Acupuncture caused me to crash badly

Kim812

Member
I finally decided to give Acupuncture a try even though I was very hesitant. Janet the Acupuncturist spent two hours with me the first visit talking over my history and symptoms. She did a treatment as well...I think maybe 10-12 needles. I left the office feeling extremely sleepy and calm. I went home and rested a couple hours. The following day I was in a full blown crash. I couldn't leave the bed...by the following morning I had recovered some.

My next appointment was the 24th of July. We talked a little more and then she did some weird testing using a pice of paper and did some type of median testing on my back...then a treatment. The same thing...I left feeling very tired and calm. Went home and rested...only this time I have not recovered.
I feel crashed but able to walk around and not much else. I am feeling very drained...exhausted and mentally in a fog. It is going on day 8 and I am basically incapacitated. My sleep is worse...my nerve pain is worse...I can hardly do anything. We were suppose to leave on vacation this Friday but it is most likely going to be canceled.

I contacted Janet and she didn't have much to say except to send me some links for some meditation recordings. I told her I thought the treatment was probably too aggressive and has crashed my adrenals. I haven't felt like this in years for this period of time.
I am very concerned and upset which I know doesn't help. I thought by going to Duke they would be good.

Anyone have any experiences with Acupuncture? I truly wish I never had done this...I am suffering .
 

Tammy7

Well-Known Member
I would NOT go back. After the first session and your response.........as a practitioner this should have given her major clues about your condition and how she should proceed..........or NOT proceed.

I lucked out with a very good Acupuncturist.................very skilled at his profession. There were days that I would come in and he would ask questions and assess me............and would not perform acupuncture because he said my body was not up to it. Other days it was OK...............some days acupuncture only on my ears because he picked up that this would be all I could handle.

It is very hard to find a really good acupuncturist.............that can handle complicated cases.

I am so sorry about your experience. I agree with you that it was way too much for your adrenals. To give your adrenals some support............try if you can to eat some kind of healthy snack every couple of hrs. If you go too long between eating the adrenals get stressed.

Blessings
 

Kim812

Member
I am really upset at the fact she doesn't seem to take this seriously. We have been emailing back and forth for days now and she has not given me any explanation for what has happened. I truly believe she feels I am exaggerating about how I am feeling. I have spelled out very clearly what is happening and just the fact that we may have to scrap vacation plans should give her a clue it's serious.

Thank you for the advice on snacks. It's even hard to find the energy to get up and eat anything at all. I am so disappointed in the Duke system and especially this Acupuncturist who seemed to "get me" and my issues.
I am just at a loss of what to do ...
 

Vaporization

Active Member
Anyone have any experiences with Acupuncture? I truly wish I never had done this...I am suffering .

I received Acupuncture from a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner here in Japan.

Within seconds of application, he realized I was suffering a neurological disorder. He poked me in the nerves. ;)

He doesn't try that anymore, and I respect him for his insight.
 

Lissa

Well-Known Member
@Kim812 -- I had the same experience back in 2010! A friend raved about this acupuncturist, so I went. This was within the first few months when I became fully incapacitated with ME/CFS. The woman seemed really great, but I'd never been to one before, so didn't know what to expect. I recall feeling the same way -- super relaxed and then really crappy for hours afterwards.

I went back and told her -- she said I didn't have enough qui, so that I was having a "healing crisis" as a result of her work. She said she'd never worked on someone with so little energy, and wasn't sure of how to help if I couldn't tolerate what she'd already done. She seemed to think that I needed to boost with herbs before doing any acupuncture again. I thought it all seemed sketchy and I wasn't up for another session of feeling like crapola so I didn't go back.

Later a really good ND told me that the acupuncturist had it backwards and that mild/minimal acupuncture should have been restorative, and it would have helped me tolerate herbal treatments. Nevertheless, I wasn't about to sign up for any more pokes! I figured my body had already told me that it wasn't working.

SOOOO sorry you are going through this -- I hope that time will heal whatever got triggered. I recall it took me a while to "recover" as well.
 

Lemnia

Member
I too experienced similar after a long session with acupuncture. I left feeling not tired, but not 'right' and went home and the day grew worse...I crashed and felt far worse for weeks. I will not being doing acupuncture again that's for sure. What works for one certainly doesn't work for all.
 

Merida

Well-Known Member
Gee, I have had the same kind of issues with acupuncture. My person ( for 10 years)was an orthopedic surgeon in China, who returned to ancient healing because he did not like the results of neck/spinal surgeries. He did help heal a bowel ulcer and sciatic pain, but could not touch the fatigue.

The qi thing is interesting. Two years ago I had a massage/ healing session with QiGong grandmaster Zhou, in South El Monte, CA. He is known as The Jewel of China, the Healer's healer. Just felt I was in the presence of a great man.

I asked through an interpreter, "Why have I been sick so long, and can't get better?" He said, while smiling, " You are a kind and generous person and you gave away your Qi." Wow. On the next session I asked, "What can I do to get well? " He said, " Try to breathe."

I had no significant improvement from either session - with one of the greatest healers on Earth? So discouraging.

About 2002 I first tried acupuncture with a person ( Chinese/ educated/trained in China) who was actually helping lift the fatigue. I was getting better. She had me on various herbs and tubes of dark liquid, with the only English on the label "Ass's glue." I had a vision under the needles. A heavily brocaded robed figure appeared and breathed out a frosty breath, which I inhaled. This was very startling and I woke up and sat upright.

