My best friend tried for months to get pregnant; she didn't actually try standard medical help at first though. She kept a journal of how her menstrual cycle progressed, and after several months, she found a pattern - she was ovulating a week late, in the third week of each month rather than the second as it should be. She felt that here was an actual problem an OB/GYN could help her with, and went to a really good hospital in New York. The doctors there though felt that she hadn't been trying to get pregnant long enough; and since she was only 32, there wasn't any real cause for alarm. The doctor said to her that if she tried for another six months without success, she could come back. My friend didn't really take the doctor's advice though; instead, she picked up on a magazine article she read once, and decided to make an appointment to try out acupuncture treatment.
There was this one problem though: her health insurance did not believe in acupuncture; and so she paid $200 each week for two visits, and hoped that it would help realign her menstrual cycle. That turned out to be money well spent because three months later, she was pregnant. She wants to believe that it was the acupuncture treatment that helped, but really, there is no way to prove it. Nevertheless, acupuncture treatment is becoming quite popular, more so each day to help with mysterious conditions like depression, menopausal symptoms, pain that is difficult to pin down, infertility and others. And people prefer it even when they know that they have to pay for it themselves.
So what do the government, the National Institutes of Health, the FDA National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the rest of them actually think about acupuncture? The Center for Alternative Medicine doesnt really commit one way or the other. But for serious symptoms, the government does recommend that you go to a mainstream doctor, and not an acupuncturist. If you have an infection, acupuncture is not going to help you youll need antibiotics. For all the other kinds of diseases, mainly ones to do with pain, arthritis and reproductive problems, acupuncture treatment can be pretty powerful and magical in its effectiveness. These days, regular doctors send you to an acupuncturist if you have problems like any of these.
Almost never do insurance companies pay for these treatments though. Sometimes, you can use your flexible spending allowance at work, but there is little relief else. Fans of acupuncture treatment claim that not only does acupuncture actually cure problems that you have, it keeps your body in balance to prevent problems in the future what they call wellness care. If youre still worried about how valid a system of treatment acupuncture is, consider this Manhattans world-famous Beth Israel Medical Center has an acupuncture department. And they run educational programs on acupuncture too.
If you are interested in acupuncture treatment, but it seems too expensive for you, try an acupuncture school for discount treatment. Or you could try a community acupuncture network website for the cost benefits to be had dispensing with the one-on-one treatment luxury.