In our experience, the importance of helping a client to help him or herself can’t be overemphasized. We encourage our clients to take an active part in understanding their pathology and their patterns of illness or behaviour, and in our experience these are the clients who make a steady and sure recovery towards health and wellbeing.
You may have heard of acupuncture, and you may even know someone who has experienced it. Acupuncture is a complimentary therapy which restores and maintains health through the stimulation of specific points on the body by very fine solid needles. You may be considering this alternative medical system yourself, for a condition that is chronic, acute, or one where Western medicine seems to have failed you. Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years in China and Asia. Acupuncture doesn’t follow a Western European method of disease diagnosis and treatment, so it is useful to consider this as an alternative method to rectify your condition as you will get added insights into your complaint and pattern of symptoms, and how to make changes to them. Acupuncture is a system in which you receive a series of treatments of up to an hour each (or more), spread out over several weeks. There will usually be a week or two between each treatment depending on your condition. Acupuncture focuses on treating overall well-being and not just the symptoms, taking a holistic approach.
Go to the acupuncturist and tell her your problem, explain your symptoms, tell her what you’ve tried before, what you eat, how you sleep. Don’t worry your acupuncturist is trained in collecting all the details so she will ask plenty of questions to get to the bottom of what is wrong. After this consultation the acupuncturist will give you an explanation and suggestions according to the theories of traditional Chinese medicine.
Tell the acupuncturist if this is your first acupuncture treatment. She will explain what is going on in more detail for a new client. Normally you will lie on a massage bed, and remove clothes from the areas the acupuncturist asks you to. You will be draped in a sheet or towel, plus a blanket if it’s cold. Be sure to wear loose clothing when you come for your appointment, you won’t have to remove as many items this way. Bring a warm jumper or coat for going home, your body temperature may drop when you relax.
You will lie in the treatment couch if appropriate, or be treated in a seat if this give access to the parts to be treated. Once you are comfortable and covered appropriately the treatment begins. Your acupuncturists will un-wrap new, sterile needles from individual packets. She will also swab the insertion areas. You might not see where the needles will be inserted but she will talk you through the process. You will then lie or sit quietly for the duration of treatment. This could be anywhere from 20-40 minutes. Don’t plan to read, though you can listen to quiet music. It’s best to simply snooze, the time goes quickly. When the time is up the needles will be removed, the areas swabbed and you may be offered a warm tea to bring you back to an alert state before leaving, as the treatment can be deeply relaxing.
Other health insurance schemes also cover treatments by AFPA members, these include ESB and Garda Medical Scheme among others.