Jeff Rippey

Yes, there are several studies showing acupuncture can be effective in the treatment of depression. If your depression is severe, I'd expect more sessions to get things under control.

Sciatica is a condition I work with quite a bit. Acupuncture can be very effective for this issue.

The answer to your question is: it depends. There are too many variables here to give you anything more accurate than a statistical average.

Assuming your depression is on the mild to moderate end of the spectrum, then, on average, I'd expect something like 8-10 treatments. I've had patients take more and I've had patients take fewer.

I can tell you statistically how many sessions are often needed. Whether or not this number applies to you is a different story.

Generally speaking, a course of therapy is in the 8-10 treatment range. I've had insomnia patients respond in fewer than 8. I've had insomnia patients that required more than 10.

Usually, yes, acupuncture can help relieve the pain associated with a herniated disc.

Sometimes, yes, migraine can be brought to resolution. Any practitioner of Chinese medicine would need to know a great deal more about your situation before deciding whether or not your particular instance of migraine can be resolved.

That being said, acupuncture can almost always improve things for folks with migraine.

Yes, acupuncture can be an excellent treatment choice for the pain associated with a herniated disc.

With the amount of information given here, it's difficult to say whether or not acupuncture might be able to resolve your sinus issue. Acupuncture has been shown in several studies to down-regulate the immune system. At a minimum, it should improve your situation.

Acupuncture usually fares very well in the treatment of chronic pain.

Yes, acupuncture is a very good treatment choice for any kind of chronic pain.

The 'how many treatments' question is a fair one. The problem is, without seeing and treating you a few times, it's very difficult to answer. We can talk about statistics, but that's averages; they don't tell us anything about what any given individual might expect.

If you've never had acupuncture before, there is one looming question that needs to be answered: are you a person who will respond to acupuncture treatment? Statistically, 5% of the population does not respond to acupuncture. The only way to know if you're in the 5% or the 95% is to try acupuncture. Since the 95% who do respond to acupuncture do so on a spectrum of very fast to fairly slow, answering the initial question can take 2-3 treatments.

After that, it's a question of how fast or slow is your condition changing. The faster things change, the more likely you're looking at a short course of treatment. The slower things change, the more likely you're looking at a long course of treatment.

On average, for pain patients, most studies show the best results in an 8-10 treatment range. I've had patients go longer and I've had patients go shorter.

Ringing in the ears (tinnitus) is something of the holy grail for acupuncturists. It's very difficult to treat and often simply doesn't respond. I've had patients who've gotten improvement and I've had patients who experienced absolutely no change after a series of treatments.

Similar to the world of conventional medicine where sometimes a given doctor is simply better with a given health condition relative to otherwise qualified providers, some acupuncturists are better with tinnitus than others. If you decide to pursue acupuncture treatment, I'd look for someone who is a board certified acupuncturist in your state (an L.Ac. or R.Ac. credential) and who has a good track record with tinnitus.

Yes, acupuncture can be a very good treatment choice for insomnia. Please make sure you're seeing a board certified and state licensed provider. To find folks like this in your area you can use NCCAOM.org's "Find a Practitioner" lookup.

Acupuncture, in general, is a good treatment choice for anxiety. I have quite a few anxiety patients and I'm almost always able to at least improve their situation. It's hard to say whether or not your particular issue could be completely resolved as I have no idea the severity of the problem. Generally speaking, the more severe the anxiety, the more likely you are to end up in more of a maintenance type space - at least in my experience.

Please make sure you see a board certified and state licensed acupuncture provider. To find people like this near you, go to NCCAOM.org and use their "Find a Practitioner" lookup.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine might be able to help. A naturopathic doctor may also be able to provide non-surgical/non-prescription medication options. Depending on where you're located, an Ayurvedic practitioner (traditional medicine of India) may also be able to assist.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are individualized. Unlike conventional western medicine, there is not one set treatment for a given issue. The treatment is driven by the patient's presentation and the information gathered by the provider during the intake process.

