Getting poked could perk you up. Acupuncture may be a viable treatment for depression, suggests a new British study.

Getting poked could perk you up. Acupuncture may be a viable treatment for depression, suggests a new British study.

Researchers found depression patients who received acupuncture saw similar mental health improvements as those who had counseling—and felt better after 3 months than patients who stuck to their regular antidepressant regimen. (Though you should talk to your doc before making any changes to your treatment.)

So what’s going on? The researchers aren’t quite sure, but in the past, acupuncture has been shown to decrease pain and boost the production of endorphins, or chemical compounds that make us feel good, says Florida-based patient educator Steven Masley, M.D. And it’s possible there’s a placebo effect, but this study didn’t find a link between patients’ expectations and added benefits to treatment.

Can Acupuncture Help You Conceive?

It's estimated that after a year of trying to conceive, 10 percent of American couples are unable to get pregnant on their own.

The vast majority of them turn to traditional fertility treatments for help, but a growing number are also trying alternative therapies, including acupuncture, saysSaturday Early Show's Dr. Mallika Marshall.

More and more women are delaying childbirth into their late 30s and early 40s than ever before. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Report on Fertility in America, about 20 percent of women ages 35-39 are childless in 2002. In 1976, only 10 percent of women in that age category had never given birth.

Because a woman's fertility declines as she ages, more and more women are having trouble getting pregnant.

What are the traditional options to battle infertility?

Marshall says it depends on the underlying cause of the infertility, whether it's a male factor (such as a low sperm count), or it's a matter of egg quality in the woman, or whether the woman has blocked Fallopian tubes or trouble ovulating.

But depending on the case, your fertility doctor may recommend taking drugs to stimulate ovulation, or intrauterine insemination (where the sperm is placed directly in the woman's uterus) or in vitro fertilization (where a sperm and egg are united outside the uterus and later placed in the womb after fertilization).

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese treatment that involves placing tiny hair-like needles in the skin as a way of stimulating energy points that are thought to be central to your spiritual, mental, emotional and physical balance. Acupuncture is used to treat a variety of maladies such as headaches and back pain. For fertility, the needles are placed in energy points linked to the reproductive organs to improve energy flow to those areas.

Why should you try it?

Most women who choose acupuncture are doing it together with traditional infertility treatments. But some couples have undergone multiple cycles of IVF or other fertility treatments and nothing seems to be working. And they hope that acupuncture might improve their chances.

Also, fertility treatments can be incredibly expensive. For example, intrauterine insemination can cost hundreds of dollars and a single cycle of IVF can cost $10,000-$20,000. So couples are looking for other options that could possibly give them a greater chance at success.

Does it hurt?

No, not really, says Marshall, who has had acupuncture before. The needles sting a bit the first time you have it done, because you don't know what to expect. But then you get used to it and it's nothing. So if you have a needle phobia, don't automatically dismiss acupuncture. It's very relaxing.

How acupuncture works

It's still not entirely clear how the technique works, but there is some evidence that it increases the production of endorphins, or brain chemicals that make you feel good and help reduce stress. It may also improve blood supply to the ovaries, which improves their function, and the uterus, which can make it easier to nourish a fetus and reduce the risk of miscarriage.

The research

Marshall cites a 2002 German study suggesting that acupuncture may, in fact, work. The study looked at 160 women undergoing IVF, half of whom received acupuncture along with IVF, and the other half who received IVF alone. They found pregnancy rates among the women undergoing acupuncture were significantly higher.

The cost

Acupuncture can cost a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars depending on where you go and how long you need treatment. And it's often not covered by insurance.

What should you do if you're interested on pursuing acupuncture for infertility?

First, you want to see a traditional fertility specialist to see what your underlying fertility issues are.

You can then get a referral from your fertility doctor to a reputable acupuncturist that may be affiliated with a major medical center.

You want to find someone who is trained and licensed in acupuncture and has a lot of experience.

Other alternative therapies used by women trying to conceive are yoga, meditation, relaxation techniques, and massage therapy. Some people are also trying herbal remedies, but as with any of these alternative therapies, you should talk to your fertility doctor before trying any of them.

Copyright 2004 CBS. All rights reserved.

