acupuncture causing nerve pain/damage?

[montos]

Hello,

I've been getting acupuncture to treat my lower back pain. At my last treatment the doctor placed a needles at several locations on my legs and back.

The needle behind my right knee caused pain upon insertion and a lot of pain when he manipulated it. He took the needle out and replaced it and it appeared to be fine. Also the needle in my right ankle caused discomfort.

Shortly after the treatment I experianced pain at both sites and some odd sensations in my right foot and calf (warmth and numbness). The doctor (who is an MD as well as an acupuncturist)said it was nothing to be concerned about.

Has anyone had acupuncture cause nerve damage in such a way? The literature says it can cause "nerve damage" but no specifics are mentioned as to symptoms or location of needles.

Anyone experience something similar?

thanks

[ana360]

I just remember that at the beginning, right after I got the acupuncture treatment that damaged my nerves, a friend of mine who is a homeopath suggested I try Hypericum Perforatum wich is a remedy specificaly for the treatment for nerve damage. I took it for a couple of months and I noticed some improvements, however when the experienced acupuncturist told me that it was a matter of time, I just stopped taking it and after 8 months most of the symptoms were gone.

[kasey45]

yes I have, still do and its been 4 years - prickly, burning sensations from head to toe,  top of head has very sore spot to the touch where he had inserted acupuncture needles in - never gone away - seen neurologist, primary, dermatologist.  Allergist did help some I now put heavy moisturizing cream all over and seems to help this but can't really do much for the scalp or pain on top of head.

[ana360]

I'm not sure if I posted my update. I got a treatment for hip pain at a school of acupuncture and got a bad reaction (electricity like symptoms, pins and needles, burning in both my legs, spasms) I'm happy to report that after 8 months most of the symptoms have subsided. Once in a while I'd get mild spasms but I'm not sure if this is related to the treatment or is something else. An experienced acupuncturist told me to wait and not do any acupuncture until the symptoms were gone. Not feeling like going back anyways.

[SuzetteJustSuzette]

Apologies,
This thread appeared in my mailbox, again, today, and I replied without realising that I had already placed a comment here, last year.

[SuzetteJustSuzette]

Well, montos, this is a very interesting topic, for me.

Over 20 years ago, I visited the acupuncture clinic of The British School Acupuncture, in London, UK.  I went there because I have had a tendency to being anxious, from very early on , in my life, having first noticed it as a teenager.  I was in my early 20s when I visited the clinic.

During the treatments, there were occasions of severe pain in particular points, but I remember vividly that, on one occasion, the head teacher came to check the work done on me and he inserted a needle on the left side of my lumbar spine with a smack motion, and it hurt so much that I remember arching back and screaming with pain.

Dr Lau's response was to walk walk up to where I could see him and say "Typical artist, overemotional." And walked away, leaving me there, needle in, weeping with pain.  Now, I must add that I have a relatively high pain threshold…

Where my experiences at that clinic fit into this discussion is:
for all these years, my baihui is still painful to the touch.  So is a point just behind my heart, on the left side, and more importantly, that lumbar spine poist has remained sore ever since.  Furthermore, 9 years ago I developed an herniated disc, with nerve root compression, at precisely the point where that needle was inserted .  The condition was so advanced that I was immediately admitted into neurosurgery ward for surgery, without it even being fully discussed with me.  

Coincidence?…   I have had acupuncture treatments since, I must add.  And it took some leaps of trust for that to occur without discussing those earlier experiences with the new practitioners, with whom I have experienced bearable amounts of expected sensations, including some pain, which was in no way cause for alarm.

It remains unexplained, why the areas where a lot of brutal pain was experienced at the hands of Dr Lau, continue to be so sore, after 20 years.  There was no such soreness before.  I have so far felt it is too delicate a subject to bring up to even my most trusted acupuncture teacher.

Thank you for posting.

[yelpat]

I get acupuncture occasionally and sometimes when the doctor put the needles into my body it hurt, I told her immediately and she pulled the needle back a bit. I did get a strange pain at the time, but was is short lived.

Many years ago I got a few sessions of acupuncture and I noticed dark liver spots where the needles were inserted. I thought it was from the needles and a year later another acupuncturist confirmed this, and said it was from bad needles.
  
paul