WARNING!

Acupuncture. Put needles in. Take needles out. All out? Yes, all out. Periodically, patients with fluffy hair or slippery clothing may have a souvenir left when they put on their hat or pull on their socks due to obstruction of the needle. However, the following is a serious example of when not having a system for insertion and withdrawal can cause a heap of trouble.

Acupunture patient left with 'forgotten' needle

May 9 2008 Media Wales

An acupuncture patient returned home from treatment with a two-inch needle stuck in her back, she said today.

Back pain sufferer Wendy Dempsey had her first acupuncture session on Wednesday at a hospital in Newport, South Wales.

The 54-year-old claims she suffered excruciating pain as she drove the five miles to her Llanmartin home and only realised what was wrong when her nephew Ieuan Edwards started screaming.

Mrs Dempsey said: “I was a bit apprehensive before the treatment, as I’d never had it done before.

“At the end, he said he’d removed the needles, and I felt fine.

“My eight-year-old nephew lives with me, and as I was driving us home I had this most tremendous pain in my back.

“I was in absolute agony. I thought I wasn’t going to get home. I kept slowing down, and every time I changed gears the pain got worse.”

When she arrived home, Mrs Dempsey said she had to wait 15 minutes before moving from the car because of the pain.

She said: “I asked my nephew to have a look at my back when we were in the house.

“He let out an ear-piercing scream. Once he had seen the needle, he was petrified.

“It’s just scared him – and it’s not done too much for me either.

“By driving home, I think I’d pushed it in further.”

Mrs Dempsey was driven to the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, by a neighbour, where the needle was removed from near the bottom of her back.

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Military Service (for them)

In an effort to prevent the situation many of our veterans faced following Vietnam, the VA has made wonderful progress in helping our military personnel re-acclimate to their lives before war. Yet in some areas, the services are spectacular, while in others it is sub-par or non-existent. This is why folks like the ones below are a wonderful boon to our soldiers, especially those returning home with PTSD.

Acupuncturists serving the troops

May 4, 2008
Margaret Gargarian respects the fact that her son's high school in Belmont has a community service requirement. "I think it should be part of life," she said.

To do her part, Gargarian - an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who has training in acupuncture - recently joined an offshoot of Acupuncturists Without Borders.

Gargarian and licensed acupuncturists Margaret Ryding, Bill Kellar, and Patricia Burkhart, all of Arlington, offer free, weekly acupuncture treatments for US military personnel who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gargarian said she believes alternative therapies are valuable because they offer another tool to cure or manage health problems.

Benefits of acupuncture, she said, may include reduced anxiety and irritability; improved sleep, energy, and mental clarity; and the alleviation of flashbacks and nightmares.

Although a client may feel a "quick pinch" as the thin acupuncture needles are inserted,

Gargarian said the treatment is relaxing. Sessions typical last a half hour.

"Every time we treat someone," she said, "it makes us feel good, too."

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