness of imported drugs before they can be imported, a requirement that officials have said they cannot meet.

Visit HeraldNet to read the rest of the article. But it seems to be if Seniors still have extremely high drug prices and a huge donut hole in which they are not covered for those drugs then they will need some alternative medicine. So maybe it's time to push Representative Hinchey to bring back his Federal Acupuncture Act again so that Medicare will provide for people instead of just pharmaceutical companies.

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Check out this new offering: Face Reflexology. "It is actually a new complementary therapy that combines looking good with feeling good through a unique marriage of three ancient techniques; Chinese energy meridians, Chinese acupuncture points, and Vietnamese and Andean tribal body maps." Invented by Lone Sorensen Lopez, a Danish woman "who has been formulating the therapy throughout her work over the past twenty-eight years."

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A new study in the Journal of Pain concluded that electro-stim poses no adverse effects on chronic tension headache sufferers. It even suggests that acupuncture with electro-stim could be useful for those patients. The study used 36 people with chronic tension headaches and gave half an ectro-stim wand and half a wand with no electricity. Every one of them was taught 6 acu points (bilateral EX-HN5, GB 20, LI 4) to help with their symptoms.

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Many consider acupuncture as the oldest system of medicine in history. It originated 5,000 years ago in China, and now the World Health Organization listed approximately four dozen different conditions that can be treated by it. Pain, stress and asthma are just a few problems the needles are said to relieve. So, while it is said the power is in the needle, what about power without the puncture? One Dallas business has recently started offering needle-less acupuncture.

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Pin pricks and the human body. The combination of words could evoke numerous images: Voodoo dolls, Sleeping Beauty, struggles in seventh grade home economics. But for Kathy Ligon, a fourth year medical student at NEOUCOM, the use of needles as a healing practice--acupuncture--is a means of integration of Eastern and Western medical practice. "What's so incredible is that for thousands of years, two separate medicines were being developed simultaneously in isolation from each other,and the way they were organized was totally different," Ligon said.

Click here to read the rest of the article from The Stater Online.

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Neurologist uses acupuncture to treat variety of pain conditions from the University of Connecticut (good story about how a person's view and life's calling changed with the introduction of acupuncture).

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With alternative medicine, it's a dog's life that's at stake. Animals can't fake results. If allopaths require proof that acupuncture works just look at the good it does for those who can't lie.

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Treating Infertility with Acupuncture from the Asheville Citizens Times in Asheville, North Carolina.

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From Stressed to Stressbuster from the US News and World Report (about a DC Acupuncturist specializing in fertility).

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Acupuncture is Becoming More Mainstream, by WMDT in Salisbury, Maryland.

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The Rock River Times ran an article, this week, about how and why acupuncture will help with allergies. Including reasons not to rely too heavily on prescription or over-the-counter allergy relief aids. "Most over-the-counter allergy medications focus on controlling symptoms", says Sher Demeter, LAc, a faculty clinician at Northwestern Health Sciences University's Natural Care Center at Woodwinds in Woodbury, Minn. "However, acupuncture treatment focuses on both short-term symptomatic relief and also the root cause of the disharmony in the body."

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Acupuncture Pins Down Allergy Relief from Fox News. It's an in-depth look at how acupuncture can work for patients with seasonal allergies.

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