Has anyone ever tried acupuncture as a relief?

Sorry for the 20 questions but if I do not ask them now, I'll forget and only remember when I on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere with no internet access for miles

(Thu-14-05-2015, 21:42 PM)HenryB Wrote: Has anyone ever tried acupuncture as a relief?

Sorry for the 20 questions but if I do not ask them now, I'll forget and only remember when I on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere with no internet access for miles  

Ask away it's a forum for asking questions.

Not tried it myself, have been tempted and spoken to some people who said worked for other problems but after taking it all in I decided it was the placebo effect (you spend your money and think it will work, and it does for a while but it don't last and your wallet is getting empty)

I've not spoken to anyone who said it worked for psoriasis, and I don't think we have any members who have had results from it.

Sorry not helping much in your questions, but I'm giving my own personal answers. In my opinion you need to get to a dermatologist and work with them rather than try and find something of your own, years of psoriasis has taught me that.

As you can tell by now I'm not a fan of going it alone, though some of our members do and they are happy. But you will sometimes get mixed answers, sometimes you will get almost all saying the same thing. But we are real people with our own experience, and what works for one may not work for another.

At the end of the day it has to be your choice which way to go, we can only give our opinions. You as a member of Psoriasis Club can also do the same, but none of us are doctors we're just people like you with psoriasis sharing our own opinions so don't be put off if the answers are negative to your questions and post as much as you like.

It's not a therapy I've tried either, so I can't offer an opinion on it, but I haven't read anywhere where anyone has used it for the treatment of psoriasis, like Fred I would be inclined to go the conventional route via a dermatologist
If you do try it I would be pleased to hear how successful it is for you

(Thu-14-05-2015, 21:42 PM)HenryB Wrote: Has anyone ever tried acupuncture as a relief?

Sorry for the 20 questions but if I do not ask them now, I'll forget and only remember when I on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere with no internet access for miles  

Sorry for the 20 questions but if I do not ask them now, I'll forget and only remember when I on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere with no internet access for miles  
[/quote]

I'll let you in on a little secret.  This forum LOVES questions so I don't think you could ever ask too many!  Sometimes there isn't a definitive answer, but questions usually open up a discussion (another thing loved here!)

Brighteyes has done acupuncture:

RE: Back Into Hell

I don't know if anyone else has tried it or not, I know I haven't.

Do know that Acupuncture helps with problems in the muscles, but then it is more the use of "dry needling" to activate some of the knots in your muscles, have my own experiences that, well at least something works there.

In my much earlier queeste for relief on PsA I tried acupuncture also, without any result.
I also tried the Vega method, a very vague approach in the direction of homeopathy.. no results, still don't know if it was a scam, had to pay for it myself, but it was not expensive.
Have also been in the field of bio-resonance. If you talk of a scam, now that is one. And fell even under the insurance. They had a great house, packed with weird instruments and a steady flow of patients. They said they  would quickly solve my problems. Have been there a number of times, it was costless anyway. But no sign of result or change. A definite scam to my idea.

Did also the Aquatilis method of dr. Essaidi. An approach with all kinds of radiation at a certain stage combined with a herbs drink. Now that worked !! I have written my experiences over here in post RE: Gluten free diet could help psoriasis, the unfortunate thing of that approach was that is was very expensive and I had to travel awfully far.

As you can tell from above I am a fan of going alone (opposite to Fred, which is what happens more times   ). I have very little confidence in the medical practice as I found out that they live in a tunnel where they cannot see what is outside of the tunnel. You as a patient have to go outside the tunnel yourself in order to check if other approaches will help.
I did finally, after leaving my dermatologist and rheumatologist, find a solution for myself with an internist, a doctor for internal diseases. This practice of medicine has a bit broader view and as psoriasis is an auto-immune disease and no skin-disease, he was able to select an approach that was directing to the source of the problem of auto immune diseases. He used DMF for that, which is intensively described over here on the forum.
I ended up with the initial treatment of the internist, finally the dermatologist agreeing for the insurance, and the GP prescribing and checking the blood results, which I always ask up for myself in order to check if they stay in line.

I'm doing acupuncture and have done it in the past too.
I think, combined with the massage I get as well, it does help with calming stress. And stress is a BIG kicker to psoriasis sufferers.
My mum was given acupuncture on the NHS years ago for arthritis. She used to be terrified of needles and had no time for 'voodoo stuff' but she ended up enjoying it and getting some relief from it.
On a personal level, I have found it is helping me to cope, lifting my mood and easing tension. Even if it is a 'placebo' effect, so what?  If it makes things more bearable and enables you to wake up every day smiling it's worth it for me.  
There are worse things to spend money on.  
As far as cost is concerned, check whether there's a community acupuncture scheme in your area. We have one here and prices are very reasonable.

(Sat-16-05-2015, 16:13 PM)Brighteyes Wrote: Even if it is a 'placebo' effect, so what?  If it makes things more bearable and enables you to wake up every day smiling it's worth it for me.  
There are worse things to spend money on.  

Yep Placebo can work very well, some trial medications are even pulled as they didn't beat placebo or in some cases were even worse.

My placebo is Merlot.