My freaking bouts of anxiety and panic are back!! Promised myself last night, as I laid there thinking I was dying, that I was going to get help. Well knowing that my regular GYN just think it's all in my head, continued looking for a new physician. With the concern that I will just find another doctor that will give me the same ole run around, I accidently came across an office called Highpoint Healing & Wellness. Well I pulled up their web-site, and she performs accupuncture and other alternative remedies, so I have decided to give it a try. She is located near my home, and heck what could it hurt.

I was able to actually speak w/her personally, and she was very nice, and more importantly totally understood my symptoms. She said she has treated several women such as myself, and indeed hormones play a key role in anxiety. I told her I was concerned w/the cost since I am not employed during the summer, and she even gave me a discount any visit during the summer - wow... She does take insurance, but Vista (which is horrible insurance) does not cover accupuncture...

Well I did it, I made the appointment. She could of seen me on Saturday (wow Saturday visits kewl), but since my husband wants to go camping this weekend (oh joy), she squeezed me in for tomorrow at 2PM.

I would appreciate any feedback of anyone who has tried accupuncture. Everything that I have read seems to say it is a good alternative, but just curious what other may of found it to be....

I will also keep you posted. Now I just need to find a sitter for my son tomorrow. But come hell or high water I am going! I have to do something. Something beats the hell out of nothing, don't ya think...

Hi Becca .. I jumped over here with you !! ,, I have used accupuncture for arthritus (it caused problems with my siatic nerve) ,, it relieved my pain for about a week. It makes sense since the needles placed into the nerve synapses stimulate the brain to produce endorphins.. and we are lacking in GABA (gamma amuno butric acid Im sure I spelled that wrong) the "feel good" neurotransmitter in the brain when we dont ovulate ,, my thinking is that accupuncture may be quite successful.

Thanks for the input, and thanks for all the support you have given me today, cuz I have surely needed it. This is her web-site, http://www.highpointhealing.com/ apparently she does homepathy as well. Should at the least be a journey, do love the music on the web-site though... Only time will tell...

The picture on the main page is beautiful.. be careful of purchasing chinese herbal compounds .. I remember my accupuncturist sold me some and after researching all the ingredients I never took them ..

Oh yea, being my anxious self, you know that's what I worry about. You get in there, oh well buy this, and buy that... Hopefully she now knows up front that I just can't do that right now financially. I will listen to what she has to say, and if she tries to sell me anything, look it up... That's what's such a pain, traditional doctors don't want to take the time w/ya and just prescribe rx for symptoms, then the alternative want's to sell you every mixture under the sun... What to do, what to do. But I will surely give the accupuncture a try, and at the least hear what she has to say. Then let it sink in, and go from there. I will surely keep ya posted though.... thats for sure...

I tried Accupuncture/TCM for six months and it helped me alot. The meds are serious stuff--you should have her check out Giovanni's "Freeing the Moon" for you--was like a huge dose of progesterone cream for my nerves, lol--like a pink door went down and my mind stopped recycling crap! Yes, the Eastern approach is great after being ignored by insensitive Dr.'s who discount your symptoms. My WONDERFUL Accupucturist in Los Angeles, Deannie, radianthealthacu@aol.com, took 3 hours to discuss the whole person, every little seemingly unrelated symptom, and is always available by cell or email. Just having her to talk to and to take me seriously was a HUGE relief. Yes, the meds can be pricey, but if it works it's worth it. She helped me with my asthma, allergies, outer-ear infection, intestinal ups and downs (check out moxa over the belly for diarreah and gas!), and knocked a cold out so it didn't progress. For anxiety it's amazing!

Good luck!

Thank you so much. And yea, they sure are detailed. She had me get a form from her web-site, and OMG it was detailed. She said the first visit wil take about 2 hours, holy cow, most doctors yea you might spend 2 hours in the waiting room, for what a 10 minute check and heck pehaps only 3 minutes w/the actually doctor, you know that revovling door.. I do have hope, and at the least it gives me something to look forward to. I have been reading alot books, and doing some research and it appears that alot of ppl have good things to say about "altenative" medicine.

Again thanks for info, I am surely hoping for the best. OMG what would my life be like w/o anxiety, wow...

I started receiving weekly acupuncture treatments three months ago. In addition to the treatments the acupuncturist also has me on herbal supplements. I was hoping to find relief from my hot flashes but I've seen no improvement at all. I really like and trust this doctor and he had me feeling very optimistic about the treatments being helpful. Unfortunately my optimism has faded, the cost of the weekly treatments is expensive and with no results I am going to end the treatments.

