Electroacupuncture for Reducing Inflammation

[Wishful]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200812115315.htm

Really early stage of research, but interesting, if it can be independently verified.

 

[Hip]

This paragraph explains the paradoxical effects of electroacupuncture at point ST25:

The team began by giving mice 15-minute electroacupuncture at 3 mA, at a specific site on the abdomen. This acupoint, dubbed ST25, has been associated with nerves of the spleen, which is a major organ involved in immune responses.

The team then simulated life-threatening inflammation by injecting mice with a compound called lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The researchers found that in animals treated using electroacupuncture before LPS administration, the serum levels of pro-inflammatory molecules were significantly lower than they were in control mice, and the electroacupuncture-treated animals’ survival rates also more than doubled.

However, when the team gave mice the electroacupuncture after the LPS shot, the electroacupuncture-treated mice had much greater inflammation than those that were untreated, and did not survive.

So if you get electroacupuncture at point ST25 before the inflammatory factor hits, it reduces the subsequent inflammation. But electroacupuncture given after the inflammatory factor hits actually increases inflammation.

Acupuncture Point ST25

Perhaps not so useful then in ME/CFS, where the inflammation may already be present. Unless that is increasing inflammation might be beneficial to ME/CFS (for fighting off viral infections for example).

 

[Wishful]

I didn't see it as a treatment for ME, but rather as something that might lead to a better understanding of the immune system, which might in turn help understand ME. The immune systems are ridiculously complex, and probably responsible for a lot of medical problems, so any new knowledge about what might influence triggering or progression of inflammation might be useful.

Maybe static build-up on clothing influences ME. Okay, highly unlikely, but I don't write down what I'm wearing each day in my journal, so it would be hard to notice a correlation between polyester and feeling worse.

I am interested in whether their reported effect is actually due to acupuncture points or whether it's a simple electrochemical reaction that might occur in parts of the body not known as traditional acupuncture points. Maybe it works just as well or better if it's positioned in relation to the spleen, rather than traditional acupuncture points.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

I cleared the worst conjuctivitis I"d ever had...in 30 minutes wiht two electrodes- one on my wrist and one on my thumb-

Instantly cured- witnessing that was amazing.