Eavesdropping

Starting my annotated bibliography I knew that I was looking for credible sources that could answer the question “Is acupuncture a better way to break a drug addiction than going to rehab”? I’ve concluded that neurologist, acupuncturist, and the actual patients have the most to say about this topic.  Although there were further test and research done to determine whether one method is better than the other, most doctors do not come to one specific conclusion.

            Being that acupuncture is still a controversial topic most of the experiments, results, and conclusions have been conducted by neurologist.  They have tried to assess the effects between acupuncture and addictive drugs to prove if acupuncture works.  They’ve done the scientific method and assessed the results. Some neurologist concluded that acupuncture does not work with specific drugs, such as cocaine, but speaking generally most have varied data and results bringing them to conclude that acupuncture is an alternative method for people dealing with drug addictions but doesn’t necessarily work for all drugs and a questionable method to be used in general.

            Acupuncturists see the treatment in a different way. Although acupuncture is known for handling anxiety, pain, depression, arthritis, and things of that nature.  It seems as if acupuncturist feel as though acupuncture can be used for anything.  They are a little skeptical about the results as well but they seem to be a little more optimistic about the mixed results.  They didn’t really conduct any experiments.  They mostly surveyed different patients to see how the acupuncture was helping them to cope without the drug.  The most common response was that it helped with the withdraw symptoms and anxiety.

            The most important source that is a huge part of answering my inquiry question would be the patients themselves.  I haven’t found any journals or blogs that talk about a personal experience dealing with addiction and acupuncture but I know that there are some out there. I’m going to keep looking, and maybe if I call an acupuncturist or alternative medicine clinic to see if I could interview the patients then I can have an accurate and credible source for my research paper.

            One of my sources comes from an optimistic acupuncturist named Wayne Stephens.  He is a life time athlete who turned to acupuncture for muscle pain and anxiety.  From there he began to study is now an acupuncturist and believes strongly in its ability.  His website describes acupuncture, trigger point therapy, and athletic health.  He talks about acupuncture and his personal experience as well as the history of the alternative medicine.  He is a strong advocate for acupuncture for most if not all physical aspects of health, strongly recommends it for athletes.

            Another source comes from Jaung-Geng Lin, Yuan-Yu Chan, and Yi-Hung Chen, a group of neurologist that conducted a study dealing with people and acupuncture.  They ended up getting mixed of reviews concerning withdraw symptoms and anxiety.  They are very impartial in their research.  They talk about acupuncture from both sides and ultimately conclude that there isn’t enough evidence to prove that it does work but they also do not have sufficient evidence to determine that it doesn’t.

Dialogue:

Stephens:  How’s Lindsey doing Mr. Lin?

Lin: She’s not doing so well.

Stephens: What’s wrong with her?

Lin: Well she’s skipping out on rehab again.

Stephens: Have you tried prescribing acupuncture for her, to help with the withdraw symptoms?

Lin: No, because it’s not proven to help the particular narcotic she is on.

Stephens: You never know until you try. Besides the basic anatomy of the human body is the same, but not all acupuncture patients have the same feeling after. That part is individualized.

Lin: I’m not sure about this.

Stephens: Come on Lin! The first session is free. How does that sound?

Lin: Okay, I’ll try to get her in your office as soon as possible, and that sounds wonderful. Thank you.