Has anyone here ever had it? For what? Etc?
I’m thinking about pursuing this as a profession, so I’m interested to hear what people think about it in general, whether it has worked for them, etc.
acupuncture is great… but if do it as a job, everyone will call you a real prick…
-Imp
It’s so easy for you, isn’t it? 
Someone coming at me with a massive amount of needles , Uh no f—ing way. One needle makes me vomit and pass out. A bunch of needles would turn me into an insane blithering idiot.(Don’t you dare touch that you smart alecs and you know who you are 
)
On the flip side; Me poking people with needles would do about the same. I can’t do it. I can lance wounds with blades, dig out splinters and other debris that gets into wounds, deal with lots of blood and other gore. I can even stitch a wound with asurgical needle when I absolutely have to, But, needles around bodies freak me out bad. The population breathes a sigh of relief that I am not in the medical field.
I love it CI. My acupuncture doctor is a Chinese Doctor who prescribes acupuncture first, he uses electrical current also and then herbs if needed. Usually issues are resolved on the acupuncture table. Amazing stuff and if you wish to do that for a living, I support you wholeheartedly. Healing is an excellent profession, not least that you will self heal and this is always positive for our world.
Nice one.
A
You are picking a very involved career choice ci.
Acupuncture and acupressure are both great, as far as I am concerned. I have had to use it for about twenty years, for a cyatic problem. It’s either that, or going to a “doctor” for shots every six to eight weeks - no thanks.
The lady who attends to me, is from the old school, so she is knowledgeable about any facet of the human body. She’s a complete eastern herbologist as well, and she beats any western “doctor” by light years. She knows to treat the body as a complete system, so it’s never a case of “here take this pill” shit. She goes over everything; diet, sleep, posture, exercise, breathing, hygiene (internal and external).
If this is your choice, good luck, and make sure you keep your mind open to all of the avenues it can open. You can actually be a healer, instead of a poseur.
CI,
As others have suggested, learning the oriental healing arts can be long and arduous, but it would be a worthy profession and take you into areas of learning few in our western culture would go. I’ve had some back problems before and a gentleman works with me when I get into trouble. He uses acupressure, and believe me it works where no amount of drugs will even begin to do the job. His name is Mark, but I call him Mr. Rototiller… I’ve never had acupuncture, but only because the acupressure works well.
Another perk of pursuing such a career, is that you won’t have Kris pestering you… That would be worth a lot right there…
Thanks for all the replies, I’m glad to hear the general consensus is that this is a good idea, since the culture today generally seems to say that anything that comes from China is worthless, (except Jet Li.)
CI I am a phobic when it comes to that, I can’t do it even should it mean my life but, it is an honored profession. Be the best out there. Remember bedside manners helps the patient relax and trust.
Do you think you could do it if you were unconscious? I’m sure people with phobias of needles are brought in to clinics more often than they wish, and how it would be possible to work with them.
Also there are other kinds of holistic medicine that are related to acupuncture but do not involve needles. Acupressure, moxibustion, or laser therapy may be good for you to look into. They revolve around the same concepts and the same pressure points but nothing is inserted into the skin.
I don’t know about that, never thought of it. Only 3 times I have ever been unconcious was when I knocked myself out from falling and landing wrong.(klutz yes). It is a thought. but, to knock me out would that not require an injection or gas? And how would the acupuncturist know if it is having effect if you are not awake to say so?
I lack knowledge of these therapies I have severe problems with any health practictioner unfortunately. Not quite phobic, just heavy chested reluctance.
It stems from being a sickly kid and being jabbed and poked 3 to 4 times a week up til the age of 8 or 9. Doctors and nurses pinning me down so that they could inject me a couple of times and or draw blood per visit. I can’t shake fearing and disliking Doctors. I can still vivdly remember those times. I have not been to a Doctor in over 20 yrs except for Optometrist and dentist. The last was when our boy came into the world. Jeez I got poked then, needles, needles and more needles , but our son is worth it all. No, I won’t go to a psychologist or hypnotherapist either. Severe lack of trust.
but, That is me, most folks never experience medicine the way I have. LOL My doctor friends have been on me for years about it.
You will have more than enough clients because, you are a good caring person. You won’t have to face phobics like me. If you do, gain their trust, and be slow gentle and patient. Like treating a little kid. Phobias are as real as cement to the person who has them.
I think that it’s important to find out if this “treatment” really works, and if so what does it work for specifically. It’s important to be ethical when thinking about such a business.
Mr. P → acupuncture.com.au/education … tions.html
Kris → I know a few ways to knock someone out without an injection or gas. 
Yea, no doubt CI, I do too and fun ways to do so, it is just the waking up part that is a bitch . Forget toking it up, I am allergic to THC in a very very bad way.
No vodka or rum either. I have had bad run ins with those two in my younger years. Although, they do do a passable job on knocking me out for a day.
That was an interesting link.
Let me say that I had a friend who ripped a hamstring muscle that I “knew” would take months to heal, but he got acupuncture and it healed in about a week, so I do have belief in the treatment. What I’m curious about is validation of the technique from western scientists. I know they might have a conflict of interest, but still.
I’m a bit of a skeptic since I saw a Penn & Teller video about the subject. They used fake needles and the subjects reported feeling just as good as if they had gotten a real treatment.
What do you think?
That’s not…really a valid test of whether or not it works. You can stimulate the points with simple pressure, a needle just works better. You can stop hiccups by stimulating a point called Stomach 36 with your thumb or knuckle. (I haven’t had the hiccups since I learned this so I can’t provide testimony for that. It is supposed to work though… there’s testimony on another part of that site I linked earlier.)
For reference:
[size=75]Sorry about all the extra lines, blame the original picture I found on Yahoo.[/size]