1.A Letter to the Editor of Achives of Internal Medicine
2.Needle Manipulation: Is it necessary?
3.A Needle’s ADD( Angle, Direction and Depth)
4.Acupuncture practice: difference between China and USA-1.
5.Is Acupuncture effective for reducing blood glucose?
6. Acupuncture may do better than antidepressant drugs in the treatment for depression: A hypothesis.
7,Acupuncture to fine-tune your Yin-Yang in the body.
Mr. A., a 20-year-old man from Columbia who came to cheer for the Colombia soccer team in a game against the USA, is now lying in my clinic with needles all over his body. His main complaints are of tingling and numbness in both arms, panic, constant worry and stress, poor sleep and vivid dreams for years. Mr. B. suffers from arrhythmia and has had several electric shocks and two heart surgeries. His irregular heart rhythm still persists, and doctors have suggested another surgery. Ms. C. is in her late 30's complaining about having irregular periods after delivering her first baby, making it difficult to conceive again. On the contrary Ms. D., in her early 40's, has very regular periods making it easy to become pregnant, but has had five miscarriages. All of them are seeking help of acupuncture
As a result, Mr. A felt better after the first treatment and then asked for treatment everyday before returning to Colombia. His symptoms were much improved after 3 treatment sessions. Mr. B’s irregular heartbeats were greatly reduced after two treatments and “ did not feel any extra heart” after 5 treatments. He still attends weekly acupuncture sessions for maintenance. Both C and D got pregnant after treatment of several months. Now C’s second son is 2.5 years and D’s daughter is in pre-school. So how does a needle help these people?
The answer is to fine-tune the Yin-Yang. Yin and Yang, in traditional Chinese medicine, are two opposing factors, both interdependent and complementary to each other to maintain the balance in the body. This balance is essential for keeping good health. In modern medicine, a close analogy of Yin-Yang is the autonomic system, in which, the Yang is more like the sympathetic, while the Yin is more like the parasympathetic. Some brain chemicals like dopamine and acetylcholine are more like Yang while serotonin and GABA are more like Yin. These systems and chemicals in our brain are responsible for our response to the environment and for every action we generate. Therefore, Yin-Yang, being everywhere in our body, affects not only our physical condition but also our emotional well-being. If one aspect is deficient, the other is in excess, and thus the Yin-Yang balance will be broken and disease will occur. The principle of acupuncture treatment is to restore imbalanced Yin-Yang.
How does this occur? Modern biological researches in recent years haven drawn us a general picture of the acupuncture mechanism, i.e. the acupuncture signal goes to the brain through peripheral nerves and spinal cord. In response to the signal, the brain makes adjustment by releasing different chemicals or neurotransmitters based on what the body needs, which, in turn, induces the activation of neural-immune circuit or the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, etc (1). For example, in a model of Parkinson’s disease, where dopamine is depleted, acupuncture stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain (2); however, it does not happen in normal conditions (3). Acupuncture also prevents the increase of dopamine when drinking alcohol but the decrease of dopamine during alcohol withdrawal (4). Therefore, acupuncture signal acts like a messenger to tell the brain making the right decision to normalize the body homeostasis. Hence a patient of diarrhea and a patient of constipation can both be benefited from acupuncture treatment.
In the above cases, A has more Yang than Yin; therefore, reinforcing the Yin through stimulation of the parasympathic vagal nerve is necessary. Such stimulation, according to an fMRI study could result in increase of serotonin transmission(5) and change of functional connectivity between different brain nucleus(6). B has both Yin and Yang deficiency. Therefore stimulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic are equally important. A point (PC-6) in the forearm (for the parasympathisc) and a point in the back (for sympathetic) are a routine selection. An interesting research has found that after injection of a dye in PC-6 and another colored dye in the heart, both dyes can be found in the dorsal ganglion of the spinal cord later (7), indicating that PC-6 has some connections with the heart through dorsal ganglion. C and D are more Yang deficiency. Acupuncture treatment mainly works through inhibiting the sympathetic system in the abdomen or lower back to reduce uterine artery impedance and therefore, increase blood flow to the uterus (8) and regulate the female hormone levels for pregnancy (9).
Generally speaking, acupuncture works well for most people, however it is not for everyone(10). A relatively good body condition is necessary to attain a good response from acupuncture. So if you trust your body, then acupuncture works for you.
