I went to a doctor today. I like to go in for a rub down and some other procedures( gua sha, ba guan) Had a headache and lots of other aches. The doc suggested acupuncture, I’ve always wanted to try it so I went for it. He put the needles in the soft spot on my hand between the thumb and pointer finger. First one was uncomfortable, but no problem. The other hand made me really dizzy and i felt terrible, started to sweat. I knew i was either going to pass out or puke. I’m not at all afraid of needles. He saw what was happening and picked me up to take me to the bed to lie down. I made it but fainted once on the bed. When i woke up I was completely disoriented for about a minute, I think i was having convulsions too when i was out. I would say i was out for about 5 minutes, but not too sure. I woke up to 2 doctors standing over me, one seemed to be rubbing his finger in the area above my lip. Happy i tried it, but don’t think there will be a second time. Anyone else had or heard of this type of thing? He said the acupuncture was “too strong” 
What a pussy! 
never heard of bad experiences like this, but I would only ever do acupuncture thru a trusted referral.
I have a person who does back massages for me, and she’s great, but I would never let her do acupuncture or ba guan on me, though she bugged me about it several times.
lotta amateurs out there.
i had acupuncture hundreds of times in Australia (worked at a university that taught acupuncture so the practitioners were very good, and it was handy, and free!) with mixed sucess. some things worked well (pain relief from chronic knee and hip pain from motorcycle accident), while some of the treatments would have made no difference i guess. nonetheless, not a single complaint nor a single unexpected reaction.
i had ONE treatment here in Taipei from a highly-recommended practitioner, with absolutely no effect (left my headaches worse than before) PLUS he stuck one of the needles right through a nerve that fed my foot and left me with a numb, floppy foot with no feeling below my ankle for six months or more, not to mention that some of the needles he used were the size of swords, and went completely through my leg and out the other side.
Can’t say about the folks here, but back home acupunturists make a bundle, and it works!
Family members that live in the States will make sure they have an appointment every time they go home. No complaints, al satisfied customers.
Acupunture helped an morbidly overweight cousin get better -not Barbie, but a lot better.
I always thought there would be a lot of that here. Alas, as with the other stereotypes -liek friendship gates-, this is not true, either.
I’ve tried acupuncture twice: the first time it was OK, but the second time a needle must have gone into a nerve bundle because it hurt.
I have a Taiwanese friend who went for acupuncture after twisting his wrist doing some break-dancing.
Apparently the needle was not clean.
Ended up spending 10 days in the hospital and almost lost his hand. The hospital had to cut the hand open in two 2-inch slits across the top of the hand, and let it drain for about a week. They at one point thought they may have to take the arm off at the elbow in order to prevent infection spread any futher.
I’ll stick with thoroughly tested and approved procedures and pass on the acupuncture until it passes some type of approval by some type of certified organization.
Easy now tough, :blah:
Thanks for the replies folks (one chump not included) Some pretty nasty stories.
Urodacus: that sounds awful, have you continued to go for acupuncture after the sword left your foot floppy?
[quote]Acupunture helped an morbidly overweight cousin get better -not Barbie, but a lot better.
I always thought there would be a lot of that here.[/quote]
Was the acupuncture the only thing that helped her lose weight? Did she keep it off? How much did she lose and how long did it take? There were 4 others getting acupuncture while i was there, it is very common here.
well, ‘swords’ was an exaggeration, as I’m sure you realise, but they were about six-seven inches long and about the size of a gauge 18 syringe needle.
No, i have not had any more acupuncture in 5 years in Taiwan.
Actually, it was like their “best seller” treatment. My cousin had tried every diet imaginable, but only this helped her and many others.
She kept it off for several years, helped her stabilize, but the damage had already been done. She just had massive surgery for many problems derived from obesity. Barely made it.
I studied it along with Chinese herbal medicine for five years and did a six month internship in a mainland hospital. I was no believer in acupuncture when I started, very much preferring Chinese herbal medicine. ave to admit I did come around to it eventually. Unfortunately the legacy of being a practice pin cushion for eager and budding acupuncturist left me sort of needle shy.
From what you described, it sounds like shock. I once had a similar thing happen as I was getting stitches, and I’m pretty macabre in my fascination for being totally okay with watching mad medical things done to me.
That nervy feeling, while it possibly is hitting a nerve, is often referred to as de qi (得氣） in Chinese medicine, meaning to have caught the qi. A good practioner can do some funky stuff when this happens, like directing the flow up or down, and so on. Typically westerners hate this feeling but Chnese, especially in China will refuse to pay unless you’ve nabbed that qi and given it a strong tweak.
HG
Guess I don’t like to have my qi tweaked :no-no:
Found this on a few different sites.
Yeah, I remember the place near where I worked in Bangkok got shut down because a Hep B cluster was traced to there.
Dunno if it ‘works’; I never had any serious ill-effects on the two occasions Taiwanese friends talked me into into it. I think the amount of adrenaline rushing round my bod from the fear of needles sterilised away any germs. 
I;ve seen some very impressive results, especially during that internship in China. The hospital I worked in, like most hospitals in China at that time, was fairly lean on resources making treatments using acupuncture especially attractive.
HG
I thought they all used disposable acupuncture needles now. My doctor in the UK used to.
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]That nervy feeling, while it possibly is hitting a nerve, is often referred to as de qi (得氣） in Chinese medicine, meaning to have caught the qi. A good practioner can do some funky stuff when this happens, like directing the flow up or down, and so on. Typically westerners hate this feeling but Chnese, especially in China will refuse to pay unless you’ve nabbed that qi and given it a strong tweak.[/quote]What’s interesting to me is that if the doctor’s slightly off the correct point then you often don’t feel much at all. (Well, not with a thin needle–don’t know what one of those big needles people are talking about would be like.)
What you experienced is called ‘needle shock.’ It’s very common when people have acupuncture on an empty stomach, especially when that point you described is used, but sometimes occurs without any particular reason. What concerns me is that this doc had no clue that this is what had happened and that there is a quick and easy cure for it without using needles.
As a word of general warning, if people want acupuncture, they should go to someone who actually graduated from one of the Chinese medicine schools. There are a lot of docs in Taiwan who graduated from one of the Western Med schools practicing acupuncture and they think they are someone qualified through genetics. It’s a skill, and most people who offer it on a whim don’t have the skill. Acupuncture as an afterthought by a doc…always a bad idea.
[quote=“joesax”]I thought they all used disposable acupuncture needles now. My doctor in the UK used to.
That’s why after the needle goes in, the doctor will often twist the needle back and forth to make sure you’re getting the “de qi”. It feels a bit sore and swollen. At that point, lots of other things can be done – burning a herb at the end of the need (muxibustion), infra-red lamp heating, electric pulses to the needle, etc.