By Beverly Mc Govern – Dip. Ac., Lic. Ac., ITEC., IFR., Dip. Chinese Herbs, Dip. Nutritional Advisor,
Well many years ago I had a sever form of Graves’ Disease. This is an eye condition that effects people with hyperthyroidism (over active thyroid gland). It causes double vision and I had it pretty badly. I had it several years and was told by the Eye Hospital that it would never improve past where it was. I was coping but it was very difficult to read, work on a computer, watch TV and on a bad day quite disturbing to have conversation’s with 3 eyed people! (as they appeared to me!)
I had just qualified as an acupuncturist in Ireland and was heading off to China to gain invaluable experience working in the hospitals over there. Towards the end of my time in China I happened to mention to one of my supervising doctors in acupuncture about my sight problem. He told me acupuncture was the only way to go. He worked on me 3 times a week for 3 weeks. I could notice the improvement nearly immediately. It was fascinating as I had gotten quite used to 3 eyed people by this time!
When I returned to Ireland, I went back to the Eye hospital for my check up and redid all their tests to assess how bad my eyes were. There was mumbling amongst each other and I was told the consultant would like to see me himself. So I waited….bit worried! But he sat down and asked “have you done anything differently with your eyes, anything that might effect them?” I told him about the acupuncture treatment and asked why? He assured me that they were amazed to see about a 70% improvement in my eyes which was most unusual after such a long time of having the disorder. But he also went on to say he had been to China himself and was excited to see acupuncture treatment for lazy eye and short sightedness.
Just thought I would share how acupuncture has helped me get my life back. The following link is to a research article on the use of acupuncture in conjunction with Western Medical Treatment for Graves’ Eye Disease. Two groups were used. One with Western Medical Treatment only and the other with Western Medical Treatment and acupuncture. The results concluded that the group that used the acupuncture saw an improvement in results but also much less side effects from the Western Medical Treatment.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058474
