Acupressure and ADHD

[Lunacie]

Originally Posted by Amtram

Unfortunately, there are no well-designed studies that show any consistent, measurable benefit from acupuncture or acupressure.

And hey, MentalNomad - don't knock "vast powers of condescension"!! Sometimes they've been attained by learning from decades of stupid mistakes!

There have been some promising studies, but not a lot of research has
been done so far. I have good hopes for future studies on accupuncture
and accupressure.

[MentalNomad]

I'm also interested in research done on chiropractic procedures. My chiropractor claimed that a poorly aligned spine could cause memory and attention issues, along with a host of other problems. All I know is, my allergies disappeared for the most part, I used to be miserable on that front. Of course, obviously, I still have my ADHD symptoms.

[Drewbacca]

There are many of us here who are willing to try just about anything.

I was gluten and dairy free for over a year, but it didn't really help with my IBS issues.
100mg of sertraline on the other hand, seems to be helping which suggests that I definitely have a serotonin imbalance. Interestingly, now that the IBS is somewhat under control, I was able to note that I do in fact have lactose intolerance, which was previously masked by the IBS.

I also have chronic sinus issues, which I now know to be caused by GERD. Just taking an antihistamine didn't make this obvious. It wasn't until I took both a protein-pump inhibitor (prilosec) along with an allergy med (zantac) that I started to notice some improvement... so much in fact, that I'm now very aware of when I'm having heightened allergy response whereas before I had no idea because it was constant. It's an ongoing problem, but at least I'm now aware of it. I have yet to try allergy shots.

All of these different issues tend to mask one another. It's quite possible that the allergies are the route cause for most of my problems. The GERD itself is likely just allergy induced but GERD is also likely responsible for poor sleep (I'm scheduled for a sleep study to see if this is the case). Poor sleep might address why my serotonin levels are haywire which would explain the IBS and possibly even some of my ADHD issues.

How much of ADHD is due to a direct chemical imbalance versus an indirect imbalance caused by something else entirely? I have no idea, but time and persistance will tell. I know that ADHD exists in my family without the other conditions that I have, so its unlikely that the ADHD itself is going anywhere, but all of these other issues certainly contribute to depression and anxiety which make the ADHD a disorder in my case.

[Amtram]

Well-designed small studies have been done on acupuncture, acupressure, and many other "energy medicines," and they illustrate why additional studies haven't been done - they simply don't produce results under controlled conditions that are worth spending the time and resources on further study.

Part of the reason ties in with Drewbacca's idea of opening his own practice - many of these modalities originated in the same general way. Reiki was invented in the early 20th century by a Japanese American man who was trying to recreate the famous 40 days and nights of fasting and meditation in order to experience a spiritual transformation. He managed for a couple of weeks, came down from a mountain, and told everyone that he had been terribly ill with several different diseases while on his retreat, but had received a revelation of how to manipulate life energy and had miraculously cured himself!!! Needless to say, neither his illnesses nor his recovery from these illnesses were witnessed by another human being, and yet people took him at his word. He began practicing and teaching Reiki without ever having learned anything about medicine or anatomy, and asserted it was effective against all kinds of conditions well before he had ever used it on real human beings who actually had the conditions. People took him at his word, though, and now you can charge people $10,000 for a three-day class to teach them one of several different levels of Reiki mastery.

Chiropractic was invented by a grocer. The story is that he cracked the back of a blind man, and suddenly the man could see again. Needless to say, efforts to verify the existence of this man have been less than successful, making it difficult to lend credence to this story. Based on this alone, he began performing chiropractic adjustments and making claims of successful treatment right away, and was soon able to abandon the grocery business. He learned a little bit of anatomy as he went along, in order to formulate scientific justifications for his technique. Unfortunately, when his son became a partner in this endeavor, they had some differences of opinion, and chiropractic split off into two different philosophies (I don't remember which one belonged to which man, sorry.) The son was pretty flexible when it came to understanding human anatomy, just like his father, though - in fact, when he observed that manipulating a particular vertebral point, his clients experienced some stomach effects, so he made up a new body part that connected to the stomach to explain it. Then he named it after himself.

I could go on, but I think you can see what I'm getting at. . .

[Amtram]

BTW, the learning from mistakes comes from a combination of two things.

First, I suffered punishment and embarrassment significantly disproportionate to the mistakes I made throughout my formative years. Not making the same mistakes again was a vital self-preservation strategy.

Second, I hate to be wrong about things that genuinely interest me. Rather than defend the incorrect idea I had after I realize I was wrong, I admit I was wrong and learn from it, so I don't continue to sound like an idiot in front of people who really know what they're talking about.

Now, the thing is, none of this means I don't make mistakes. Far from it. I make many, many, many mistakes. I just don't make the same one twice. And let me tell you, continuing to find new ways to make mistakes after more than 50 years is no easy job!

[Lunacie]

I do think anyone can learn to do energy healing work, it doesn't take
spending lots of money on a Reiki class. Learning Level One Reiki only
costs about $500, it can cost $10,000 to become a Reiki Master which
qualifies one to teach Reiki.