Later, I asked her if it was okay to take these herbs. She said in an intense voice, " You think I poison my patients?" "No, no not at all, " I answered meekly.

A few months later she asked me if I would drive her and her daughter to the airport, 1 hour away and 2 days before Christmas. Very strange, as she was perfect in English and American society. I explained I just couldn't do that.

So, I went in for one last session on the day she was leaving. I came out of that session so out of it that I backed into a car in the parking lot. I was bed ridden for days, and never recovered the energy I had gained. Never went back, and telling the story still gives me chills.

Sorry to go so long. But seems important to appreciate there are great powers out there, not all are good.
 

Merida

Well-Known Member
I did not feel the session with the Grandmaster was nonsense, but rather he was commenting on something I, and much of the Western world, do not understand. And perhaps the Chinese interpreter did not get the English nuances correct. Maybe I did not give my Qi away voluntarily?
 

Vaporization

Active Member
I did not feel the session with the Grandmaster was nonsense, but rather he was commenting on something I, and much of the Western world, do not understand. And perhaps the Chinese interpreter did not get the English nuances correct. Maybe I did not give my Qi away voluntarily?

Being kind and generous doesn't harm your Qi, that's the nonsense.

If you're suffering ME/CFS that is why you have low Qi. It's a rather old way of discerning what's going on in the body, but not inaccurate. My Doctor could tell I had Orthostatic Intolerance while checking my Qi, even faster than a blood pressure cuff would.

He, fortunately, doesn't bullshit me about the reasons why. He gives me powerful herbal medicine, Kampō, that helps to restore my Qi, ie. improve my blood pressure. ;)
 

Merida

Well-Known Member
@Vaporization
Glad you have an herb to help improve blood pressure. My blood pressure is very unstable - can get very high when I stand. I am still basically a structure/function person, as my CFS 'journey' began with a chiropractic adjustment for a sore hip from yoga class -20 years ago.

@Kim812
Lying face down on the acupuncture table always caused neck problems for me - and worse symptoms. Even lying on my back on a firm ( but padded) table can cause symptoms and problems for me. The pillow has to be 'just right' or I suffer afterwards. If you relate to this, I have many structural entries and comments on this site.

But basically, I ( and many others? - especially women) may be dealing with an unstable sacrum/pelvis which causes ( or is related to) instability at the top of the neck. The spinal cord and its 'covering' ( dura-meningeal system) are anchored in the sacrum at S-2. So, changes in sacral position can cause tension on the spinal cord and entire dura-meningeal system. There is peer-reviewed/ published research on this - fibro people had a short filum terminale - the non- nerve tissue that attaches the spinal cord to the sacrum. Can get exact reference, but Cort has this somewhere on site.
 

Kim812

Member
I am fine on the acupuncture table. I am always on my back with pillows which is how I sleep at night. It is usually only a 30 minute treatment as of now so it's actually quite relaxing....now laying on my stomach would be another story. That I can't do...it's just uncomfortable for me.
 

Susan BP

Member
I finally decided to give Acupuncture a try even though I was very hesitant. Janet the Acupuncturist spent two hours with me the first visit talking over my history and symptoms. She did a treatment as well...I think maybe 10-12 needles. I left the office feeling extremely sleepy and calm. I went home and rested a couple hours. The following day I was in a full blown crash. I couldn't leave the bed...by the following morning I had recovered some.

My next appointment was the 24th of July. We talked a little more and then she did some weird testing using a pice of paper and did some type of median testing on my back...then a treatment. The same thing...I left feeling very tired and calm. Went home and rested...only this time I have not recovered.
I feel crashed but able to walk around and not much else. I am feeling very drained...exhausted and mentally in a fog. It is going on day 8 and I am basically incapacitated. My sleep is worse...my nerve pain is worse...I can hardly do anything. We were suppose to leave on vacation this Friday but it is most likely going to be canceled.

I contacted Janet and she didn't have much to say except to send me some links for some meditation recordings. I told her I thought the treatment was probably too aggressive and has crashed my adrenals. I haven't felt like this in years for this period of time.
I am very concerned and upset which I know doesn't help. I thought by going to Duke they would be good.

Anyone have any experiences with Acupuncture? I truly wish I never had done this...I am suffering .



Yes I am slowly recovering from a bad crash in mid February. My Dr didn't know my TSH wasn't functioning.
I did what he said and suffered a lot for it. He was lowering my thyroid medication even though I had had no complaints. He just wanted to raise my TSH number. I'm getting better slowly but it's been very rough for 10 months.
I believe you will get better in time.
I had the same crash symptoms.
 

Kim812

Member
My crash had nothing to do with my Thyroid...my Acupuncturist isn't even allowed to write prescriptions or give advice on medications. She can only prescribe herbals etc. I think the treatment was too aggressive or Acupuncture is not a good fit for me....thanks for the post.
 

Susan BP

Member
Yes I understood that you and I had different shocks to your systems, which with the CFS we have, is enough to throw us into a crash. I pray you get better. I'm still knocked out but feel I will continue getting better slowly.
 

Khu

New Member
Hey i know this post is very old but i hv similar experience after acupuncture i am feeling so restless n empty its been 2 weeks now do u guys recovered? How much time it will take i am really concern?
 

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