Alana & Neil, Santa Cruz and Los Gatos Acupuncturists

We spend a lot of time trying to explain what an acupuncture treatment is like.... here is an example of what it's NOT like, courtesy of Saturday Night Live. Take note, it's not for the squeamish- if the Julia Child skit of old bothered you, don't watch this. http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live//acupuncture/n36756/

OK, this one's for men out there dealing with fertility issues. GET THE CELL PHONE OUT OF YOUR POCKET. That's right, the ubiquitous microwave transceivers we put next to our genitals are contributing to the decline in male fertility. The Cleveland Clinic study, from 2006, ( download the whole study at http://www.clevelandclinic.org/reproductiv//agradoc239.pdf) found a decline in sperm count, morphology (shape), motility, and viability. It doesn't get much worse than tha...t. Negative effects were directly related to length of exposure, so if it needs to be in your pocket get it out as soon as you can. Also, the impact of exposure to any radiation is proportional to the square of the distance between you and the radiation source- double the distance between you and the phone and you are exposed to 1/4 the amount of radiation, triple the distance and it drops to 1/9. So putting it on the car seat next to you, or in a cubby in the dash will significantly reduce your risk. See more

You saw it here first........"Chinese Medicine Blues"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDh6rTJnmvQ&feature=share

The very nature of acupuncture doesn't always lend itself well to the scientific "gold standard" of the randomized double blind controlled trial. This method of analysis requires that the patient not know if they are receiving the actual therapy being tested or a placebo- easily done if you're testing something that can be packaged in a pill, but stimulating the physical body is a bit harder to fake. "Sham" acupuncture needles still give a strong sensation to the surface of... the skin, which will still get the body's attention and move the qi. Western researches in Sweden refer to afferent nervous system input which is not dependent on the surface of the skin being penetrated. Which brings us to todays study (thank you for your patience): "Acupuncture for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" from the July 2012 American Journal of Gastroenterology. They found the effectiveness of "sham" and "true" acupuncture to be not statistically significant, but "true" acupuncture was better than pharmocological therapy. We understand the desire to learn the mechanism of acupuncture that underlies placebo acupuncture, but from the patients perspective the question is, will acupuncture help my IBS? The answer to that question is yes> See more

We can make it official- if you're taking antibiotics (or if your going to be taking them as a prophylactic prior to a medical procedure) you want to take some probiotics as well. "Probiotics for the Prevention of Clostridium dificile Associated Diarrhea", published in Annals of Internal Medicine December 18, 2012 is a review of 20 different trials, totaling 3818 patients. The authors found "moderate quality evidence suggests that probiotic prophylaxis results in a large re...duction" in diarrhea caused by the bacterium Clostridium dificile (CD), a particularly difficult malady to treat. Don't be fooled by "moderatre quality evidence"- it refers to the quality of the studies. When they crunched the numbers they found a 66% reduction in CD diarrhea. The thing to take away from this is that if probiotics can help prevent a stubborn bacteria like CD from taking hold they can probably also prevent other malicious bugs from proliferating as well. And they're safe: "without an increase in clinically important adverse events". I suggest starting probiotics at least two weeks prior to antibiotics if you know they're in your future, or as soon as possible if you just got a prescription, and continue for a month after finishing the drugs. Also, take the probiotics at a different time of day than the antibiotic, and look for a brand that has more than one strain, in particular look for acidopholus as well as bifidus. See more

And don't forget everybodys' (where does that apostrophe go anyway?) favorite for allergies- the Neti Pot. For the uninitiated, a neti pot is shaped like a small teapot. You put a lukewarm saline (salt water) solution in it, put the spout into a nostril and bend over a sink, tilting your head to one side so that the saline flows through one nostril and out the other. If it comes out your mouth you need to tilt your head down more. If your allergies turn into a sinus infec...tion, with thicker yellow or green mucus, after you add the salt add half that much baking soda as well. You'll need to stir the baking soda to get it to dissolve. If you have pollen allergies we suggest you rinse with a neti pot 2-3 times daily to remove allergens and therefore limit your allergic reaction. You can get neti pots at health food stores, drug stores or online. This will all be on the website under the "Home Medicine Chest" tab for future reference. See more

Allergy season is upon us- if this means you, try "Bi Yan Pian" from your local health food store. It's mild but should provide some relief if you can't make it in for a treatment.

Migraine treatment- a study published in Cephalalgia ("pain in the head") back in November 2011- yes, I'm a little behind in my perusal of the journals, but here it is: "Acupuncture vs Topiramate in chronic migraine prophylaxis". Topiramate is more commonly known as Topamax and is commonly prescribed for migraine. 66 patients were split into 2 groups, one receiving Topomax (up to 100 mg daily) and the other receiving 24 acupuncture treatments over 12 weeks. "A significantly larger decrease" in the number of headaches was reported by the acupuncture group compared with the Topomax group. 66% of the Topomax group also reported "adverse events" i.e. side effects.