Helix Clinic blog

We get many calls and emails from prospective patients asking us how effective acupuncture is to help stop smoking. There is certainly lots of anecdotal evidence that acupuncture can help someone to stop smoking, and at the clinic we have helped lots of people to quit smoking for good, but sometimes people still have trouble giving up.

From our experience, we have found that the most effective application of acupuncture to help stop smoking is through shorter, more frequent sessions.  The physical cravings are generally the worst during those first three weeks after quitting, and during that time people need support more than once a week to help with persistent cravings.

For those first three weeks, we would recommend coming in for at least two and preferably three short ear acupuncture treatments (15-20 minutes) evenly spaced throughout the week. In addition, it is best to start the whole process with a couple of body acupuncture sessions to help the detox process get started. After that initial 3 week period, weekly body acupuncture sessions are recommended for a further month to help consolidate and prevent relapse.

One of our blocks of 5 acupuncture treatments (at a cost of £200) would cover an initial consultation and body acupuncture treatment, 3 weeks of 2-3 ear acupuncture sessions a week, and a final week’s body acupuncture treatment to help get you through that tricky initial period, and off the cigarettes for good.

Tags: cravings, ear acupuncture, smoking

If fertility consultants had a way to check collected eggs for chromosome abnormalities, they would be able to reduce the chances of miscarriage or birth defects after implantation. Recently, in Nottingham, doctors collected 9 eggs from a woman undergoing treatment and were successful in using a new screening technique to help identify the best eggs with intact chromosomes. The 41 year old woman had previously had 2 miscarriages and 13 subsequent unsuccessful courses of IVF, but fell pregnant after the cycle that used the new screening process.

The process could also potentially be helpful to doctors wanting to reduce the number of twins and triplets as a result of IVF, as it could improve the chances of selecting the most promising embryo and reducing the need to implant 2 or more in any given cycle.

The technique has not yet been subject to full rigorous trials so will probably not be widely available for some time yet, but seems a promising development in fertility medicine.

Tags: chromosome abnormalities, egg screening, infertility, IVF, miscarriage

The Cochrane Collaboration regularly publishes respected reviews on the effectiveness of different medical treatments, and recently published a review that confirmed the beneficial effect of acupuncture for headache. They analysed 33 separate studies that involved nearly 7000 patients once they had collated the results.

Researchers reviewed trials of acupuncture for tension headaches (usually affecting both sides of the head) as well as migraines, and in both cases found that many patients experienced fewer headaches or migraines after having acupuncture. After an 8 week course of treatment, patients who had acupuncture with no painkillers tended to suffer with less headaches compared to those who were given only painkillers.

The results also indicated that positive effects were observed even if the needles were placed incorrectly according to traditional texts. This raises the often mentioned possibility of non-specific needle effects and/or placebo effects. We do not see a problem with placebo effects, as our primary concern is for the well-being of the patient. If a patient can get better thanks to a combination of acupuncture and the power of the mind, that has to be better than staying hooked on a long-term course of powerful painkilling drugs and all their associated side effects.

It is extremely likely that placebo effects have a part to play in the overall experience of acupuncture, but it is very unlikely to be the whole story. There have been a number of recent fMRI studies that point to definite physiological effects due to specific needling. In addition, anectodal evidence suggests acupuncture is effective on animals as well as humans, which is much harder to explain by recourse to the placebo effect. The overall findings of this Cochrane study are interesting and as usual, point to a need for further research.

Tags: Cochrane review, headaches, migraines

An interesting paper was published in 2008 in the BMJ, by Bhattacharaya et. al., that raises questions about the effectiveness of two of the most commonly used treatments for couples with unexplained infertility (a quarter of all couples with fertility problems have unexplained infertility).

Clomifene (or Clomid) is a medicine that stimulates a woman’s ovaries to produce more eggs, and IUI (intrauterine insemination) is a procedure that involves injecting sperm directly into the womb. Both of these treatments are currently endorsed in the UK by the NICE fertility guidelines for couples with unexplained infertility.

The research paper is interesting because it suggests that these treatments are no more effective than waiting for 6 months without treatment. The likelihood of falling pregnant during the study’s 6 month period was the same for all couples, whether they had one of the treatments or not.

The research is convincing because it included 580 couples and adhered to the strict standards of a randomised controlled trial, making it one of the largest good quality studies of this type of infertility. So if you have unexplained infertility and have been offered clomifene or IUI, it would be worth mentioning this study to your consultant and asking why they think this treatment would be relevant for you.

Tags: clomid, clomifene, infertility, IUI

We have seen lots of patients recently with lingering colds. The typical pattern is a couple of days feeling rough, followed by a partial recovery but with lingering symptoms such as a stuffy nose/sinuses or persistent cough. Before immediately going for the non-prescription drugs, it’s worth remembering a few good natural remedies that work just as well, and often much better.

For stuffy sinuses, an aromatic facial steam bath can work wonders. Fill up a bowl with boiling water, add a good few drops of Olbas oil, and breathe in the steam while covering your head with a towel.

For a persistent cough, try getting hold of a throat  spray containing collidal silver. It is anti-bacterial and anti-viral and can help to take the edge off inflamed tonsils. Grape seed extract and garlic also have very powerful anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties.

If you are feeling brave, try this recipe for a honey, lemon and ginger drink with a difference. Use 2 slices of lemon, a spoonful of good honey (Manuka honey has the best natural healing properties), 1-2 inches of ginger root finely chopped, and 2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped.  Put the ingredients in a big mug, add boiling water, stir well and leave to brew for a good few minutes. In between taking sips of the drink, use a spoon to remove and then eat the ginger and garlic at the bottom of the mug. It’s an intense experience but often just one of these drinks is enough to blast out the remains of that annoying persistent cold.

For those not quite so brave, why not make an aromatic Thai curry, using Thai basil, garlic, coconut milk and lots of chilli. It will help, and is much more pleasant than popping a bunch of pills…

Tags: colds, colloidal silver, garlic, ginger, grape seed extract, honey, Olbas oil