What to Expect During Your First Acupuncture Appointment

If you’ve been considering trying acupuncture in Chapel Hill NC, you might be curious to know what exactly happens during your first appointment.

While it’s true that each acupuncturist is different, there are some things most acupuncturists will address the first time you step into their office. Knowing what to expect could make your visit more comfortable and will help you prepare so you can make the most of the consultation.

The First Step

Before any treatment can be decided, the acupuncturist will spend some time trying to understand what ails you. He or she will ask you to share information about your lifestyle, your medical story and any health concerns you may have. If this is the first time you’re trying acupuncture for a medical condition, the acupuncturist will explain what to expect in terms of discomfort, pain or side effects. He or she might also discuss the differences between traditional or Eastern medicine compared with what you’re used to in terms of treatment in Western medicine.

From here, the acupuncturist will decide the best course of action for you. He or she will discuss with you how many sessions are recommended and what to expect in terms of relief. Sometimes you can see results after just one appointment, but often it’s necessary to go through several sessions before you experience relief.

The First Session

In many cases, it’s possible to start treatment during your first visit. If this is your first time trying acupuncture, it might be a good idea to ask questions and discuss concerns. In general, acupuncture is not a painful experience. Needles most closely resemble the width of a single human hair. And, once the needle is in place, you shouldn’t feel any discomfort either. If you do, tell the acupuncturist immediately so he or she can adjust the position of the needle or try a different point.

During a session, needles are left in place for up to half an hour to stimulate the release of healing energy. The more quiet and relaxed you are during a session, the better the experience will be. Many people find acupuncture sessions relaxing and often drift off to sleep.

Follow-Up Treatment

Even if you experience some relief after your first treatment, chances are you will have to return for follow-up visits. This is because acupuncture is a form of therapy known as “cumulative medicine,” which means you get the best results after a few visits, as each treatment builds on the benefits of the previous session. Sometimes acupuncturists are unable to determine how long treatment will take until after they’ve completed 2-3 sessions. By then, any new concerns or changes in your body and condition can be discussed and an appropriate timing for the treatment decided.

Acupuncture can produce long-term results. For example, a study published in the Pain journal showed that acupuncture can provide benefits even six months after the last session. In the study, participants were treated with acupuncture over a period of eight weeks. When they returned for follow-up visits three and six months later, most participants reported ongoing relief compared with the control group that didn’t receive acupuncture treatments.

If you’re ready to give acupuncture in Chapel Hill NC a try, give us a call to schedule an appointment and to talk with one of our acupuncturists. Then download and print our new patient form and fill it out before your visit.

Is Acupuncture for Menopause a Suitable Treatment for Hot Flashes?

Hot flashes have always been one of the major complaints in peri- and postmenopausal women. Modern medicine addresses hot flashes by suggesting the use of a number of drugs, including some designed specifically for hot flashes and some being prescribed off label. And many women simply learn to understand what are hot flashes and live with them as something inconvenient that is part of growing older.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) can offer a number of solutions to a problem that has plagued women for centuries – and, even better, offer solutions that are not invasive and with few side effects. One of those options is using acupuncture for menopause to ease the intensity and frequency of hot flashes.

An Interesting Study

In a study published on Menopause: The Journal of The North American Menopause Society, a group of researchers from UNC Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University (Drs. Remy Coeytaux, Wunian Chen, Nancy Avis, and others) set out to examine the effect of acupuncture for menopause on the frequency and severity of hot flashes. To do this, they enlisted the help of 56 women under the age of 56 who had already stopped menstruating and were experiencing at least four hot flashes on an everyday basis.

The women were divided into three groups, with the first group considered the control group:

The women in the first group were told to continue whatever they were previously doing to treat their hot flashes.
A second group received Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) acupuncture, where needles were inserted in specific treatment points twice a week for eight weeks. The treatment points were meant to control night sweats, balance out yin/yang and improve kidney function (which acupuncturists believe is connected to hot flashes).
The third group received something labeled as “sham acupuncture.” That meant needles were inserted only shallowly at sites that have no connection to hot flashes and were not expected to produce any results.

The Results Were Surprising

That’s because women in both groups Two and Three experienced improvement. This was a surprising development, since the third group wasn’t receiving traditional acupuncture for menopause.

Still, when women were asked to track the frequency and severity of their hot flashes after starting treatment, both groups reported improvement. In fact, the study showed that women in both acupuncture groups were experiencing 40 percent fewer hot flashes after the third week. They also mentioned better sleep, a positive change in mood, more overall energy, and less anxiety.

What does this mean? Researchers involved with the study believe it could mean two things. One is that the simple act of inserting needles could provide some relief for hot flashes, even if the needles are not inserted at traditional points or deep enough to cause energy movement.

The Placebo Effect

Another possible explanation is that there’s a strong placebo effect in place when using acupuncture for menopause. This could explain why even needles not associated with hot flashes points still produced a beneficial effect. The simple act of receiving acupuncture was relaxing enough and effective enough to induce positive changes in the women going through treatment.

More Research is Needed

Experts do agree that further research is needed to get deeper into the effects of using acupuncture to treat menopause issues, including hot flashes. The same researchers have since conducted a much larger clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The acupuncturists for that more recent study included Drs. Wunian Chen and Helen Wang from Acupuncture Balanced Health. Dr. Remy Coeytaux, also from Acupuncture Balanced Health, was one of the principal investigators. The results of this larger study will be published soon (spoiler alert—the women who received acupuncture experienced highly significant decrease in hot flash frequency and severity within 4 weeks of starting a course of acupuncture treatments).