At the least you gave it a try, that's kind of how I am looking at this. Going into it with hopeful optimism, but at the same time being realistic. But will give it a try, always been curious if it would help or not, so at least I will know. Her prices are pretty reasonable, and I am sure she will more than likely want to have me on herbal supplements. I will listen to what she suggest, then look into it. I really need to watch the finances right now...

Thanks for your input.

I tried it for years , and it helped everything! The woman I go to / went to is now a Teacher at the School Of Acupuncture.
It helped stress, sinus, irregular periods. everything. Awesome! I just can't afford it, she is moving soon, and I'm too busy.

Okay I tried it, and all I can say is the trmt itself was weird, lol..... She was really good at listening to me though, and she said that all of my symptoms did make since. She also said she wasn't sure if I was actually peri, or if it was related more so to the endometriosis, and the years of hormones I ingested back then. I honestly think I am peri, and the endometriosis issue don't make it any better....

Did the trmt help, honestly I don't know, I think not so much, but it was only my first. Does it help more each time? Cuz that is what she said. Hey at the least I didn't not panic w/all those pins stuck in me. I am going to go again, and just see... (I would luv to know how ppl did w/first trmt, did it help that much or did it take more trmts).

I did want to share what she told me w/all of you.... Appreciate any input, and don't know, perhaps may help someone else...

1. Since it is known that I run low blood sugar, (hypoglycemic). Make sure I eat! Try to eat atleast every 3 hours (ah that will be hard, since I have NO appetite). But she said even just a little (1st day, already failed that, but will keep trying). She explained, when you blood sugar drops, your body thinks it's dying (wow sounds like panic to me), and amoung many things that it does, it shuts down hormone production esp for progesterone.

2. Increase Omega 3 (fish oil) from 1,000mg per day, to 4,000 - 6,000mg per day (Wow...)

3. Increase Vitamine C from 833 to OMG get this, 500 mcg to 1,000 mcg every 4 yours or 3 times a day... (another WOW)

4. Zinc w/copper. She said that is crucial. She said that zinc helps w/hormone production, but at the same time Zinc counteracts Copper. Right now I am taking 10mg w/1mg of Copper (in my multi); she wants me to try and find a Zinc 30 mg w/ 1mg of Copper in addition to my multi...

5. Take Vitex (chasteberry) which is a phyto progesterone, says I am low in progesterone. And that I may want to add a Progesterone Creme.

6. Okay here are the weird Chinese Herbs she wants me to take, HELLO, 8 of each 3 x's per day... Shen Jing Shuai Ruo Wam 100mg & Geng Nian An Wan. She says one will help with the Night sweats (forgot which one) and the other will help anxiety...

Will appreciate any feed back. The vitamin things sounds okay, even though somewhat high, not sure about the herb thing.. See what y'all think, but at any rate may help someone else too...

Becca,

While I never tried accupucture for anxiety, I did use it for 3 months do to a shoulder problem. At first, nothing. It took about 4 or 5 weeks before I realized the benefit of accupunture. I also had some plantar fascitits pain in my foot and after treating, the condition went away. I had great success and the benefit was cumulative. However, I have never used it for my anxiety. Currently, I am using hrt but if I had to go off for any reason, I would make a beeline to my accupunturist's office.

I am not sure what herbs are in the Shen Jing Shuai Rou Wam. Just me, but I would see how I did with the accupunture treatments before adding any herbs. If it is for menopausal symptoms it probably contains black cohosh, licorice, and maybe ashwaganda or 5htp. I would ask before taking it.

Good luck. Let us know how you make out.

Here's a list of the ingredients in Shen Jing Shuai Rou Wam.
http://www.activeherb.com/shenjing/

Hi Ladies,


I have had acupuncture and found it very, very helpful.
I can no longer have it, for medical reasons, but it did help.
I went for sinus problems the first time, and anxiety - that was over 8-10 years ago.
If you find a good one, you will know, because they will not push the pills made from all the weird stuff,
and you will feel different SOON.

I have seen amazing results.

My only reason I can't anymore is a bled a little and then afterwards they found out what kind
of bleeding disorder. I can have it if I got meds first, but the meds are so dangerous it isn't worth the risk to my life.
If you can try it, you feel like a new person.

Hugs

Only been once, and honestly I feel no different, still suffering from the anxiety. Does it take a few visits? I was hoping for better results actually, but I am hoping it might be I just had one.

Thanks, at least it gave me a little more info. I haven't started them, and honestly just don't know. You being anxious type lately, I don't like taking anything that I don't know what it is, ya know. I am willing try just about anything, but then again don't want to make matters worse... I will see if I can find out more info. Thanks again though, it did give more info..

Hi Becca,

It was a long time ago, and my Acupuncturist went on to become a Professor, get her Masters, and is now retiring!
She is amazing.

