STICKING AROUND.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

She tried a neurologist. She tried the soft-tissue manipulation and structural realignment known as Rolfing. She tried everything.

Nothing worked to rid her of the terrible pain, the nausea and frustration that accompanies migraine headaches.

Not until Terri Baarstad tried acupuncture. "It was time to get my life back," the Eugene dentist says. "But I didn't have a whole lot of faith."

She also didn't have anything to lose.

So about eight years ago, Baarstad tried the ancient medical procedure born in China at least 2,500 year ago, if not twice that long. And it worked.

It also lowered her blood pressure and improved her menstrual cycle. She thinks.

"I don't know if it's acupuncture," Baarstad says. "But I haven't tried anything else."

Baarstad is one of many in the Eugene-Springfield area - and one of many nationwide - who have tried acupuncture in recent years, searching for an answer to maladies ranging from heart problems to arthritis, from drug addiction to depression. Even infertility.

An estimated 8.2 million American adults have tried acupuncture, according to the 2002 National Health Interview Survey conducted through the U.S. Census Bureau by the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And an estimated 2.1 million had used it in the previous year.

A medical procedure that has been a mainstay and a part of the culture in Far East nations for thousands of years, acupuncture is now becoming almost mainstream in the United States. And it would appear that more and more physicians are referring their patients to acupuncturists, or even undergoing the ancient procedure themselves.

Eugene acupuncturist Julie (Qiuling) Fu counts two cardiologists among her estimated 2,000 patients, and says she receives referrals from many more.

"It's growing, yes," says Fu, a former medical doctor in her native China who moved to Eugene in 1994. "Without question. More people should know acupuncture. Most people feel better right away."

Punctured doubts

Americans became better acquainted with acupuncture after a 1971 article in The New York Times by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter James Reston, who wrote about doctors in China using needles to ease his pain after an appendectomy, according to the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, or NCCAM.

In 1971, there were no acupuncturists listed in the Eugene-Springfield phone book. In 1980, there were two. In 1990, there were eight. Five years ago, in 2002, the Quest Dex phone book for the greater Eugene-Springfield area listed 20 acupuncturists. And now? This year's phone book lists 34.

Why such a greater acceptance?

"First and foremost, it helps people," says longtime Eugene acupuncturist Malvin Falkenstein, chairman of the Acupuncture Advisory Committee of the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners, which licensed acupuncturists in the state.

Falkenstein, who received his license from the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners in 1980, says he was the 44th acupuncturist licensed in Oregon. Today, there are more licensed acupuncturists (899) than licensed osteopaths (805) in the state, according to the board's Web site.

A major shift in the acceptance of acupuncture among Americans began about a decade ago, Falkenstein says, after a panel of experts convened in 1997 by the National Institutes of Health concluded that "promising results have emerged" for many Americans undergoing acupuncture.

"The conclusion was: acupuncture does work," Falkenstein says.

The panel's conclusions came a year after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved acupuncture needles for use by licensed practitioners.

The panel found that acupuncture might not only help relieve post-operative dental pain, but that it is an acceptable alternative or complementary treatment for conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, headaches, low back pain, menstrual cramps, osteoarthritis and tennis elbow. The panel also noted there's evidence that acupuncture causes the release of endorphins - natural pain-relieving substances in the body.

Today, 41 states and the District of Columbia license acupuncturists in America.

"Great healing potential"

How acupuncture works, however, has always been somewhat of a mystery. A mystery mocked by many Western doctors over the years who likened it to sticking pins in voodoo dolls. Is it really doing something to the body, or is it just a placebo effect?

"I don't think a lot of us know how it works," says Patrice Peterson, who has practiced acupuncture in Eugene since 1984. "But we don't know how a lot of things work. How does aspirin work? I don't ask the question anymore. I tell patients, 'I don't know. It just works.' '

The typical explanation goes something like this one provided on the NCCAM's Web site: Traditional Chinese medicine sees the human body as a delicate balance of two opposing and inseparable forces - yin and yang. Yin represents the cold, slow or passive principle, and yang represents the hot, excited or active principle. Health is maintained by balancing these two forces; disease is due to an imbalance.

Imbalance leads to blockage in the flow of vital energy known as qi (pronounced "chee') along pathways known as meridians. It is believed there are 12 main meridians and eight secondary meridians in the human body, and more than 2,000 acupuncture points that connect them.

The theory goes that stimulating these points through acupuncture helps restore the balance and flow of qi so organs and bodily systems can work in harmony as intended, enabling the body to heal itself.

"Because our bodies have great healing potential," Fu says.

