(1) Can acupuncture help my condition?
(2) Conditions Recommended for Acupuncture by W.H.O.
(3) What is an acupuncture treatment like?
(4) How does the acupuncturist manage infection control?
(5) What training is required to practice acupuncture?
(6) Can acupuncture help cancer patients?

The best answer will come from an experienced practitioner. The practitioner, based on your medical history, condition, and what other treatments you have been or are receiving, can best help you decide whether acupuncture is suitable by itself or as adjunctive therapy.

I generally tell patients that if their treatment, according to a Western diagnosis with options, isn’t resolving the problem,is quite expensive, or has significant side effects associated with it, then clearly acupuncture is worth a try. I usually include the Western diagnosis criteria. For example, it is not usually the best option to treat a simple skin lesion with acupuncture when a simple excision of the lesion is all that is needed. However, if one has multiple recurrences of these lesions or presenting with difficulty with their libido or interest in sex, a trial of acupuncture makes sense.

Many urologic and gynecologic problems are often well treated by acupuncture. For men, these include erectile dysfunction, sperm quality, pain associated with prostate cancer, prostatitis (including chronic pain syndromes) and stress reduction. There has also been some encouraging preliminary work on improvement in voiding symptoms with BPH. For women, these include dysmenorrhea, incontinence, endometriosis, pelvic pain, hormonal irregularity and menopausal related disturbances (e.g., insomnia, hot flushes, memory, anxiety). There has also been some preliminary work suggesting an improvement in vaginal lubrication and libido. What is often most astonishing to physicians frustrated by the failure of conventional medicine to treat enigmatic problems (e.g., prostadynia, premature ejaculation, nocturnal enuresis etc.) is the effectiveness of acupuncture.

This is difficult to say because of the wide variations in the styles of acupuncture performed. Generally three to fifteen needles will be placed. Costs vary depending on the condition treated an the number of treatments.

These very thin, solid needles are often placed below the elbow and/or below the knee. Sites on the front and back of the torso as well as the head are also needled. Needling is not done in or near the genitalia.

Through the use of disposable one-time-use sterilized needles. Blood loss and bleeding are minimal with acupuncture. It is quite reassuring to review the medical literature and not find one documented case where an acupuncturist has transmitted a “personal” infectious disease to a patient or vice versa.

Requirements can vary significantly worldwide. In most of Europe a person to legally practice acupuncture must first be a medical doctor. In this country there are non-physicians who are licensed to practice. Again there can be significant variations in requirements depending upon local laws.

Please read the article “Acupuncture and Cancer Treatment” by Eugene Mak,M.D.