But - Everyone is different. As you know, there is no one magic formula. I would ask the practitioner for expected results.
I tried it 2X a week for a while, then once a week, then once a month. I kept going for the **many benefits.
I was also seeing a Chiropractor - as I was rear ended so badly I could not use my right arm for about 8 weeks.
When I started Acupuncture, my back/neck/arm started healing faster. I have no idea how that all came together, or why.

As I mentioned, I went mostly due to horrible sinus problems. It helped a lot where nothing else did.
I tried it on a lark - when I had done neti pots and Silver and Antibiotics and Sinus specialists and Allergists and Sudafed,
and nothing helped.

She had me fill out an extensive questionnaire - took it home it was so long. Took a few days to complete.
The good ones are not a 5 minute thing.....so maybe you should check on yours. I always check on them on
line - where did they go to school, complaints and recommendations on any practioner always! :-)
Unless I know someone personally who sings their praises, no one gets to mess about with my body unless I check them out.
Too many bad stories out there, and it's SO easy to just check. :-)

She asked about Anxiety, and it was largely Job (one boss) related and
so I can't really answer how many visits it took. I think it took changing my job to take on more duties,
as I felt under-utilized. Once I had the hum of work at a much higher pitch, I felt better.
I started conducting training sessions, taking on more duties, and writing a lot of technical documents on line to let off steam.

Her specialty was actually fertility and hormonal stuff - which I did not even know until I knew for a while!
But - My Acupuncturist - she would know the weirdest things - she would feel my pulse and know if:

I was catching cold
I had eaten too much sugar
I was going to get my period the next day
I was not eating well
I had been stressing about my Mom

I think the next steps I would take if I were you is to remember that you have to want to be feeling better,
there is no magic bullet, and it is not an instant gratification thing,
and check out a Good Acupuncturist, and then give it a serious chance.
Nothin' gets better that is off kilter without a little time and effort on your part, too.

Wishing you Good Health and results!
I used to love the Treatment when she did my back, and my Face.
It sounds weird, but it was Awesome.

MB

[quote name='Becca233' date='Jul 4 2009, 06:01 AM' post='294408']

6. Okay here are the weird Chinese Herbs she wants me to take, HELLO, 8 of each 3 x's per day... Shen Jing Shuai Ruo Wam 100mg & Geng Nian An Wan. She says one will help with the Night sweats (forgot which one) and the other will help anxiety...

Hi Becca,

6. Okay here are the weird Chinese Herbs she wants me to take, HELLO, 8 of each 3 x's per day... Shen Jing Shuai Ruo Wam 100mg & Geng Nian An Wan. She says one will help with the Night sweats (forgot which one) and the other will help anxiety...
[/quote]

Sorry, it is my first time here trying to do an quote, and wasn't successful in doing it.
I read chinese, so thought I will just comment on the 2 herbal items which you have quoted.
The "Shen Jing Shuai Ruo" translated into "Weak Nerves", so I believe that is for the anxiety. It contains herbs like suan zhao ren which is supposed to calm your mind and help with insomnia.
The "Geng Nian An Wan" translates into "Menopause Comforting Pill", so it should be for the night sweats.

In my country, we have many many tcm physicians and accupunturist. In fact, I depend on tcm treatment for most of my problems. I found accupuncture to be very useful for headaches, neckaches and sprains. However, I don't find them effective for my insomnia/anxiety problems. The no. of treatment will depend on the severity of the problem. Once, I had a knee pain for about 3 months (it was very painful when alighting stairs). The accupuncturist stuck 9 needles into the side of my knee, and the pain was greatly diminished the next day. For some neckaches, I needed about 3 to 4 sessions before the pain reduced. Each treatment session usually lasts about 15 to 30 mins.

Unfortunately, I was unable to receive accupuncture for the last 1.5 months due to BPPV/vertigo (and the dizziness is very depressing for me).

Like most western medicines or supplements, different tcm treatment/herbs would have varying effects on individuals. Usually have to trial and error before I find a combination which helps. Even then, our body condition changes all the time. So the same set of treatment/herbs may not work after a while, and need to be adjusted.

good morning,
I dont' know how acupuncture works for anxiety, but it helped my tmj and sinuses. It was better after the first visit, but really good after the fourth. I would still be going, but it is too expensive for me. I dont' know anything about all the vitamins and herbs, I have to limit what I take, just because of the cost. Give it a few more tries first , then add the extra vitamins, so you know ehat is helping and what isn't.

Hey Becca,

enough is right, but there is one real hazard here, that her acupuncturist didn't explain. A great example of you need to research these pratitioners!

The pills they always give you are not vitamins. They are Chinese concoctions made from the 4 things - animal, plant, mineral and I forget the 4th.
I had one that had bug wings, one that had enzymes from some animal pancreas. I never took the ones like that.

