Acupuncture: Electronic stimulation ended weeks of nagging shoulder, back & neck pain

[CanDo]

I've suffered with a nagging aches and pain in the left side of my neck, top of my back and my left shoulder, ever since I purchased a new washing machine! I have MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) and probably had some nerve damage due to off-gassing from the new Washing Machine in early December, 2008.

So...... for the first time in my almost 70 years, I suffered from nagging shoulder, back and neck pain that stayed with me most of the time. Sitting back helped. Cold made it worse. I had to run the heaters more than normal because warmth gave me some relief. It was not overly painful, but an annoying, constant pain or ache, almost all day long, unless I kept totally warm, or sat back for a while. It was bad enough to have a major impact on the quality of my life.

I own my own Acupuncture Stimulator, the KWD-808-I. I have been using it for years, with some, but limited success.

I tried Acupuncture stimulation on Saturday, Dec 6th, 2008 in a frustrated attempt to ease my newly developed, constant left neck, left upper back and left shoulder pain. Only experienced a little temporary relief, if any. Put the stimulator back in the drawer. Took it out, and tried again on Dec 20th. Just a little help but I had to just endure the uncomfortable pain, and try to avoid it, if I could, by staying warm. Put the stimulator back in the drawer. The aches and pains persisted, but I figured that I would just have to learn to live with them.

On Sunday, Jan 18th, I removed the Acupuncture Stimulator from the drawer again. The pain and aches were really impacting my life. I decided to concentrate the electronic pads over the areas of most of my pain, the left upper back and shoulder. I gave myself a one-hour stimulation, by putting self-sticking pads at the top of my back and also my shoulder area. It gave me some relief, but the ache started and then the pain just returned later. I was disappointed and frustrated, but having experience in the past with electro-acupuncture, and regular acupuncture though mine and my wife's previous trips to Acupuncturists, plus my own personal experiments, I decided to continue trying. What else could I do? Not too many options available.

Monday, Jan 19th: Things changed a little. I added a pad to my uncomfortable left neck area, and gave myself another soothing one-hour treatment. I basically treated the Small Intestine Channel, from points SI11 through SI16, which coincidentally were over ALL of the areas of my discomfort. The stimulating sensations from the neck pad radiated all the way up the left side of my head. It felt weird, but soothing. The stimulation gave me some lasting relief, for the first time, but as the day progressed, my upper left back, shoulder and neck started aching, and continued until it started getting more painful towards evening. At least there was some progress. I felt encouraged. Perhaps another treatment or two??

Tuesday, Jan 20st, I woke up and for the very first time in many weeks, absolutely no pain! I could not have been happier. No pain!!! Not even a slight ache! I even went outside for a while. No pain. No ache. Any time during the last few weeks, if I went out into the cold, the aches would be immediate, followed by more uncomfortable pain. But, now, the pain and the aches were both gone! I yelled so loud, in exuberance, that I scared my wife half to death! :bouncing:

On Wednesday, Jan 21st, at 10:15am, I gave myself a 40 minute booster along that same SI11-SI16 Acupuncture Meridian. It was soothing, and I had to fight falling asleep while the pads were humming. Afterwoods, I felt great, and as of Saturday, January 24th, today, I have been totally free from discomfort since the 20th! It worked! Wow! I thought that I would have to live with that nagging, annoying aching and painful discomfort the rest of my life. It worked! I am ecstatic!

That Acupuncture Stimulator, the KWD-808-I, had sat for quite a while, only infrequently being used. At times, I used the pads in places all over my body, and my wife's body, to relieve several different ailments, but with limited success. It did successful improve my sinus problems. But, for the most part, the Stimulator just sat in a draw for years, until now.

Something I tried actually worked, for a change!

The best part, is that I didn't have to rely on our expensive, broken down medical system, or pills, for help, and I was able to do it at home!

So...... for those of you who don't mind trying new techniques for dealing with ailments, give Electro-Acupuncture a try! It's not expensive. You can get a comparable, or better, Acupuncture Stimulator than I purchased for less than the $110 I paid.

[Justcurious]

Chinese acupuncturists can make wonders. I tried acupuncture a few years ago, but the result was not perfect.

[CanDo]

Acupuncture must be done by a qualified and competent Acupuncturist. Just like there are a lot of ineffective doctors, there are a lot of ineffective Acupuncturists.

In my experience with it, if an Acupuncturist wants to do more than three treatments, they are a fraud, or just trying to stiff their patients.

In my case, being able to relieve the pain in my shoulder, neck and back area, was very lucky. It probably had more to do with muscle and nerve stimulation than Acupuncture, but I'll never know. As long as it worked, I am happy.

[CanDo]

I became so much of a believer in Acupuncture that I purchased my own Acupuncture Stimulator, the KWD-808-I, six years ago. I haven't used the needles, only the self-sticking electro-patches. I also purchased some Acupuncture software, that explains the different points and meridians/channels; what they do, and when to treat them.

My first encounter with Acupuncture was through my wife, around 35 years ago. When younger, she had ear surgery to rebuild her ear drum, and she suffered from headaches 24 hours each day, every day, since the surgery. The pain would move all over her head, sometimes worse, sometimes better, but always there. It would travel down into her neck, arm and hand. Nothing would help. Pain pills would diminish her headaches, but nothing really helped.

Until...... we heard of an experimental pain program, through the University of Miami, where they were researching Acupuncture and it's applications for the treatment pain.

We got an appointment, not knowing what to expect. While waiting in the waiting room, an elderly gentlemen came in and sat down next to us. We wondered why he was there. He looked and seemed fine and not to be in any discomfort. We started a conversation and learned that, originally he came into the pain clinic in a wheel chair. He couldn't walk because of the crippling pain. He was now without pain. Needless to say, he was very happy!

That really gave us hope! Was it possible that the many years of pain that my wife had suffered, could be helped a little? Perhaps a treatment or two could take some of the edge off the pain?

The doctor that we saw was very enthusiastic. He said that there were so many things that could be effectively treated with Acupuncture, but his project was limited to only applications of pain. He said, for almost all "treatable" ailments, it took no more than three treatments, and most of the time it just took an initial treatment and a booster treatment a week later.

She had a total of two treatments, and the pain has been gone for 35 years, never to have come back again!