Have you tried acupuncture?
Has anyone tried acupuncture to help manage their symptoms? What was your experience like?
I've tried it and I thought it helped with pain but I didn't finish it. The problem I had was that I had to get a lot of sessions in the beginning, which was really expensive. Then once you get to a certain point you only have to get it once every so often as "maintenance."
If I had the money, I defintely would have followed through with it. But my insurance doesn't cover it and at $60 a pop, it just wasn't feasible. I did find it extremely relaxing, though, and experienced a bit of relief.
i could not walk without excruciating pain in my hip and mid piriformis area (deep in buttock). At night my lower back and hip ached and I could not get proper sleep for about 6 months. I went to an accupuncturist who has cured sciatica in hip for a few people in 2 treatments. She uses a technique of reactivating inactive muscles by energising the needles to make muscles twitch. These muscles then support the joint or relieve pressure. It must be a type of acupuncture. I live in Australia but I am sure this technique is available elsewhere. It is really working by alerting the brain to problem areas. Within a week I was climbing up and down rocks and prior to this could not even walk up and down stairs without extreme pain.
I could not be happier with the result. There were no ongoing appointments booked unless further pain drips later. Whereas My chiropractor had me on a schedule of 6 week visits for 2 years but I still did not really improve that much.
I tried it. It was relaxing for the time being. But did not help. Was asked if I felt needles. I responded should I. Had to use bigger needles. Still nothing.
Given the fact that PsA is an autoimmune disease that manifests through widespread inflammation effecting multiple systems, it is extremely unlikely that acupuncture would affect any real change in PsA symptoms. That is not to say that one cannot have relief from other, unrelated, pain not due directly to PsA.
