Anyone tried accupuncture for dry eyes?

[jenny2008]

Just curious if anyone has had success with accupuncture and/or herbs for dry eyes?
Thanks!

[autumnn]

Hi Jenny- I did try accupuncture and ended up with a black eye because the woman hit a blood vessel. After that I couldnt tell if it helped because I was so annoyed by the black eye. I did however use a rinse/eyewash that had eyebright, goldenseal, and cayenne pepper and it seemed to make my eyes feel a little better. You'd think the cayenne pepper would hurt but it didnt.

[irish eyes]

I have used acupuncture.

When the monotony of pain and burning gets bad, I book myself in to see a practitioner who is well-versed in both Eastern and Western practice. I have known him for years so he is `clued up' to my individual needs - this is a key part. All I can say that it has helped me cope with the pain. Like many people on the forum, I can feel completely diminished by it all.

A couple of times, I used someone who was qualified - but her field of expertise was narrow. Although she was a lovely person, we didn't get anywhere with my symptoms and she was professional enough to admit it.

I have tried herbs but found them to be a waste of money. This is not to rule them out - I suspect they were not of the best quality. I think there was much communication `lost in translation' when I described my symptoms to the Chinese herbalist !

[pjcortes]

I recently tried acupuncture. It didn't seem to help. Since my symptoms fluctuate daily, some days I would think it was working, and then the symptoms would come back full force. The acupuncturist also gave me herbs. I went for 12 sessions. I feel like I gave it enough time. I wasted about $700, but at least I can say I tried it.

[bernmee]

Hi,

I have tried many different acupucntuists over the years for many dfferent aliments, and to be honest the trick is to find someone who knows their stuff.

I have been seeing a lady in San Francisco on a weekly basis for the last five months and she has been a great help. She is not treating my eye in particular but my whole body, as she says I am too "yang" and have too much heat in my body. She has helped resolve alot of other issues that I have always accepted as being the norm, and in time I hope the healing will spread to my eye.

She is very strict on adopting a diet that helps the healing process, and she has given me great advice on using foods to heal. There have been times when I have been very stressed over particular issues or drank/ate what I shound not ' have eaten and and she can tell from my pulse.

I know there are those out there who don't believe in this type of treatment, but like anything, it all comes done to finding an exceptional practioner, that I am lucky enough to have found. She also comes highly recommended on an independent review site, so I am not alone in my opinion.

Bernadette

[Amy09]

I tried acupuncture and it didn't seem to work at all. And I think I went somewhere with experienced acupuncturists because it was in Austin, a city with a fair number of "herbal doctors" and things of that nature. She did acupuncture to treat my whole body's inflammatory system rather than specifically my eyes and she gave me some herbal medicine to take, but i didn't feel like either did anything. My personal opinion of acupuncture is that it is all in your head, but i'm sure a lot would disagree with me.

[Lucy]

I tried acupuncture for dry eyes and eye pain and it did not help me. Lucy

[Teri]

I've been seeing an acupuncturist since March of this year, and I believe it is helping me.

I want to be clear, though, that I don't necessarily think it is making my eyes moister. But it has helped tremendously with muscle tension around my eyes (which would lead to outrageous headaches from squinting and blinking), anxiety, insomnia, and side effects of various medications I've tried for my eyes and depression.

Before I started acupuncture, I would get one of those "eye-aches" nearly every day. I haven't had one since March!

I agree with the poster above that it's important to find someone who really knows what they're doing. I searched and searched before finding my current acupuncturist: she was born and raised in China, completed college and med school there, and worked as an acupuncturist and herbalist in a Chinese hospital for 15 years before coming here. So she's the real deal.

I also have to disagree somewhat with the poster who said acupuncture is "all in your head." There have been well-structured studies that have shown that acupuncture is effective in treating certain conditions. But there isn't any real scientific evidence to date that acupuncture helps dry eyes, although there is at least one on-going NIH study on this topic.

And, like most medications and western medical practices, it helps some people more than others.

A good acupuncturist will be honest about its benefits and limitations. I personally think it is worth a try, especially in dealing with the peripheral issues most of us experience. You should know after six sessions if it is going to help you.

Teri

[irish eyes]

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognises the potential benefits of acupuncture for some conditions.

One of the GPs at my local surgery (in the UK) is also a qualified practioner of acupuncture - which certainly wouldn't have been the case some years ago.

As Teri states - it helps some people more than others but this is the case with Westerm medicine also.

[NYer]

Acupuncture studies have been done on DOGS, where surgery was performed on the dogs without general anesthesia but acupuncture needles were inserted in the appropriate spots to work aesthetically - and it worked.
Do you think that the dogs were convinced that it would work so it worked?
It's not "all in your head". It's a 2000 year old proven technique.

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you. Perhaps your practitioner wasn't expert at what he/she was doing. In addition, acupuncture doesn't work on everything. You wouldn't go to a dentist for a pain in your foot. Acupuncture is not the appropriate therapy for certain conditions either. It's not a cure-all. There is no such thing. But it works, and has been proven to work, phenomenally well on other conditions. Insurance companies cover it. Huge hospitals have acupuncture centers.

[Amy09]

I was not trying to belittle anyone when I said that I personally felt that acupuncture is all in your head. All I meant was that I went to get acupuncture already with the mindset that it wouldn't work and so that is one of the big reasons why I feel that it did not work for me. If I had gone with a different mindset I believe I would have had different results.

I think we should recognize that everyone has different opinions about different procedures and I in no way meant to upset anyone personally- I just feel that acupuncture really did not work for me. As I said before, I felt that a lot of people would disagree with my statement, but I did not mean to offend anyone in anyway and I think that my opinion should be considered just as much as the next person's. It hurts me to be called childish just as much as it may have hurt you to believe that I made it sound like I do not consider acupuncture to be a legit practice, which is actually not completely true. Again, I am very sorry if I made you feel upset, NYer.

[Lucy]

Amy, you are entitled to post your feelings here like everyone else. I didn't take offense at your statement, or take it literally either. Not everyone (including me) has a silver tongue and always says the right thing.

One thing to another poster, my acupuncture was not paid for by my insurance company. So, this is not a given. I agree there is no cure for dry eyes and we all try just about everything and keep what works for us and discard the rest.

Lucy

[NYer]

Lucy,
My point was not that acupuncture will be covered by your insurance company. My point was, obviously, that if insurance companies and hospitals consider it to be a realistic choice of therapy, then obviously it's a proven therapy for certain conditions.

[Lucy]

I realize that NY'er. My point was that Amy's feelings are valid. Nuf' said.

[NYer]

Who said they weren't?
Now nuff said.