I could have 3 patients walk through my door with stomach pain, and they all might be experiencing that pain for different reasons. Each reason has it's own set of treatment points.

I do not know why you are experiencing this pain. There isn't enough information provided on this site, in this format, to make any useful determinations and therefore I cannot provide any point or points that might provide relief in your situation.

If you're interested in trying acupuncture or Chinese medicine, and for pain conditions this is an excellent treatment choice, your best bet is to go see a local provider who can evaluate you and provide a treatment that is suited to your presentation. To find local providers you can go to NCCAOM.org and use their "Find a Practitioner" lookup.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are individualized. Unlike conventional western medicine, there is not one set treatment for a given issue. The treatment is driven by the patient's presentation and the information gathered by the provider during the intake process.

I could have 3 patients walk through my door with insomnia, and they all might be experiencing sleep issues for different reasons. Each reason has its own set of treatment points.

I do not know why you are experiencing insomnia. There isn't enough information provided on this site, in this format, to make any useful determinations and therefore I cannot provide any point or points that might provide relief in your situation.

If you're interested in trying acupuncture or Chinese medicine, and for insomnia/sleep issues this is an excellent treatment choice, your best bet is to go see a local provider who can evaluate you and provide a treatment that is suited to your presentation. To find local providers you can go to NCCAOM.org and use their "Find a Practitioner" lookup.

Sure, I've heard of quite a few different treatment options. Since I practice Chinese medicine, that's where I have the most familiarity.

I typically get very good results for folks using acupuncture and, occasionally, Chinese herbal medicine.

Naturopathic doctors (ND) can often provide good options for allergies if you're not interested in pursuing acupuncture.

It depends on who is performing the acupuncture.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are currently in a very strange position in the west, and particularly in the United States. There is a lot of science showing acupuncture's effectiveness for things like digestive complaints, pain, fatigue, neurological issues, cardiac issues, and so on. In many cases the evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture is better than the evidence for the effectiveness of conventional treatments (prescription medication or surgery).

This evidence has created a situation where many people would like to try acupuncture, but there aren't currently enough acupuncturists in the US. Nation wide there are about 36,000 of us and more than half of those are in CA, NY, or FL. This has led to other providers attempting to step in and collect those patients. Many of these providers don't have nearly the training that a nationally board certified and state licensed acupuncturist has - particularly in the area of your chief concern: patient safety.

For the best outcome, with the least risk, you need to make sure you're seeing a provider who has a national credential through the NCCAOM and is licensed in your state as an acupuncturist (usually this is an L.Ac. credential but some states use R.Ac.).

To find someone like this in your area, you can go to NCCAOM.org and use their 'Find a Practitioner' look up. If you happen to be in a state other than NY, CA, FL (and I'd add WA, OR, CO, MA) to this list, you may have to travel a bit to find someone with the necessary credentials.

Unfortunately, without knowing what treatments were applied initially, it's very difficult to know whether or not your current state is a direct result of the previous acupuncture or whether your current state can be improved with more acupuncture.

Since you mention Oxford, I'm assuming you were treated initially in the UK. The laws there governing acupuncture are different from the US (where I practice). My understanding is the UK has no statutory regulation of the profession. Acupuncturists can voluntarily choose to register with the BAcC (British Acupuncture Council), but there are no real requirements in order to practice. All this is a nice way of saying: there's no guarantee that the person you saw in Oxford has any kind of training - formal or otherwise.

If you're still in the UK, I'd suggest visiting the BAcC's website to see if they have a provider location feature. The BAcC at least enforces some practice and training rules making it much more likely you'll have a better outcome.

If you're in the US, I'd visit NCCAOM.org and use their "Find a Practitioner" lookup to see who might be local to you. Call around to a few providers and see if you can get a free consult.

In the meantime, I'd suggest a primary care visit to get some blood work done and get an evaluation. There may be something conventional medicine can offer which will help you get things moving in a good direction. The other thing I'd check with at your primary care provider is whether or not you'd be clear for exercise - finding a good athletic trainer would likely help rebuild the muscles and help get your cardiovascular system back on track.