Acupuncture as Effective Treatment for Neuropathic Pain
Most people who have diabetes, HIV, and other auto-immune diseases develop neuropathic pain from the nerve damage brought about by the disease. Neuropathic pain is described as the sensation of numbness to sensation of being pricked to the feeling of being poked with an ice pick at the bone.
What makes it unbearable is that the pain is constant. Pain killers and prescribed drugs help but a growing number of patients are also including acupuncture sessions to complement the treatment for neuropathy.
Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medicine that uses very thin stainless needles. They are put in specific areas in the body called acupoints. The Chinese believe that pain in the body is caused because of the obstruction in the flow of the body’s energy called qi. The needles are meant to free up the flow of the qi.
Many patients who have neuropathic pain especially the one that is caused by peripheral neuropathy report significant improvement after only their first acupuncture session. There are even some who stopped taking pain killers because they noticed that the neuropathic pain has subsided completely.
The most important thing for patients suffering from neuropathic pain is not to stop their medication and their consultation with their doctors. Acupuncture will help a lot in the management of the pain and in many cases the neuropathy itself but you should also continue of heeding the advise and prescription of your doctor.