I learned to do energy work many years ago and can teach others to use
energy for healing without charging them a cent. I later took the Reiki One
classes and only learned a couple of things to refine my techniques, hardly
worth the money but I do have a pretty certificate now.

I don't feel I can deny the spiritual experience of another person, although
I can certainly be skeptical.

[MentalNomad]

Originally Posted by Amtram

BTW, the learning from mistakes comes from a combination of two things.

First, I suffered punishment and embarrassment significantly disproportionate to the mistakes I made throughout my formative years. Not making the same mistakes again was a vital self-preservation strategy.

Second, I hate to be wrong about things that genuinely interest me. Rather than defend the incorrect idea I had after I realize I was wrong, I admit I was wrong and learn from it, so I don't continue to sound like an idiot in front of people who really know what they're talking about.

Now, the thing is, none of this means I don't make mistakes. Far from it. I make many, many, many mistakes. I just don't make the same one twice. And let me tell you, continuing to find new ways to make mistakes after more than 50 years is no easy job!

I get what you're saying here, and just recently I have admitted an error on my part where I blatantly said I was incorrect (even though the information I spouted was from more than one professional, which doesn't excuse it). The major gripe I have is that even if I simply bring up a topic for discussion, some will mistakenly believe that I endorse the topic, and use that as an opportunity to pounce and say "you were wrong, idiot,...better luck next time".

I also think that the thanks and rep system can lead to group-think. This topic was brought up to another forum I frequent, and was promptly shot down by the moderators because of that possibility. Due to the nature of the forum, I understand its usefulness, but my overall point is that some people waste no opportunity to assert themselves over the little guy, and that their "forum face" can affect things. I especially don't like it when several forum members gang up on one member. It's something I've noticed on multiple forums, not just here.

Anyway, as far as the well-designed acupressure studies, I haven't come across them, but I'll take your word for it.

[Drewbacca]

Originally Posted by Lunacie

Learning Level One Reiki only
costs about $500, it can cost $10,000 to become a Reiki Master which
qualifies one to teach Reiki.

Level One Drewbaccanetics is only $400. To become a Drewy Master, only $6000* Call me!

*$2000 annual upgrade fees not included.

[Lunacie]

Originally Posted by Drewbacca

Level One Drewbaccanetics is only $400. To become a Drewy Master, only $6000* Call me!

*$2000 annual upgrade fees not included.

Aww, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and I'm getting ooooold, dawg!

[MentalNomad]

Originally Posted by Drewbacca

Level One Drewbaccanetics is only $400. To become a Drewy Master, only $6000* Call me!

*$2000 annual upgrade fees not included.

Sign me up for the Drewy Master program!

Is very gullible and easily taken advantage of

Hey, wait a second...too late he already has my signature.

[Amtram]

Argh. I'm trying to locate the study that showed that sham acupuncture (poking in random places with toothpicks) was more effective than real acupuncture, but PubMed has pagesandpagesandpages of papers stating things like "acupuncture added to heart medicine shows significant cardiac improvement," and "acupuncture is better than placebo, so that means it works," in addition to a number of studies that involve sticking needles in the eyes of animals.

So I'll have to get back to that later. . .

[MentalNomad]

Let us know what you find, I read a similar study on acupressure (which of course is distinct from acupuncture).

[Lunacie]

Originally Posted by Amtram

Argh. I'm trying to locate the study that showed that sham acupuncture (poking in random places with toothpicks) was more effective than real acupuncture, but PubMed has pagesandpagesandpages of papers stating things like "acupuncture added to heart medicine shows significant cardiac improvement," and "acupuncture is better than placebo, so that means it works," in addition to a number of studies that involve sticking needles in the eyes of animals.

So I'll have to get back to that later. . .

Ah, but was it just one study, not replicated?

[Amtram]

It was actually a study done by an association of acupuncturists. And yes, it's been replicated a number of times, but this was the first time that a study done by acupuncturists to prove acupuncture worked showed that it didn't and the acupuncturists actually published it - that's what made it unique. Ah - I think this might be the one, although it dates to 2009, and I recall something more recent. That blog is a good place to find more information, anyway, and so is Science-Based Medicine.

[hanikamiya]

I heard about such a study too, the conclusion was in the lines of sham acupuncture being as effective as real acupuncture, and slightly more effective than placebo medication - with negligible differences.

Acupressure helps with my tension headaches, probably because the painful stimulation makes me reduce some of the tension. I also heard acupuncture works in pain treatment. That might be because pain is partially 'learnable' - there have been studies showing that people expecting pain showed a significantly higher pain response to stimuli, even to stimuli that should not have been painful.


Back to acupressure, someone mentioned it showing some effect reducing anxiety.
Children (or generally people) with learning disabilities often suffer from anxiety regarding their weakest skills. Anxiety leads to underperformance. Reducing anxiety might therefor help a person to actually use their potential. Meaning, it could be as helpful as any short term anxiety reduction, more useful than medication that at the same time lowers concentration or motivation (I for one can't muster motivation on benzos because I'm too used to using my anxiety levels as part of my motivational cycle - that was single use of low doses, not long term), and less useful than methods (CBT?) that teach a person to deflect or reduce their anxiety response before it happens.