Can acupuncture help for pain and addiction?

Can acupuncture help for pain and addiction? According to Dr. Oz , Daytime Emmy Award winning host of "The Dr. Oz Show," it absolutely does. Dr. Oz says he loves acupuncture and thinks it "makes a lot of sense."

After a recent trip to China, where Dr. Oz sat in on hospitals and even performed surgery, Dr. Oz says he walked away from the experience with a new understanding of acupuncture, herbal treatments and other Eastern-influenced medication. According to Dr. Oz, acupuncture taps into the so-called "energy meridian," or the vertical channels of energy which course through the human body. The treatment then channels certain types of energy and can be used to help treat many issues, like chronic soreness or pain.

While he wouldn't resort to acupuncture for serious or life-threatening illnesses or wounds, Dr. Oz highly recommends acupuncture to help treat a host of different chronic issues.

Acupuncture could help in the dentist's chair

Acupuncture may provide relief for dental patients who reflexively gag during procedures like teeth impressions, according to Italian researchers.

Up to 20 percent of the U.S. population has severe anxiety at the dentist's office. People who cannot help their gag reflex may unintentionally deprive themselves of the best dental care, write Giuseppa Bilello and Antonella Fregapane, both from the University of Palermo in Sicily.

Acupuncture may be one strategy to solve that problem, the pair suggests.

"It is a small study, and that is one weakness," Dr. Palle Rosted told Reuters Health. "But it is a good start."

Rosted is a consultant acupuncturist with Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield, England. He was not involved with the current study.

The researchers recruited 20 people with a history of gag reflex in the dental chair to have upper and lower teeth impressions taken under normal circumstances and then immediately after acupuncture.

Participants ranged in age from 19 to 80. For the first round of upper teeth impressions, they reported an average gag reflex score of 7 on a 0-10 scale, with 10 representing the maximum nausea sensation.

During the second round, the researchers applied acupuncture needles about 30 seconds before taking impressions and left the needles in until the procedure ended. On average, gag reflex scores dropped to just 1.

The pattern was similar for gag reflex scores during lower teeth impressions done with and without acupuncture, according to findings published in the journal Acupuncture in Medicine.

The researchers point out that they can't be sure the improvements were due to the acupuncture needles themselves - in part because there was no comparison group that didn't get acupuncture. Another possibility is that gag reflex scores improved because participants were more used to the impressions the second time around.

Still, "It has certainly given us some more evidence that acupuncture may be effective," Rosted said.

The study's positive result "is something that we doctors definitely need exposure to and to keep in mind as a possible option," Dr. Preeti Nair told Reuters Health. "We rarely think of acupuncture, and usually use local anesthetics."

Nair was not part of the current research. She has studied gag reflex at the People's College of Dental Sciences & Research Centre in Bhopal, India.

One difference between a drug like local anesthesia and acupuncture could be side effects.

"We haven't gotten all of the details in our hand, but with acupuncture, the side effects could be less," Nair said. Much more research is needed on the subject, she added.

In order for a large, randomized controlled trial - the gold standard in medical research - to be done on this subject, dental offices and academic institutions may have to work together, said Chris Dickinson of King's College London Dental Institute at Guy's Hospital in England.

In England, the British Dental Acupuncture Society offers training for dentists in certain dental applications of acupuncture, said Dickinson, who was not involved in the new study.

"There are very few contraindications associated with acupuncture and dental operations that we've experienced," Dickinson told Reuters Health. "But we don't use the technique in patients with metal allergies, pregnant women and those with needle phobias."

Dickinson noted that other acupuncture points could have been used for gag control such as ear points and LI4, also known as the Hegu point.

Researchers in the current study placed needles in the PC6, EX 1 and CV24 acupuncture points on the face and wrist.

"The message to dentists is that it's a simple technique and easily learned," Dickinson said. "It's also cost-effective. Even though it does not work in every case there's very little lost by trying it."

In the U.S., acupuncture typically costs about $100 per session.

One of the positive aspects of acupuncture is that after an operation, a patient may choose to drive home, which is not possible with other treatments, such as general anesthesia, Rosted said

"The risk of causing harm with this treatment is nearly non-existent," he said.