Acupuncture for IC?

[maggiezoe]

When I was first diagnosed with IC about 4 years ago, my doctor suggested Acupuncture. Has anyone else heard of this or tried it?

Thanks,
Maggie

[ICNDonna]

I've never tried it, but we do have some members who have. I hope you'll hear from some of them.

Donna

[kellymh]

I go to accupuncture every three weeks, it has helped me lots, there are times like after a long trip I go in as soon as I get home and she tunes me up, at first I had to go more, I went once a week than once every other week for awhile and now every three weeks, have tried longer but get alot of pain when I go longer. It also helps with the pressure and how many times a day you go to the bathroom.

[wagamama]

When I was first diagnosed with IC about 4 years ago, my doctor suggested Acupuncture. Has anyone else heard of this or tried it?

Thanks,
Maggie

I did. I used to go once a week, but now I've improved to the point that I'm not going much anymore. Since I was also taking medications and doing the diet, and I can't tell how much it helped me, but it sure didn't hurt.

If you're interested, you should ask any potential acupuncturist if they've ever treated IC or if they know what it is. I found a few people who had treated it. They were also interested in learning from me; I took a copy of the IC Diet with me once so my acupuncturist could make food recommendations for me that were IC-friendly.

That said, two cautions: 1) No one should claim that they will "cure" you, and 2) while many acupuncturists prescribe herbs, no one should insist you take them. Mine was always very understanding that I was hesitant to try new things, so she offered them, but she didn't push me on it.

I hope this helps!

[megrfowler]

I love acupuncture! <3

It's expensive, but I can afford to go once a week to a local student clinic. Compared to the pelvic discomfort we all experience, the needles are nothing.

I've been going off and on for two years and it greatly helps with urgency/frequency and pain.

This is probably TMI, but I HAVE to mention it becaue it's given me so much immediate relief that I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't. Just recently, they've started needling my perineum. I was a little nervous at first but eventually I agreed to try it and let me tell you, I'm glad I did! It's not 100% comfortable, but it doesn't hurt. The worst part is the alcohol they use to disinfect the area first. The day after the first time I felt amazing! My pelvic muscles were relaxed and comfortable for the first time in ages!

Anyway, I definitely recommend it.

[rawestrus]

I've been going to a community acupuncture center which offers sliding scale $25-55 per hour session, but does not compromise their service to you. Basically unless you are getting needled on the back or some sort of position that won't work for lying in a recliner (they'll have a separate space with a curtain for that and heaters... comfy), everyone hangs out in a room with recliners and music and more people are seen in less time that way. Their mandate is to make acupuncture more accessible for healthier communities and as preventive care.

I've been really getting good vibes so far because I love how this particular place is run. I guess empirically I'm feeling good and recently stopped taking Ditropan because it was causing constipation (I might take it again in a week, just right now I'm a bit annoyed and maybe will try more of a fish oil supplement I have to loosen up the colon... haha). Last week I had a very bad flare for four days at the same time as my period - as another board member guessed, it was a combo of hormones and sausages I had which I THOUGHT were IC friendly (turns out they get cured using vitamin C - YIKES). I went to see my acupuncturist twice, and with two closely scheduled appointments she could focus first on pain relief and clearing up the channels for kidney/bladder, then focus on strengthening once I felt better the next day (as I came out of my flare). The later appointment I noticed made a significant difference in returning me to a base level of symptoms (practically feeling "normal"), where she focused on back points. She has been emphasizing how our pelvis is the center of our body that carries us, and when we are emotionally/physically strained, in Chinese med that trauma is taken like punches to the kidney/bladder system. The way we sit and the way our hips are levelled also makes some kind of impact. But yes these comments make sense to me and probably for those of us who notice flares worsening from stress/sleep deprivation, etc. It can be a vicious cycle, as many of us say...

[maggiezoe]

thankyou so much everyone. right now I am trying physical therapy, it is helping a little. But the exercises that she had me doing has flared up my sciatica nerve going down to my left foot. I had a back operation about 7 years ago for a herniated disk and it was piching that sciatica nerve. They have located the nerve that is cause allot of the problems. The Pudendal nerve that runs to the left and right of the rectum, ouch. So now we are just doing massages.

thanks again,
Maggie