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Acupuncture Beats Injected Morphine for Pain Relief in ER
invite response
2016 Aug 29, 12:18pm 4,639 views 10 comments
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FNWGMOBDVZXDNW
2016 Aug 29, 1:31pm
I'm a little incredulous. IIRC, I've never read anything with conclusive pain lowering with acupuncture. I have a passing interest, as my dog sometimes receives treatments, which I help pay for.
Shaman
2016 Aug 29, 1:41pm
I had acupuncture once in an attempt to treat a low back issue. Rather than reduce the pain, it amplified it. I was literally screaming in pain while driving home from the acupuncturist.
I bet this is a placebo effect thing.
The power of the subconscious mind to control our bodies is remarkable. It was what caused the back pain to begin with, and once I had straightened out my thoughts, admitted my unresolved anger, and made peace with myself, the muscles unclenched and the pain went away for good.
Indiana Jones
2016 Aug 29, 3:02pm
I had acupuncture once in an attempt to treat a low back issue. Rather than reduce the pain, it amplified it. I was literally screaming in pain while driving home from the acupuncturist.
I bet this is a placebo effect thing.
The power of the subconscious mind to control our bodies is remarkable. It was what caused the back pain to begin with, and once I had straightened out my thoughts, admitted my unresolved anger, and made peace with myself, the muscles unclenched and the pain went away for good.
I don't know enough about your situation, but here are some thoughts: It could be you experienced what is known as a "healing crisis", which means your pain can gets worse before it gets better. Acupuncture has a remarkable effect on connecting the mind and body, so there could be something about the acupuncture treatment which helped facilitate your dealing with your subconscious thoughts. The effect of acupuncture may have gone unnoticed as it works very subtly. Just some thoughts.
tovarichpeter
2016 Aug 29, 4:05pm
"Prior studies suggest that sham acupuncture is more effective than true acupuncture (NEJM JW Gen Med Oct 15 2007 and BMJ 2007; 335:436). "
Indiana Jones
2016 Aug 30, 10:11am
"Prior studies suggest that sham acupuncture is more effective than true acupuncture
So if that is true (which I have my doubts, read on), then the so called "sham acupuncture" would then be that much more effective than morphine. Sham acupuncture just means the location where the acupuncture points were inserted were either not "indicated" points, or they were not traditional acupuncture points.
But, acupuncture has hundreds of points throughout the body, including many "extra" points, and other locations that are called "ah shi" points, which could be ANYWHERE on the body. In a sense, there is no such thing as "sham" acupuncture, in that needling the body anywhere can have a positive effect on a person. In theory, when you needle the acupuncture points, you are unblocking the energy flow in the body in that area, and stimulating circulation to the area, among other things. So moving the energy/increasing circulation in any part of the body will benefit a person, because the body is a whole unit, not just parts. Allopathic medicine tends to divide up the body and treat it's parts, which is where all the specialists come in, whereas acupuncture treats the body holistically.
Because acupuncture works on a subtle level and how it works is poorly understood by scientist, modern science has trouble testing the efficacy of acupuncture from their standard models.
NEJM JW Gen Med Oct 15 2007 and BMJ 2007; 335:436).
Any studies from the last 3-5 years?
Sharingmyintelligencewiththedumbasses
2016 Aug 30, 8:30pm
It could be you experienced what is known as a "healing crisis", which means your pain can gets worse before it gets better. Acupuncture has a remarkable effect on connecting the mind and body,
So let's recap:
If acupuncture lowers the pain, it works! great!
If acupuncture makes the pain worse, its a "healing crisis" and its still works! great!
Heads I win, tails I win!!!
FFS, its bullshit, and this kind of utterly stupid thinking is how it keeps going!
AND, yes, the study did show Sham acupuncture is just as effective as real. Which leaves only one question: why do acupuncturists have to go to school for a bunch of years? If it doesn't matter where you poke the pins, pick up pins and alcohol at your local Walgreen and do it for free.
the stupidity hurts sometimes, but I'll keep sharing intelligence!
turtledove
2016 Aug 30, 9:05pm
Sharingmyintelligencewiththedumbasses says
Heads I win, tails I win!!!
(Not sure if this was an intentional mistake sending a message that went over my head, a typo, or a language thing), but it's "heads, I win; tails, you loose."
That said, until they can acupuncture the buzzed feeling, I suspect 4 out of 5 people surveyed will say, "Morphine."
Indiana Jones
2016 Aug 31, 9:35am
Sharingmyintelligencewiththedumbasses says
If acupuncture lowers the pain, it works! great!
If acupuncture makes the pain worse, its a "healing crisis" and its still works! great!
You won't understand this, but once the "healing crisis" is over the person's condition begins to improve far greater than before the acupuncture. Different aphorisms for it: dark night of the soul, sometimes you have to feel worse before you feel better, no pain no gain, etc.
Sharingmyintelligencewiththedumbasses says
Which leaves only one question: why do acupuncturists have to go to school for a bunch of years?
If you are not going to school for acupuncture, why do you care? Leave it to the people who actually understand the medicine, which by the way has lasted +5,000 years (versus less than 600 years of western medicine).
Indiana Jones
2016 Aug 31, 9:39am
That said, until they can acupuncture the buzzed feeling, I suspect 4 out of 5 people surveyed will say, "Morphine."
I would also put my money on the majority choosing morphine, although acupuncture may be good option for opiate addicts, pregnant or lactating women, or other special situations.
http://www.jwatch.org/na41959/2016/08/02/acupuncture-vs-morphine-emergency-department-patients-with
A reduction in pain score ≥50% was achieved more often in the acupuncture group compared with the morphine group (92% vs. 78%) and was achieved faster (mean time, 16 vs. 28 minutes). Minor adverse events were more common in the morphine group (57%) than in the acupuncture group (3%).
Prior studies suggest that sham acupuncture is more effective than true acupuncture (NEJM JW Gen Med Oct 15 2007 and BMJ 2007; 335:436). Acupuncture may work via a combination of placebo effect and social desirability bias. Nevertheless, in the midst of an opioid epidemic, we should be open-minded about exploring alternatives to opioids. Perhaps ED patients with painful conditions not well managed by Western medicine (such as lumbago) could be referred for acupuncture. And perhaps how it works is not as important as whether it works, and whether it causes harm.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27475042
Abstract
METHODS:
This was a prospective, randomized trial of acupuncture vs morphine to treat ED patients with acute onset moderate to severe pain. Primary outcome consists of the degree of pain relief with significant pain reduction defined as a pain score reduction ≥50% of its initial value. We also analyzed the pain reduction time and the occurrence of short-term adverse effects. We included in the protocol 300 patients with acute pain: 150 in each group.
RESULTS:
Success rate was significantly different between the 2 groups (92% in the acupuncture group vs 78% in the morphine group P
CONCLUSION:
This article provides an update on one of the oldest pain relief techniques (acupuncture) that could find a central place in the management of acute care settings. This should be considered especially in today's increasingly complicated and polymedicated patients to avoid adverse drug reactions.
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