Lack of coverage

Mostly through word-of-mouth, Fu has become one of the more popular acupuncturists in Eugene. Many of her patients say they were referred by friends, co-workers or their own doctors. And many say they come to her because she is Chinese and learned acupuncture where it originated, where her mother was an acupuncturist and physician, too.

"You have to go to an acupuncturist trained in China," says Barbara Rakowski of Eugene, who says Fu's acupuncture treatments have helped ease her depression tremendously. "They know more about it than anyone else. After 5,000 years, the Chinese must know something."

As Baarstad, the Eugene dentist says: "Eight billion Chinese people can't be wrong."

Rakowski, 63, says her physician recommended Fu. Her doctor, along with a couple of other Eugene physicians Fu says she's received referrals from, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Fu and other acupuncturists say that while older, more conservative physicians continue to doubt the efficacy of acupuncture, younger generations of MDs are more accepting.

"Some doctors (are) not comfortable with it," Fu says. "But more and more are. More and more doctors are giving credit."

Many doctors used to say of acupuncture, "Oh, that's just folklore," says Eugene acupuncturist Stuart Greenleaf, who also began in Eugene in 1980 and now practices a growing form of electric acupuncture known as micro-current stimulation that doesn't involve needles. "But they don't say that anymore. Now it's recognized health care."

Patients say Fu charges $65 for a session, after a $35 orientation fee. But many health insurance plans still do not cover acupuncture treatment, they say. Still, many say it's less expensive than making one co-pay after another for expensive medications.

"I don't have to take any pills (anymore)," Rakowski says of her bouts of depression.

A soft touch

People experience it differently, but most feel minimal pain as the needles are inserted. If inserted properly, that is.

"Some people are really freaked out by needles, but for me that's not an issue," says Baarstad, who has sent several of her patients, particularly those suffering from temporomandibular joint syndrome, or TMJ, to Fu.

Baarstad did, however, come away with a black eye once after a needle came close to an orbital bone, she says. But she still swears by acupuncture, and the treatment she's received from Fu. "It is amazing," she says. "In my experience, nothing has worked better for headaches."

Lisa Dumdi, a registered nurse from Junction City, began bringing her 12-year-old son, Cody Nyquist, to Fu seeking help for his migraine headaches in March. Cody was getting them as often as four times a week. His grades were suffering. He was depressed. She took him to the doctor. She took him to a neurologist, but still, the headaches came often.

Since March, when Cody first came to see Fu, he's only had three migraines, his mother says. "I think it's a miracle for us, personally," Dumdi says. "I didn't know where else to turn. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I wouldn't have believed it. And I'm a nurse. I believe in Western medicine."

So does Fu. So do other acupuncturists.

But acupuncture can be a successful complementary procedure for many, they say. It is considered a holistic approach that encompasses the entire body's balance and energy, and works best with proper diet, exercise, herbs, meditation or massage.

For James Cummings of Eugene, a self-employed tree cutter and patient of Fu's, acupuncture mixes well with his healthy lifestyle that includes no sugars or caffeine, no alcohol or drugs. Ever since seeing an acupuncturist in Berkeley, Calif., after a 1984 motorcycle accident, he's been a believer. He combines acupuncture with massage for his many ailments, many suffered on the job. He says he broke six bones in his neck and back when he was hit by the top of an oak tree two years ago. His neck was fused, but he received acupuncture from Fu as soon as possible, and it immediately relieved his pain, he says.

"It was a major part of my recovery," says Cummings, 43, waiting barefoot in Fu's Coburg Road office for his next treatment.

Acupuncture also helps him with stress, as well as restoring balance to both his mind and body, he says. "That's the best part about it," Cummings says. "It doesn't ignore anything. It's a very holistic approach."

"ACU" TIPS

The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, recommends the following if you're considering acupuncture:

Inform all of your health care providers if you're considering or undergoing acupuncture; ask about the treatment procedures that will be used and their likelihood of success for your condition or disease.

Find out what scientific studies have been done on the effectiveness of acupuncture for your health condition.

Choose an acupuncturist with care. In Oregon, acupuncturists are licensed by the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners. Also check with your health insurer to see if services will be covered. Many acupuncture treatments are not.

More information: Check the following Web sites - www.aaom.org (American Association of Oriental Medicine); www.medicalacupuncture.org (American Academy of Medical Acupuncture); www.nccam.nih.gov (National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine)

ACUPUNCTURE CONFERENCE

The American Association of Oriental Medicine will hold its 2007 International Conference & Exposition Oct. 19 through Oct. 21 at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower. Check the AAOM's Web site for more information.

Acupuncturist Julie Fu holds a text first used by her mother on the ancient Chinese healing art. Fu and other acupuncturists say that while older, more conservative physicians continue to doubt the benefits of acupuncture, younger generations of doctors are more accepting.