Feeling worse after acupuncture treatment

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

The real answer to your question is are you better? 4 years seems like an awfully long time to need treatment for these very treatable conditions. It's easy to like your practitioner and even feel good with acupuncture (you are not even getting that), but ultimately why you are going is results - that is, to actually be better. Fertility generally speaking should never take longer than 3 months to a 2 years at the absolute most in the rarest of cases - most people should be pregnant within 3-7 months. Anxiety and depression should be similar. You should feel considerably better within 3 months and continuously better after that for as long as desire to obtain treatment. After 6 months to a year of treatment you should not really "need" to go for treatment, but should be in more of a maintenance phase balancing only mild up and down turns. Now there are always rare and difficult cases but this is a general timeframe based on my experience and that of my colleagues.

With regards to the sensations after treatment, people have all kinds of sensations but if they some of the stronger sensations they should cease after the first few treatments and only last a day or two at most. If they are continuously happening you are more than likely being overtreated. (This is, of course, hard to say not knowing your case specifically or your practitioners choice of points, etc.). Too strong of treatments (either point choices, needling technique, or other techniques) will often lead to negative reactions like this. If you are improving considerably you can -sometimes- over look these. If these sensations continue and you are not improving considerably, then the treatment is not helpful for you. Acupuncture is an enjoyable beneficial treatment and isn't something you should ever feel you have to push through...

You could try acupuncture from a different style, perhaps Japanese Acupuncture, which uses lighter techniques and may offer better results for people with more sensitive systems. Either way, if you are not considerably improving I would find another practitioner.

Incidentally, this is no way a judgment on your current practitioner - every practitioner has people they cannot treat, even the good ones. Sometimes this is due to their style, just the time and place, whatever. It doesn't mean they are bad or good necessarily, just that what they are doing at this place in time is not what you need. Sometimes people don't need acupuncture at all, but respond better to energy healing (like Tong Ren Therapy, Medical Qi Gong, Reiki, etc.). Then, later, their system is able to better handle the changes that acupuncture is requesting. I'm not recommending that you wander from practitioner to practitioner, but your path should be guided by clinical results (feeling better), not just the hope of feeling better or a trust in the process...

Comment by Archived User

Thank you very much!

I saw my first practitioner several years ago for about 9 months. I stopped because the anxiety feeling was worsening, but also because it was a financial strain. However, several months after stopping I did get pregnant but miscarried. I didn't associate the acupuncture with the pregnancy until recently when I was explaining my history with infertility and acupuncture. But in retrospect, I think we were on a good track, at least for the issues with fertility.

I just started seeing my new practitioner. There was a 2-year gap between when I stopped with my first and when I started with my second. I hope we can get this hot/stirred up/anxiety issue under control because I really like her and enjoy my actual treatments.

Comment by Archived User

I thought I'd post an update. After several additional treatments - some smooth and others with a very strong reaction - my practitioner and I talked in more depth about some things that had recently come to the surface for me. After she listened, she said she needed to investigate a little more but that she felt I may be experiencing a less common problem - where yin and yang do not engender each other. If I'm understanding it correctly, it means they're staying separate and aren't interacting with one another in the way they're supposed to. She has started treating me with this root in mind, and although I still sometimes feel "stirred up" I instinctively feel we are on the right track. There are changes, specifically a groundedness/anchoring sensation that seem to be necessary and healing. Thank you so much for the feedback you provided.

Comment by Archived User

Hi there, I've had a similar experience. I have been receiving Accupunture for two years, I see the same doctor but the accupuntutist varies. After my session 3 days ago I am exhausted and so anxious. I like my treatment strong where they turn the needles till I feel the electricity, perhaps I had it too strong. I wish I hadn't gone got the treatment now as I feel totally wiped out.