Posted by pseudoname on October 2, 2006, at 15:21:57
I'm on buprenorphine (Subutex), an opioid, for treatment-resistant depression of 22 years. Bupe's the only thing that has consistently, persistently helped. But it mostly just removes the depressive agony; it doesn't help me with energy, ambition, or bizarre paralyzing fears.
Acupuncture's been on my list to try. After reading "The Instinct to Heal", a book about evidence-supported alternative treatments for depression by David Servan-Schreiber (2004), I decided to give it a go. But almost no one around here practices it, except 2 guys listed in the Yellow Pages.
(1) A general practice M.D. from India. I saw him. He took *NO* history, did not feel my pulse (the tradition Chinese medicine diagnositic), or even go over my current meds! He just asked if it was depression with anxiety or without. (With.) He put 22 needles in, took them out 20 minutes later, and told me to come back in a week.
(2) A few days later I saw the other local guy, chiropractor. He had a long, chatty conversation with me, but still not what I would call a proper medical history. On his intake form, I had checked the box for “Psychiatric problems”. He said — and I quote — “Do you think your depression probably causes those psychiatric problems?” I said, depression IS the psychiatric problem. “Oh, I see.” He was also unfamiliar with the term ECT but advertises that he treats depression as a specialty.
He said it takes 27 years to learn to diagnose properly from the pulse, so he uses a voltimeter or something like that, which produced a computer graph of my meridians that are too active, inactive, or imbalanced. He did not want to use needles on me, insisting that a noninvasive current generating device was better. Well, all I know is that the Harvard study of acupuncture for depression in the "Instinct" book used needles, so I politely refused treatment. He got a little ticked off at me, but consented, with resentment in his face, to using needles. He put 10 needles in, and left them in until they easily pulled out, which was at various times. While we were waiting, he used the current generator at sites around my ears. Wow, that hurt! (Maybe to get back at me? No, I don't think so, LOL.) He wants me to come back 5 more times.
I really have my doubts about him and about the entire experience, but where else can I get any acupuncture at all to try? I can't do it to myself.
Anyway, I didn't and still don't feel one lick different. I may go back to the first guy, or even both guys; I suppose they could cancel each other out… I'll keep you posted.
poster:pseudoname
thread:691240
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060817/msgs/691240.html