Acupuncture Helping UI/OAB?!?
Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 3:05 am
All: Allow me to share my young/early journey with acupuncture and how it has greatly helped with my urinary incontinence!
The jury is still out, but I must admit that I have been going to an acupuncturist for some 7 weeks now and I've noticed quite a marked change for the better.
Let me give a quick recap: I'm urinary incontinent. There was a surgery some years ago that caused an unrelated urinary stricture. After some time and healing, things returned to pre-op normal. Later still, a couple of UTIs led to bouts of incon; but they would eventually subside and go away. Then, all of a sudden (due to old age?), the stress incon and then OAB started and, combined with the scarring from the stricture, took their toll and relegated me to 24/7 diapers due to unpredictable urinary continence.
Meanwhile, I had heard about acupuncture being able to help with UI; but I never considered it for myself ... until recently ... After doing some research on accup helping cases of stress incon and OAB, I decided to visit a local acupuncturist. The results have been nothing short of amazing!
The first visit/treatment seemed to have awaken bladder nerves that I had long since forgotten how they worked. On my 3rd session, the acupuncturist "hit" something because her needle insertion caused me to want to void and void "now", but I was in control and didn't void. It's been 5 sessions now and I'm nearly ready to switch to thin/light-duty pull ups; and then on to just pads! I haven't had a OAB spasm in nearly 10 days; and the urge incon has improved significantly.
All this to say that at first, I was really skeptical about acupuncture helping at all; especially for a "mechanical" problem related to an old stricture. However, I was proved wrong! And while I and the acupuncturist do not think that I will get a 100% complete reversal due to the stricture scar tissue, I have to admit that there has been a very great improvement for the better!!
I've got a few more sessions to go, but if things continue as they have been, then I want to give an enthusiastic and positive shout-out for acupuncture in being able to help with incontinence.
I'll post more as time marches on ...
ILuvLA
The jury is still out, but I must admit that I have been going to an acupuncturist for some 7 weeks now and I've noticed quite a marked change for the better.
Let me give a quick recap: I'm urinary incontinent. There was a surgery some years ago that caused an unrelated urinary stricture. After some time and healing, things returned to pre-op normal. Later still, a couple of UTIs led to bouts of incon; but they would eventually subside and go away. Then, all of a sudden (due to old age?), the stress incon and then OAB started and, combined with the scarring from the stricture, took their toll and relegated me to 24/7 diapers due to unpredictable urinary continence.
Meanwhile, I had heard about acupuncture being able to help with UI; but I never considered it for myself ... until recently ... After doing some research on accup helping cases of stress incon and OAB, I decided to visit a local acupuncturist. The results have been nothing short of amazing!
The first visit/treatment seemed to have awaken bladder nerves that I had long since forgotten how they worked. On my 3rd session, the acupuncturist "hit" something because her needle insertion caused me to want to void and void "now", but I was in control and didn't void. It's been 5 sessions now and I'm nearly ready to switch to thin/light-duty pull ups; and then on to just pads! I haven't had a OAB spasm in nearly 10 days; and the urge incon has improved significantly.
All this to say that at first, I was really skeptical about acupuncture helping at all; especially for a "mechanical" problem related to an old stricture. However, I was proved wrong! And while I and the acupuncturist do not think that I will get a 100% complete reversal due to the stricture scar tissue, I have to admit that there has been a very great improvement for the better!!
I've got a few more sessions to go, but if things continue as they have been, then I want to give an enthusiastic and positive shout-out for acupuncture in being able to help with incontinence.
I'll post more as time marches on ...
ILuvLA