Has anyone tried acupuncture to treat their depression?

Question

I am sick of prozac and so i'm looking for alternative treatment. Has anyone tried acupuncture or know how successful it is?

Thanks

Answer 1

Prozac is about the worst thing you can take.  It messes you up on lots of levels, poisons your body and brain, and puts you into a zombie state where you stop caring about anything and then often become suicidal.

Chinese medicine (ie accupuncture) can help with depression if that depression stems from a probem with an organ system in the physical body (which can occur, especially in regards to the lungs), however if that's not the case it's normally not applicable.

By the sam etoken, a diet which is more focused on fresh natural produce instead of processed foods (and meats) can go a long way towards treating depression.

Howver if the casue of it isnt a physical problem withon the body, the answer is normally best found in theray, be i adressing the problem in your subconsciousness that's making you miserable or changin the circumstances in your life that do so.  I wish I could whole heartedly endores accumpucnture (since I love chinese medicine) but mental disorders (excluding those casued by physiological problems) are outside the scope of their practice and are traditionally instead deal with through meditation.

Who knows though, it might be a physically caused one fo you in which case your question is answerable.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Its good that you are proactively seeking help, conventional antidepressants like Prozac are a danger to human life, they are known to cause suicidal thoughts, rage, and even worse symptoms. Prozac also has Flouride in the tablets, flouride is bad for human health, and is a carcinogen, it also affects the brain - the hypocampus by inhibiting metabolic enzymes.

Anyway, back to your question. I have not used acupuncture myself, so i cannot vouch a just answer from experience. Many people who are depressed have bottled-up emotions, psychologists say depression is anger turned inwards. Acupuncture will certainly help you relax and chill out, as the previous answer suggested.

Albeit, an incredibly valid, sound, and interesting scientific study has proven acupunture works, yet scientists cannot provide an explanation of 'how' it works, so acupuncture remains as a criticised, ridiculed and ignored therapy, as are all alternative therapies. {Source 1}

You should use acupuncture as one of the tools for beating depression, i would like to reccommend some other things for you to try, as this worked for my depression:

- Drink Alkali water: Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to every litre of purified water that you drink. {Source 2}. Or buy a Regency Elite machine from resonantlight.com

- 5-HTP 30mg per day, this is converted to Serotonin {i'm sure yo know all about this}, this is the neurotransmitter/chemical that makes you feel good/happy, Doctors say depressed patients have an imbalance/dificiency of serotonin.  

This is how Prozac works, but prozac provides your body with serotonin in its pure form, the body does not need to convert anything. This is good, but your GastroIntestinal Tract also has serotonin receptor sites, since it is not natural to consume serotonin in such a pure form, this causes many GI symptoms from taking Prozac.

I would reccommend you purchase the Dr.'s Best Brand from ebay, as its very cheap, or from drbvitamins.com, as this has added vitamin B6 in the correct proportion so that your body can convert the 5-HTP serotonin precursor to serotonin.

5-HTP has all the benefits of Prozac without the nasty side-effects.

Also consider St. John's Wort, 300mg per day.

Kava Kava herb is good for anxiety, which most depressed patients suffer from as a comorbid disorder/symptom.

Make sure you get 8 hours of sleep per day in one go, {as most depressives have distorted sleep patterns/circadian clocks}; and that you exercise atlest 3 times per week, or 30minutes per day, this can be anything from Yoga to brisk walking, or even swimming. One scientific study showed that depressed patients that exercised for 30minutes per day improved more so than the group on the antidepressant. Since most people would rather have the instant gratification of swallowing a pill, rather than doing the exercise, most physicians do not inform patients of this.

Your most powerful tool against depression is knowledge, read up on depression and alternative medicine: this book is good to start of with:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Healing-Depressi...

Also consider Gerson Therapy, look in juicing, and Kefir making. 'You are what you eat'. The reason why i reccommend Kefir as it has been shown that the gut/immune system influence if not cause depression in some people.

Source:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gut-Psychology-S...

Also consume 1000mg - 3000mg per day of Omega 3, strictly the Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega brand or the Carlson's brand {this has added fat solube vitamins}. These brands are pharmaceutical grade, pure, and are used in clinical scientific trials. Read up on omega3 and depression, there are many studies showing significant and remarkable effects on depression from consuming omega 3. Yet more evidence that some cases of depression is due to dificiencies and poor/inadequate nutrition, and eating the wrong food that do not conform to your metabolic type.

Also, supplement with SAMe this has been called the 'instant antidepresant', 400mg per day for depression, 200mg for maintenance thereafter. Read up on this. Lots of stuff online

Also supplement with a good bioavailable mutivitamin/mineral like Higher Nature brand has bioavailable minerals/vitamins, that are easily absorbed by the body.

Another point to mention, although it may not apply, is that Candida Overgrowth can cause depression, please look into this further, again lots online, google it.

You might have allergies, some allegies cause psychological problems like depression, OCD, anxiety. Doctors in their ignorance fail to recognise this, they treat the body as a machine, assuming that the mind is seperate from the body, yet the mind and body are intricately bound together, forming an inseperable whole, influencing one an other in health and in disease. Although your depression may be caused from a life event and you might think its entirely psychological or vice versa, both the mind and body need to be treated, as not to forget the Soul. {mentioned later}. There are many books on this topic, one called Brain Allergies is written by my nutritionist, although i have not read it. But you should if you suspect allergies get a blood test from http://www.yorktest.com/, this is one of the best allergy test kits available, although very expensive.

If you can afford it, and cannot be bothered to read up on alternative medicine/nutrition, please see a medical nutritionist/orthomolecular doctor/ a naturopath, and if all of them could not help you {unlikely}, then see your doctor for a repeat prescription of Prozac. Brain Bio Centre Clinic is good for treating mental illness without drugs, look into it.

Don't you just hate when people say, 'get a hobby' or 'do something you like' to help with depression. Well i know how it is, and how it is doing thing you no longer enjoy, or going out in general. But what i will reccommend is something you can do at home. Which is meditating and reading the religious scriptures of the religion you follow, if you follow no religion then i would reccommend the Holy Qur'an, as it heals those who read it.

Hope this helps.

Also check out: www.mercola.com for information on getting back to optimal health.

Watch 'The Town of Allopath' video, also on YouTube, it shows the arrogance and ignorance of allopathic doctors.

Answer 3

It does not work. I worked for a chiropractor for 2 years and they swore it worked, well it didn't. The only thing acupuncture is good for  is stress and that only works because you have to lay still for 20-30 minutes and that alone relaxes you.

Answer 4

The best thing you should be taking is Liquid Calcium.  Deficiency in Calcium can lead to hypertension (high blood pressure), anxiety, panic attacks, irritability, depression, insomnia, muscle spasms.  We all know about the teeth, hair and bones but not so much about the others.  You should also take it with magnessium to aid absorption and it must be the liquid form as the other can lead to kidney stones.  They come in soft gel capsules and are very easy to take.