Acupuncture?

[Wendy Beltrami]

Hi All,
My son Grant was dx with AA 12/4/98. His disease was stable without transfusions for 7 years following an initial course of ATG (horse). After declining counts in Dec 2005, he had a second course of ATG (rabbit) in January of 2006. He did not respond and has been transfusion dependent on prbcs and platelets since that time.
We are currently planning on a 3rd course of ATG (horse again) in December. In the mean time, we are going to try acupuncture.
This is a new direction for us and I am interested to hear whether anyone else has ever tried this mode of therapy.
This is the URL to an acupuncture journal article below that we found very interesting.

http://www.medicalacupuncture.org/aa..._1_case_2.html

Wendy B.

[Wendy Beltrami]

Hi Friends,
I thought I'd post an update about our acupuncture experience with Grant.
This is the beginning of the 4th week and he has had 7 treatments so far.
The only change we've seen in his counts are an increase in his ANC which is great. It has risen steadily from 1000 up to 1300 during this period. Unfortunately I can't really see any improvement in platelets or hgb yet. It has been a positive experience though and he says he does not feel the needles at all on his back and only the faintest prick other spots. Certainly nothing compared to the needle sticks he's had in his life. When his platelets are in the single digits, occasionally one of the spots may leave a little red dot.

I would love to hear from others who have taken this path.

Wendy/mom to Grant- almost 15 years old!
dx 12/4/98 AA

[kcbabe]

Hi Wendy,
Thanks for sharing your experience with acupuncture and for the link. I'm going to show it to my acupuncturist and see what she says. Maybe my brother can benefit from it. He's on ATG now, 2nd day, and I'm looking into complementary alternative therapies for him after he's done. It's been so saddening getting this diagnosis and the long road ahead for him and our family.
Did Grant try another alt remedies?
Regards,