Whenever something, be it substance or practice, brings relief to clusterheads, you usually hear about it in spades here. Some of those are and have been:

• Oxygen
• Triptans
• Verapamil
• Lithium
• Olanzypine
• Psychedelics

I have to say I've never heard sung the praises of accupuncture for treatment of CH. Kind of falls into the same category as chiropractic. Both are useful, but more or less powerless against CH.

That said, if it helps you, who am I to condemn it?

Does that make sense?

grace wrote on Oct 20^th, 2009 at 7:50am:
I have considered it in the past, but was persuaded from this group that it is indeed "a waste of money and time".  The only reason I believed that because I went to a chiro for about 6 months and it did absolutely nothing for me so I based it off of that.
I also had some sacral cranial therapy done and it again did nothing.  I'll stick with the psychedelics

Grace,

Here's the most popular site.

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

BTW, seeds have little to no side affects.

Tried it some years ago. Snake oil.

Yep tried it about 3 year ago.
Did nothing for me; would have thought being a chronic if anything was going to happen it would show, result ZIP.

It got expensive for the Acupuncturist as well; I also have Restless limb syndrome & every time I had a muscle contraction I would bend the gold needles, they'd go in straight & come out looking like a fish hook.

Cheers
Barry

OK  . . . Reluctantly going to give my first response to this subject which has come up many times since I've been here (2/02).

I did have a positive response from a practitioner . . . well known in Chattanooga.  His practice has always been word-of-mouth.  He was 3rd generation accupuncturist, herbalist (huge apothecary), martial artist (could do things that defied physics), and had a PHd in Philosophy . . . was in his 60s.

I saw him three times a week for at least six weeks (traveling 80 miles one-way to do so).  The purpose was not primarily for CH, but for my battle with cancer.  I always had a B tank and regulator/mask in a backpack next to the treatment table . . . never had to use it during a session and attacks overall were reduced.  Plus, every visit, I would be given several zip-lock bags with "BBs" (small round black herbs of some sort) and other supplements (all in Chinese of course) . . . some of the herbs may have been kudzu . . . don't know.  Every visit was like a first exam . . . he would refer to a small index card to verify the main complaint and then start checking for changes in circulation and whatever else and would make changes in needle location and herbal supplements . . . the only constant needle position were the needles in the wrists (I think those must be the ones that almost knock you out) . . . 20-30 needles per visit, about 20 minutes on your back, then change needles and roll over on stomach for more needles and another 20 minutes.  The needles he used were sterile needles in blister packs which, if you didn't want them, he tossed in the garbage (I have quite a collection from 1/2" to 3")

The experience was positive for me.  After a year of minor surgeries and treatments, I was in a weakened state.  The treatments/herbs that Dr. Wong provided made me stronger and better able to handle the major surgery (bladder & prostate removal) which followed . . . I have never regretted the time or money spent.

That being said, there are good and bad "docs" in all fields . . . and if you're going the Chinese medicine route, you can't go to your local pharmacist or Rxlist.com and check for side-effects or complications which might occur from interactions with modern meds.

Anyway, that was my experience.

   Be Safe,   PFDANs

      Richard

Hi,  I also have to say I'm pretty sure it worked for me, I was a chronic, for over 3 years, was on the o2 and a hand full of pills 3 times a day,plus the Imitrex injections, and Zomig tabs. I started Acupuncture for my hip pain, and it helped, so I kept going in 2x a week for 6 weeks. and I was CH free. I didn't know if it was the end of the cycle or not till I stopped going in for 3 months, after 2 months they came back. After a month of hell, I went back, after only 2 sessions there gone again. Now, almost a year later, my O2 tank still stands watch, next to the bed, with dust on the valve. I cant say 100% that acupuncture is what made them stop, I'm just so thankful they did, and ill keep my fingers crossed there gone for good. Ill keep going in once a week, and see what happens. Also, I did try some of the herbs a few years ago, and they didn't seem to work for me. It does take some time to work, like the herbs, so you have to stick with it.
  Scott.

I'm now a little interested in it. I do notice that if I put a lot of pressure on the main pressure point in my neck, I get almost absolute relief from CH pain. Its impossible to maintain, and the pressure is painful too.

Its where your neck meets your head, in the back. A chiropractor showed me it once, yet I rarely use it. You kind of push up and in just below the 'lump', right where your skull and neck meet. (couldn't find its name on google.)