Can Acupuncture help with Tinnitus?

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog roll. I hope so far you are finding some useful information here and enjoying your experience reading the articles. Remember if there is anything on your mind or you would like to share something simply email me or put your comments below and I will get back to you.

Moving on I  have noticed that on occasion, I would get customers asking about natural methods that can be used for tinnitus. One question in particular that I would hear is,  ‘Can acupuncture help with Tinnitus?’ I would like to share with you my take on this interesting topic and give you an answer towards the end. BUT first lets look at what acupuncture is?

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What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture-    Acupuncture originates from China and it is an alternative form of medical therapy that has been practiced for thousands of years.

Okay, it’s not just the principle of sticking needles in the body and then hoping for a sign of relief. Though I wish it were that easy. But then again, would I actually like to put needles into my body to start off with. Arrgh!!!! I know some of you probably have this thought in mind and let me clear it up for you.

The basis of this treatment is the insertion of needles along specific points on the body and inserted to various depths along these points.

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How does acupuncture work?

The points, whereby needles are placed, are located along meridians or passages along the body. According to Chinese philosophy, there is a constant energy flow along these meridians. This energy is a mixture of “light’ and ‘dark’ , or what is believed to be the ‘ying’ and the ‘yang’ that makes up the life force which is in complete harmony. I hope you all are with me so far?

So when there is something wrong in the body, there is an imbalance in this energy flow.(So think of it as water flowing through a hosepipe that has stones inside, that is obstructing the smooth flow.)  So Acupuncturists, place needles on specific points of the pathway(meridians), and there are about 2000 of these points, to clear this “obstruction,’ hence allowing the normal energy flow or balance to return and thereby eliminating the stresses or disease impacted on that person.

The Acupuncturist fills out a case history for the person and an assessment or consultation is done. A session may last for about half an hour and  you may have to go for a session weekly or fortnightly, for a period of 12weeks or so.

Generally, there are no side effects and it is considered safe and is fine to do with other treatment regimes that you may be following.

The Million-Dollar question.

I am sure that if you read about my journey with tinnitus, you will realize that it has been one of ups and downs and there have been more tough times than easy paths to follow along this journey. A cloud covers this question and it really is not clear whether there is a correlation between acupuncture and tinnitus healing.

 

I for one am willing to dive into any treatment, just to get some relief and I decided to try acupuncture. The biggest plus for me was that it is a non-invasive form of treatment as I hate operations or being cut-open, so I definitely went for this.

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THE RESULT:

My answer is a resounding ‘Yes.’ I certainly felt a difference, using this therapy. If you can recall, I mentioned in my previous post, that I had tinnitus that felt like the pulsatile type. After two and a half to 3weeks of acupuncture I had noticed that the noises had lessened down a little. In fact when I went for my audiology test, my audiologist picked up something remarkable. Even though I am completely deaf in the right ear, there was a very tiny show of response in the higher decibels sounds in this ear, which had never ever happened. I first tried the acupuncture at home and then I visited a practitioner whereby I only done it for 3 weeks with him, then reverted back to doing it by myself at home

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Treatment at Home…..Now what are you talking about?

Very briefly, let me tell you a quick story. My wife is a Qualified Reflexologist and has been practicing for the past 13years now. Like me she loves to try different things and help clients using treatments that are interesting, yet safe. Back then, she was fortunate to come across a therapy called  Genesen Acutouch (a set of specialised pointers, that carries current to the points) pens,to try out on her clients. The Genesen Acutouch Pens are based on the principle of acupuncture, but does not penetrate the skin, like the actual acupuncture needles. Who knew that so many years down the line, these pens would play such a vital role in my life(and hers). Sheww, there truly is a reason for everything. Sometimes things come together only later, when the time is right.

How did you know which points to place the pens on?

The points for any ailment is outlined in the manual that accompanied the pens. A review of these pens will follow in another post of mine.

For now, its suffice to know that the important points were, the head, the midline above the ear, near the ear itself, both infront and behind. Also, various meridians along the hand and ankle were also involved. I spent 2-3 minutes at each point, until I could feel a tingling sensation, then moved on to the next point. So all in all, I spent 45minutes to an hour a day. I noticed the same points been used by my acupuncturist and after 3weeks with him, I continued to use the Acutouch pens my own, as time and work did not permit me to visit my acupuncturist.

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Conclusion.

So , can acupuncture help with tinnitus? In my books I see it a winner. I certainly will recommend it to people and suggest that one should give it go. It does not hurt to try… you never know.

I hope you enjoyed reading my posts and would love to hear from you, regarding your thoughts on this article and what results you got, if any, using acupuncture. For now, take care and see you soon.