Good evening everyone
I have an active spinal AVM with an aneurysm. I get a lot of nerve pain and tremors / electric shock type feelings in my left leg. I was thinking of having acupuncture to relieve some pain. I wondered if anyone knows if it is safe or not to have? My thoughts are it could stimulate and increase blood flow, which would obviously not be good. Any advice welcome!
Hi, my name is Richard and i'm 70 yrs. old from canada. I had an AVM in my spine and i was paralysed so i had no choice to get an operation and now i can walk again but i have poor balance so i use a cane to go outside. I am still numb from waist down with minor pain. I am just thankful i can walk and go places. Contact me for questions if you want.
PS.. for all it's worth , if i had gone to a neurosurgeon faster , i would probably walk normally now... Maybe you should look at seeing one as fast as possible. My aneurysm got so big that it damaged my spinal cord.... My advice for you is to do something about it as fast as possible... Good luck....Richard, I am Michael from Germany, spinal dural AVM victim/warrior too. question: Have you bowel and bladder issues too? Best wishes°
Dear Stephanie,
thanks for opening this discussion. Thinking about this too. But all PT are afraid using acupuncture, cause no one knows much about spinal AVM complications. So, like you, happy to see some good answers here. Best for you !
Yes, I’m also wary to be honest. Be good to hear other people’s view / experiences
Thanks Richard, I had surgery 2 years ago. Mine is supplying blood to the spinal cord, so too dangerous to remove completely
I walk with a stick too, always tripping over etc. rubbish balance
yes Michael, I had a perminent catheter for 3 weeks and after i put one in every night for about 6 months.. Now my bladder works pretty well. For my bowels i have to drink 1/2 glass of warm prune nectar followed by a hot coffee every 2 days and this helps a lot.Let me know if this helps you.. take care... Richard.
Hi Steph.. I did not know you had the surgery. Mine was completly removed also 2 yrs ago but balance etcccc.......... still a problem.. Does not seem to want to improve. Keep in touch cause we are not that many with the same problem .. Take care.. Richard
I scheduled for acupuncture this Saturday. I'm going to visit Dr Shu and discuss my situation, history, and find out how it may be able to help.
My AVM was found and treated relatively quickly. I continue to have some numbness in my left foot, tingling in my left leg, periodic weakness, and at times extending to the right leg also. In addition, I have bowel and/or bladder issues that come and go. The bowel issues seem to trigger the bladder issues.
To be honest, I'm in decent shape (weight loss required!), strong and have been very fortunate. The issues are more frustrating rather than debilitating most of the time. I'm able to go to yoga, the gym, and have walked up to three miles and shooting to get back to four. On the other hand, I just stopped doing all of that for about a month because of a worsening of symptoms and some pronounced difficulties. It seems to have subsided now though.
At times I'll tend to stumble over my own feet or have significant trouble going down stairs. On other days, I'm mostly fine.
I'm interested in seeing how he will propose treating me and what he feels can be accomplished. I'll let you know.
Yes would be great to see what he says
Thanks Richard
Hi
I've had great benefit with acupuncture for nerve pains. I am post op though. My nerve pain was a side effect of my surgery, I did't suffer with it before the op.
All the best whether you decide to go ahead with it or not.
Tracy
I had acupuncture on Saturday. It was professional and very thorough in terms of my medical history, issues numbness in primarily my left foot and leg, the bladder and bowel roller coaster, periodic weakness in one or both legs, etc. As I've mentioned before, I have issues, but am very lucky that they are relatively minor.
Wow, they used a lot of needles. Head, neck, ears, arms, legs, ankles. They used a lot going down both sides of my spine.
When they finally came out, I was feeling a bit shaky. That passed pretty quickly. I thought I could feel a difference in the sensations in my foot, but it very well might have been psychosomatic. Time will tell.
In any case, I thought it a positive experience and have an appointment for next week.
That’s good to hear, hope you continue to improve
Hi I saw my consultant Friday, although she said it would be ok to do acupuncture, she said honestly she doesn’t think it will help my particular situation and could make it worse, so I am going to cancel my appointment. Thanks for all your responses x
Hi , i think you are wise not to take a chance.. Better be safe than sorry.