Health Brief

ACUPUNCTURE HELPS PATIENTS DEAL WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE

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Patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease (PD) up until now have had very little choice but to take drugs which cause nausea, sleepiness, dizziness, involuntary writhing movements and visual hallucinations. Over time, these drugs become less and less effective until a point is reached where the drugs only work for a few hours, if at all. Now there is hope, as three different studies find Acupuncture is a tremendous benefit to patients suffering from the effects brought on by PD.

The Department of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine did a study to determine the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of Acupuncture for the symptoms of PD. Twenty patients participated in the study, each of which received a standard examination and tests as well as filling out a questionnaire on their activities of daily living. On the patient questionnaire, 85% of the patients reported subjective improvement of individual symptoms including tremors, walking, handwriting, slowness, pain, sleep, depression and anxiety. The exam, tests and questionnaires found no adverse effects. It was determined that Acupuncture therapy is safe and well tolerated in PD patients.

In another study of 29 PD patients who were treated with Acupuncture for three months while using western drugs and a control group of 24 patients taking western drugs only. The study showed that there was a significant improvement in symptoms for those treated with Acupuncture, while those treated with drugs alone had a worsening of symptoms. Furthermore, patients treated with Acupuncture ended up using a lower total dosage of drugs after three treatments while those using only drugs retained their original drug dosage.

A third study which was published in Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture and Moxibustion reported on scalp acupuncture with electostimulation for PD. It was noted that there were some responses immediately after treatment, with a calming of tremors in two-thirds of the patients. Among the 24 patients that completed three months of therapy, six were said to show marked improvement, and the other 18 moderately effective.

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SOURCE: http://www.itmonline.org/arts/parkinsons.htm http://www.ncbi.nlm.nihgov/entrez/query.fcgi?cma=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list uids=158840
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