Yo Ho-Ho and a Bottle Bao He Wan

When I was younger, I thought working for a cruise line would be an amazing job.  I had actually considered it when I got my RN but did not want to leave my acupuncture practice.  If this becomes a continuing trend, I may have to consider a little working vacation!

LOS ANGELES, July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Enriching its portfolio of wellness opportunities, Crystal Cruises is introducing onboard acupuncture, along with a menu of Chinese herbs revered for restoring and enhancing health, beauty and longevity. A menu of optional acupuncture treatments, launching this month on Crystal Serenity, focuses on weight loss, pain management, stress reduction, detoxification, smoking cessation, facial rejuvenation and even sea sickness.

"For many, a vacation offers the freedom to try something new," says Thomas Mazloum, senior vice president, hotel operations. "Whether one is just curious or one wants to pursue new treatments, acupuncture complements Crystal's myriad of onboard wellness activities, which have transformed guests into devotees of disciplines like yoga or reflexology or Spinning(R)."

Acupuncture is a technique of inserting and manipulating fine needles into specific points on the body to ease pain and for other therapeutic purposes. According to the World Health Organization and other reputable entities, acupuncture helps relieve aches and pains; stimulate weight loss; alleviate stress; detoxify the body; smoking cessation; seasickness; and anti-aging.

The Crystal acupuncture program includes:

-- Onboard acupuncturist - Nancy Kerastas, Crystal Serenity's licensed acupuncture physician, has been practicing the art since 2002;

-- Menus of Chinese herbs - Includes remedies that reactivate the body's fat-burning process; stabilize blood sugar metabolism; and relieve swollen or immobile joints; and

-- Shipboard seminars - Three to five classes will be held per cruise, discussing acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and Feng Shui practices and benefits.

Guests receive pre-session consultations to discuss their conditions and medical histories. Cost is $150 for a 60-minute session and can be booked through Crystal's Feng Shui-designed spa.

Crystal also offers complimentary yoga, Pilates and newly introduced "Tour de Spin" cycling classes, and an exclusive Walk on Water(R) program utilizing weighted vests to increase resistance. The line continues its partnership with the esteemed Cleveland Clinic to feature onboard lectures and seminars with leading medical experts.

In December 2008, and in 2009 both Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity host Mind, Body & Spirit theme cruises, focusing on general wellness through classes and discussions with guest instructors in Tai Chi, yoga, Pilates and general fitness.

For additional information and Crystal reservations, please contact a travel agent or call 888-799-4625. Visit the luxury line's website, crystalcruises.com.

CONTACT: Mimi Weisband 310-203-4302

publicrelations@crystalcruises.com

Crystal Cruises

Web site: http://www.crystalcruises.com/

A little acupuncture humor

From The Daily Mash (UK)

ACUPUNCTURE GOOD FOR COVERING BODY IN TINY HOLES, SAYS STUDY

ACUPUNCTURE is extremely effective at making tiny holes all over the body, the biggest ever study of the ancient Chinese remedy has revealed. 

Researchers commissioned by the Acupuncture Society tested the needle-based complementary therapy on 2,000 patients, all of whom reported small holes in their skin after treatment.



The Institute for Studies then gave a control group of 2,000 different patients no acupuncture at all, after which they were examined and found to be entirely hole free.



Report author Henry Brubaker said: "If even one patient given the needle treatment had come back without a hole I might have had my doubts, but this shows that acupuncture works.



"As you can see, when the needle is pushed into the patient’s skin it breaks through the outer layer and so creates a tiny hole. But even after you remove it, the hole remains. Still think it's all in the mind?"

Julian Cook, president of the Acupuncture Society, welcomed the report as a major piece of scientific research and excellent value for money.



He said: "A report came out last week that said acupuncture is no help whatsoever if you are trying to get up the duff. Call that science? What about China?

"Those guys are pumping them out so fast they have laws against it. Ever tried counting them? All you need to do is show a Chinese woman a needle and she’s pregnant. You don’t even need sperm."

Who needs the PDR?

Only a few lines in this piece are about acupuncture, but I thought it was worth posting for the subject matter alone.  The thing they do not mention is that the PDR does not include drugs that are off patent, so it is basically a sales rep disguised as an important looking book.

8 drugs doctors wouldn't take

If your physician would skip these medicines, maybe you should, too

By Morgan Lord

With 3,480 pages of fine print, the Physicians' Desk Reference (a.k.a. PDR) is not a quick read. That's because it contains every iota of information on more than 4,000 prescription medications. Heck, the PDR is medication — a humongous sleeping pill. 

