What to Expect
Holistic initial consultation and treatment - at your first appointment, we will complete your health questionnaire and symptom diary together. It is important that we are able complete these fully, because each time we meet they will inform our conversations about your holistic treatment plan. You may find it useful to bring with you a list of all of your medications (prescribed and shop bought), including any vitamins/supplements, creams, lotions and potions.
We will talk about your presenting problem, your symptoms, and how your health is impacting upon your wellbeing and lifestyle. We will explore your treatment goal/s and your acupuncture treatment will then follow.
Please allow up to 90 minutes.
Holistic follow-up consultation and treatment - at your follow-up appointments we will review your health, symptoms, wellbeing and goal/s; and your acupuncture treatment will then follow.
Please allow up to 45 minutes.
Treatment technique – the acupuncture needles are a few centimetres long and very fine [finer in fact than the aperture inside the needles used for blood tests!] They are inserted through your skin and left in place for around twenty minutes whilst you relax. The needles will be inserted into specific places – acupuncture points, or into trigger points – sites of muscle tenderness/knots. It may be necessary for you to remove or roll up some of your outer clothing, or change into shorts for example so that I can easily treat your legs, or a vest top for treatments to your arms.
The number of needles varies, from just a couple to maybe ten or more; and depending upon your experience at the time, I may stimulate the needles during your treatment – this means that I will manipulate the needles with my fingers to improve their treatment effect.
After needle insertion, you may feel sensations ranging from tingling to a dull ache, warmth or cold; and this could be just at the needle site, or extend from the needle site, or may be in another area of your body altogether. You should not experience any significant pain, although a very brief and sharp sensation will most likely be felt as the needle is inserted through your skin – those of you who have ever had blood taken or donated blood will have felt a sharper scratch as the venepuncture needle was inserted.
If experienced at all, these tend to be mild and short lived: localised bleeding/bruising, soreness/redness or mottling of your skin at the needle sites, light headedness, feeling faint or fainting, drowsiness/sleepiness, and nausea. Occasionally, some people experience a temporary exacerbation or flare up of their symptoms/condition for up to 24 hours before improvement starts. Needling sites over the internal organs carries a rare but potentially serious risk of damage.
If you have a bleeding disorder or take anticoagulant medication, this understandably increases the possibility of localised bleeding/bruising, but does not automatically exclude you from receiving treatment. However, site selection and the number/size of needles used may need to be altered.
If you have an allergy to stainless steel, it may not be possible to treat you – please contact us in the first instance to discuss this further.
If you have a localised infection/skin irritation/inflammation, it will not be possible to insert needles into the effected area. When the treatment intent is chronic wound healing, point selection will be guided by your peri-wound skin health.
It is generally safe to have acupuncture during pregnancy, however you must ensure that you inform us since pregnancy rules out certain acupuncture points.
Side Effects
Widdershins Health uses individually packaged, high quality stainless steel, single use sterile needles. Emma Campbell is a Registered General Nurse, regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and she is a member of the British Medical Acupuncture Society, bound to treat in accordance with their Guidelines. Emma Campbell, trading as Widdershins Health is fully licensed and duly registered with Fenland District Council. Your treatment is carried out in a comfortable, purposefully designed private room; and infection prevention procedures are rigorously adhered to.
Depending upon your medical condition and diagnosis, regular blood donations do not need to be paused whilst you are receiving acupuncture at Widdershins Health. Please click on Acupuncture - NHS Give Blood for further information.
Your Safety and Security
Low voltage electrical stimulation is applied to up to four pairs of needles, which can greatly enhance the therapeutic effect of your acupuncture treatment. The appropriateness of this treatment modality will be discussed with you during your consultations. If electroacupuncture is appropriate, the decision to proceed remains yours and you will have control over the level of stimulation.
Electroacupuncture
The effects of acupuncture are cumulative and treatment duration depends on the condition/symptom, and of course the individual and their lifestyle. For example, acute allergic rhinitis may respond well to just one treatment, whereas chronic pain typically requires at least six to eight treatments, followed by monthly/quarterly top-ups.
Generally, a course of six to eight treatments is optimised as:
Week 1 - Two treatments 3-4 days apart.
Weeks 2, 3, and 4 - One treatment a week.
Weeks 5, and 7 - One treatment fortnightly.
People respond at different rates, so essentially your response to each treatment will guide your treatment plan moving forward. However, having your initial three treatments within the first two weeks can give a useful insight as to the frequency of your treatments moving forwards. Ultimately, it is your course of treatment, and you will control this aspect of it.
