Question:
I have a couple of friends who are certified acupuncturists. They are
in no way pressuring me or recommending I don't take meds (I don't take
meds right now, will be seeing new pdoc 11/27, I am afraid to start
meds but willing). Anyway, they say that acupuncture could help my
anxiety and would like me to try it. Again, they are NOT "anti-med".
They just recommend trying other things first. I am willing to give it
a try. My anxiety seeems to be different from a lot of people here, in
that it has not YET kept me from doing the things I normally do. I
don't really have full blown phobias yet (other than a growing fear of
meds) and I don't have agoraphobia (well...lately when I get home from
work, I just can't get myself to go back out. I just want to be home
and stay home). Maybe trying alternative stuff first might help me to
not need meds? I am wondering if anyone here has any experience with
acupuncture for anxiety?
Answer:
I have never tried acupuncture for anything....BUT I if I were in your
position, I would definitely be willing to try it. I've just never
known anyone who was close enough to the practice to explain anything
to me. I have a article from Medscape on acupuncture and anxiety.
IMHO...........I would not use acupuncture for your gallbladder problems. The
surgery is the best way to go. Patients who visit psychiatrist Dr. Don Schulte for pain and depression receive
more than just medication and psychotherapy. Some get acupuncture as well.
The private practitioner from Pinehurst, N.C., is among a growing number of
American physicians who are training in acupuncture techniques. Despite a
dearth of data on the clinical virtues of the practice, the economic virtues
are clear. Americans are spending nearly $30 billion out of pocket on
alternative therapies every year.
Most of the 12 patients who see Dr. Schulte for acupuncture each week are
seeking relief from headaches, low back pain, or neuralgias. He also uses
acupuncture to treat depression and anxiety, usually as an adjunct for patients
who respond unsatisfactorily to medications and psychotherapy. But it's not for
everyone.
"Some patients I would never consider doing it on because of transference and
boundary issues," Dr. Schulte said.
Patients pay the standard hourly rate for an initial acupuncture visit -- about
$130. Subsequent visits are shorter and run around $70. Many patients have
exhausted all other treatment options and are turning to Dr. Schulte as a last
resort.
"They've spent a lot of money elsewhere with no relief. The pressure is on to
perform a miracle. Sometimes we do, and sometimes we don't," he said.
Dr. Schulte is one of approximately 4,000 medical doctors who have spent 7
weeks and more than $5,000 to complete formal acupuncture training at the
University of California, Los Angeles. Another 1,000 physicians are estimated
to be practicing acupuncture with other less comprehensive training or no
additional training at all.
Only a handful of the physicians who've completed the program are
psychiatrists. Most are primary care physicians or pain specialists, according
to the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA), headquartered in Los
Angeles.
Sign-ups at UCLA have been rising by 15% each year in recent years, and 600
physicians graduated from the program last year alone, said Dr. Joseph Helms, a
family physician who directs the acupuncture training. The trend is
attributable not to proven efficacy, but to the public's demand for acupuncture
services.
"As it became clear that the population was willing to pay cash for
acupuncture, it grabbed the attention of traditional medicine. The patients are
driving the popularity of this," said James Dowden, AAMA's executive director.
And while acupuncture is still largely a cash business, some health plans have
begun covering the treatment.
"It is market driven. [Patients] are saying this is what they want," said Karen
Muehlberg, head of the alternative benefits program at Oxford Health Plans,
Milford, Conn., which has been covering acupuncture as part of an alternative
medicine benefits package since 1997.
While there is no national training standard for physicians who perform
acupuncture, Oxford and many other health plans only will send patients to
physicians who've had at least 300 hours of acupuncture schooling. That's about
what Dr. Schulte got when he took the UCLA course in 1994.
Most states allow any doctor with a valid medical license to practice
acupuncture, but seven states require physicians to take from 100 to 300 hours
of additional training before they can practice acupuncture.
Despite its growing popularity, data supporting acupuncture's efficacy remain
sketchy for most indications. In 1997, a National Institutes of Health panel
concluded acupuncture can be useful in treating postoperative nausea,
postoperative dental pain, and morning sickness.
Some quarters of organized medicine criticized the recommendations, saying that
the panel had abandoned evidence-based standards and responded instead to the
desires of acupuncture advocates.
Most practitioners "are practicing placebo medicine. They are way out in front
of the data," said Dr. George A. Ulett of the department of psychiatry at the
University of Missouri-Columbia.
He practices and teaches a form of acupuncture using electrical stimulation
that he says is proven to relieve pain by stimulating endorphin release.
But just because acupuncture's appeal is being driven more by the market than
by scientific data does not mean that patients aren't seeing benefits,
according to Dr. Helms, who is also founding president of AAMA.
"Most doctors are results driven. These people see acupuncture as an extension
of their capabilities as physicians, both diagnostically and therapeutically,"
he said.
The lack of hard data doesn't bother Dr. Schulte. Most of his patients are
desperate for something that works.
"There's nothing I'm shy about trying, but I don't push acupuncture. If someone
is hurting bad and there are no answers for them, I try it. You're unlikely to
do any harm," he said.
