Not sure if one treatment technique is more effective than other, but in my heart I believe there is. I normally receive acupuncture on Tuesdays. These are group sessions and because of that there is not a lot off conversation with the Dr. performing the treatment. I was unable to get an appointment for Tuesday. I didn’t want to miss a week so I went to the Wed. session with a different Dr. It was earthshakingly different.
On Wed. I spoke briefly with the Dr. to make them aware of my condition. That was ok. Then here came the needles. I took them all of two minutes to insert I guess 20 needles. They were inserted quickly, like a machine gun. They said good bye and when my time was up the needles were extracted just as quickly. I have never experienced anything like this. I felt I was at McDonalds of acupuncture. I was wam bam thank you mam.
Normally on my Tuesday session I speak briefly with the Dr. They begin by inserting a needle and then twisting and deepening until they get the reaction from me they are looking for. It’s then onto the next needle, performed with the same precision. Nothing is hurried. I feel like great care is being taken to provide me the best possible personalized treatment. They continue this treatment until all needles are inserted. I feel like they are really trying to accurately insert the needles to get the desired results. The same care is taken when the needles are removed. The acupuncture treatment feels like a science and not “let’s follow a pattern and get the needles in and out as fast as possible”.
I think your mental state is a crucial part of an acupuncture treatment. I think you have to believe in the treatment in part to get successful results. Mind over matter. Obviously this is the acupuncture treatment I want. I have had probably 16 treatments. I am able to reduce my Tegretol from 800/mg/day to 400/mg/day to get me virtually pain free. I hope to get it even lower. I did try to go to 200mg but the pain came back, so I had to increase to 400/mg/day.
I guess I just wanted to inform my vision of what a good acupuncture treatment was.