Acupuncture to treat Spasmodic Dysphonia


Posted by Sharon Harmon ® , Jul 27,2001,17:06   Archive
I received my first acupuncture yesterday, I work as
admin assist. and need my voice every day for my job.
Botox injections left me without a voice (or a very low
soft, breathy voice) that by the time my voice was normal
then the SD symptoms were already coming back. After my
first treatment yesterday, I believe this might help to
relax my vocal chords but my insurance will not pay for
treatments since this is not acupuncture for pain relief.
It will pay for Botox injections because it is medicine.
Does anyone have any knowledge of acupuncture to treat SD
before I spend alot of my money for these procedures.
Thanks, Sharon harmon



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Re: Acupuncture to treat Spasmodic Dysphonia

Re : Acupuncture to treat Spasmodic Dysphonia --- Sharon Harmon
Posted by David Barton (NZ) ® , Jul 27,2001,21:47 Top of Thread Archive
Hello Sharon - welcome to the NSDA bulletin board.

There was a thread on acupuncture on the board quite recently.

The word 'acupuncture' was misspelt in the headers as "acupunture" but if you search for that (misspelt) term then you'll see what people said about it. It is as simple as clicking on the Search link on the main page of the board and then typing in what you want to look for.

My personal opinion is that I've tried acupuncture myself; and my experience then, and belief now, is that it won't do much, if anything, to relieve the spasms in your larynx. SD is a neurological movement disorder (laryngeal dystonia) and acupuncture won't, in my opinion, relieve the problem which actually originates in the brain, most probably the basal ganglia. In the same way acupuncture is unlikely to help in MS, Parkinson's etc.

It might help your general well-being, but that's another issue.

Good luck

David




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Re: Acupuncture to treat Spasmodic Dysphonia

Re : Acupuncture to treat Spasmodic Dysphonia --- Sharon Harmon
Posted by cinthia ritchie ® (Cinthia Ritchie,cinthia ritchie), Jul 31,2001,02:32 Top of Thread Archive
I don't know Sharon. I believe strongly in alternative medicine, though I also believe one needs to be very careful: it's easy to spend quite a lot of money chasing worthless cures.
Still, acupuncture has had amazing results with other disorders. I believe that SD is caused by a variety of things and there is not just one cure/solution. So do whatever feels best for you. Trust your gut instinct.
Some insurances will pay for acupuncture when recommended by a medical doctor. Check out your policy and see if this is the case.



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Re: Acupuncture to treat Spasmodic Dysphonia

Re : Acupuncture to treat Spasmodic Dysphonia --- Sharon Harmon
Posted by Mike ODonoghue ® , Jul 31,2001,18:12 Top of Thread Archive
Hi Sharon,

Good luck with your Acupunture. I asked a similar question several weeks ago.

I recently found an article on the net about this subject. The article was based upon a report in the Journal of Voice (1997:11(2);232) which describes an alternative approach by comparing the effects of Botox vs. acupuncture. The article suggests that acupuncture may provide long-term improvement for at least some types of SD.

You may wish to check out the article in full at the following site.

mike Related link: http://members.aol.com/calmshen/spasdys2.htm




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