If you have allergies, these things are not to be trifled with, or health concerns of any kind, which at our age is everyone.
for example, one had licorice root. This raises blood pressure. Fine for me, I have medium low BP, but could be very dangerous to anyone with high BP,
and can increase anxiety or panic symptoms which is what the original questions was.
So for these combo pills which are NOT vitamins,
you have to look each one up - every ingredient, and you would never know which ingredient you were having a problem with, since they are
mixtures or tonics by design.
They are all also designed to have a Laxitive effect -
I had one that was ok for me, but I was careful to slowly increase dose to check effects. - It was for - it was irregular periods - Womens Precious Tea Pills -
Be careful of Eastern Pills - they are nothing like what an MD in the West would give you.

Peace and Good Health,


Mary Beth

Yea still haven't taken them, and honestly don't think I will. I can't stand taking anything that I don't know. I will bring it up to her when I go back. Yes, I will give it one more shot. The info she told me about the vitamins seems pretty good, from everything that I looked up. Doodle thank you so much for the added information, so appreciated. I am going to keep what I have, but knowing me I wont take. And I will tell her that.

I will give it a few more trmts, and yes, finances is a huge thing right now for me too. She wanted me to go twice a week for a month, and I just told her there is no way. Her treatments are pretty reasonable though. The 1st visit was only $90 (she gave me a discount), and yes I had like 5 pages to fill out which I did at home before I went in. Everything she explained to me made since, so I will give it a couple more tries. She is going to charge $45 for the follow up's, so I should be able to swing that. It can't hurt, so what the heck, if it doesn't help the anxiety too much, perhaps it will benefit me in other ways.

I too would like to go to Chiropracter soon. I think it would be good just in general to get an alignment, again perhaps not so much for anxiety but for general health.

The more and more I read, the more I believe it's a progesterone thing. So I am going to start looking for a good progesterone creme, and give that a try.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the heads up info, so so appreciated...

Becca,

Good luck, it can help a lot!
Sometimes they even wrap you in a warm blankie and play
new Age music. I've fallen asleep a few times!
She used to tell me the most common description was that people felt afterwards
that they had just come back from vacation. I did feel that every time...
Wishing you the very Best.....~Mary Beth

Hi Becca,
I hope you're doing better. I just wanted to add my own experience with acupuncture. A few years back my husband went for treatment in the middle of our vacation. He is a big big sceptic but was feeling so bad he didn't argue when I took him. He had been ill for a while but it was still undiagnosed !!! You can imagine the frustration. The vacation was hopefully to perk him up but he was exhausted and just wanted to sleep all day. Anyway we had decided to head home until I spotted the acupuncturist down the street. This guy was amazing. My husband went in quite literally grey and came out looking like a new man. I sat and watched the whole thing which took about an hour, he did it the old fashioned way burning weird substances on the ends of the needles. The one treatment was enough. We did buy one bottle of chinese medicine but after such a dramatic change you wouldn't argue either. This guy had actually trained in China.
I tried it for myself a while back for help with hot flashes. I was really optimistic but within an hour I was much much worse. She said (different acupuncturist of course), it would wear off in a day or two but it didn't. She treated me a couple more times but couldn't even get me back to where I was when I started. I guess I should have got a refund for that! She also tried to sell me lots of stuff but honestly if she hasn't helped then why should I take her recommendation. The point is not all acupuncturists are equal. My one was youngish with a nice modern office and a pretty web site but when I checked up on her she didn't really have a whole lot of experience whereas the guy who treated my husband had been doing it for decades.
My own instinct would be that you should notice some kind of change. Try and look up her experience. As for the medicines they are after all supposed to be support to the acupuncture not a treatment in themselves, but if the acupuncture isn't working maybe they won't either.

I'm a huge proponent of acupuncture... as long as it's from a well trained TCM and not a chiropractor - the two approaches are totally different. Although a Chiro might do OK with it, unless they've received extensive additional training, it is NOT the same thing as a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).

The acupuncturist I see has over 10 years of experience and now teaches others in our area. She was a member of the licensure board in Missouri and helped set the standards for acupuncturists.

The results can either be immediate or take time. The chinese herbs are certainly not what a western doctor would give you, but try them before deciding they aren't for you. Unfortunately for me, the herbs made my night sweats worse not matter what she tried. She mixes some of her own "teas" so was able to muscle test me down to the specific ingredients, but still didn't work for me.

However, the acupuncture itself is great and has helped me with other pains, so I continue sometimes weekly.

It can't hurt to try, but you have to be willing to go more than once before deciding if acupuncture is for you... once might be enough to decide if the practitioner is right for you however.

Yea I am going to go back, I just had to cut back until I go back school!!!