I have been being treated for vertigo by my acupuncturist for over two years now. I still experience the uneasiness of dizziness when I exert myself or over use my neck. I believe I have cervicle vertigo. We have been treating my neck area. Is this normal?
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
No, of course, having vertigo is not normal if that is what you are asking. If you are asking if it's normal for acupuncture to be required over the course of two years - the answer is possibly. In general, however, if you have not improved in that time frame I would find another acupuncturist. I say this for two reasons.
One is because that's more than likely been too long although you don't mention anything relevant to your health, your diagnosis, etc. nor do you mention how often you have been going, whether they have been doing other Chinese Medicine modalities, herbs, tuina, etc. - but for the most part 2 years with no or little change would not be a good sign. The second is your startment about "we have been treating my neck area" - while there may be points there, properly done your acupuncturist should be treating you more completely than just local needling in your neck (which again, without more description may not be what you are saying).
Either way, after two years of treatment my patients would be able to write a small book about acupuncture theory because I describe what I'm doing and why to help them understand the process. I get the sense that you are seeing either a non fully trained Chinese Medicine practitioner (i.e. a md, physio, pt, or someone else who also does "acupuncture") or someone potentially at the lower end of the skill level. I think it would be safe to move on to another acupuncturist, particularly as vertigo is generally well treated within Chinese Medicine when properly applied.