Doctors count on this compendium to help them make smart prescribing decisions — in other words, to choose drugs that will solve their patients' medical problems without creating new ones. Unfortunately, it seems some doctors rarely pull the PDR off the shelf. Or if they do crack it open, they don't stay versed on emerging research that may suddenly make a once-trusted treatment one to avoid. Worst case: You swallow something that has no business being inside your body. 

Of course, plenty of M.D.'s do know which prescription and over-the-counter drugs are duds, dangers, or both. So we asked them, "Which medications would you skip?" Their list is your second opinion. If you're on any of these meds, talk to your doctor. Maybe he or she will finally open that big red book with all the dust on it.

Celebrex 
Once nicknamed "super aspirin," Celebrex is now better known for its side effects than for its pain-relieving prowess. The drug has been linked to increased risks of stomach bleeding, kidney trouble, and liver damage. But according to a 2005 New England Journal of Medicine study, the biggest threat is to your heart: People taking 200 mg of Celebrex twice a day more than doubled their risk of dying of cardiovascular disease. Those on 400 mg twice a day more than tripled their risk, compared with people taking a placebo.

Your new strategy: What you don't want to do is stop swallowing Celebrex and begin knocking back ibuprofen, because regular use of high doses of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can lead to gastrointestinal bleeding. A safer swap is acupuncture. A German study found that for people suffering from chronic lower-back pain, twice-weekly acupuncture sessions were twice as effective as conventional treatments with drugs, physical therapy, and exercise. The strategic needling may stimulate central-nervous-system pathways to release the body's own painkillers, including endorphins and enkephalins, says Duke University anesthesiologist Tong-Joo Gan, M.D.

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Competition!

Well, I knew it was bound to happen.  Doctors don't need acupuncture training to add it to their service list, chiropractors just assume they are qualified to be acupuncturists with or without a "certification course,"  and now physical therapists are getting in on the act!

Needling' Becoming More Popular To Treat Pain

DENVER (CBS4) ― Some physical therapists in Colorado are offering an alternative treatment for chronic muscle pain and stiffness.

On Tuesday, CBS4 health specialist Kathy Walsh sat in on a session of the new treatment called "trigger point dry needling."

Using very thin, solid needles to penetrate deep into areas of tension, dry needling promises to stimulate, reset and relax muscles.

One satisfied dry needling patient is Sgt. First Class Lee Holloway. According to Holloway, dry needling is an effective way to relieve muscle tension.

Although similar to acupuncture, Keil says that dry needling is actually its own distinct practice. 

"It's a very Western concept of muscle anatomy," said Keil. "As compared to the Eastern concept of the meridian through acupuncture."

Some licensed acupuncturists are skeptical of this claim.

The president of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado, Nancy Bilello, says dry needling is just a dubious form of acupuncture.

"Dry needling is the same thing as acupuncture with far less training and very little regulation," said Bilello.

While licensed acupuncturists must have a minimum of 1,800 hours of training, physical therapists hoping to practice dry needling require only 46 hours of training, according to Bilello,

Despite concerns like Bilello's, in 2005 the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies did approve dry needling for practice by trained physical therapists.

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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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Ahhh, Research!

Finding a research study involving acupuncture that has any statistical significance or reproducible design is not an easy task. This one involving hot flashes and tamoxifen is decent, despite the argument that it is not reproducible because there is no pill involved (?!) and the results are subjective (um, last time I checked there was no lab value for pain or discomfort). An objector does bring up a reluctance to send one of his patients to an acupuncturist he is not familiar with, and that should make any practitioner realize that MDs can be an important component to a successful practice. From my standpoint, I would have liked to have known what treatment protocol was used, but with a little digging I am sure it is not difficult to find.

Acupuncture Can Relieve Hot Flushes Caused by Tamoxifen
Monday, 21 April 2008 20:53 Zosia Chustecka

Acupuncture reduced by half the hot flushes caused by tamoxifen in a small clinical trial involving 59 breast cancer patients after surgery. Relief was experienced both day and night, and the reduction in hot flushes was seen 3 months after the last acupuncture treatment.

The study involved a 10-week course of treatment (with sessions twice a week for 5 weeks, and then once a week for 5 weeks). A control group received sham acupuncture, with needles inserted shallowly (to a depth of 3 mm; in real acupuncture, needles are inserted to a depth of 3 cm), and in places far away from known acupuncture points. Ms. Hervik said that in both cases she aimed for a neutral atmosphere, with no soft music and minimal time spent talking to the patient, to reduce the placebo effect of the treatment.

Women treated with real acupuncture reported a 50% reduction in hot flushes, both day and night, and reported a further reduction in hot flushes when assessed 3 months after the last acupuncture treatment. The women in the sham group reported no changes in hot flushes during the day, and a slight reduction in hot flushes at night while the treatment was ongoing, but they increased once the treatment stopped.

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