ST18 in breast pathology

[Guest guest]

Hi Patrick & All,

 

Patrick wrote:

> ... your attitude about needling Rugen (St. 18) for fibrocystic

> breast, breast distention and pain, and general breast health?

 

See: http://tinyurl.com/2kk4wf for some WWW references to breast

fibrocystic Ru-gen OR St-18

 

As regards ST18, I do not use it, even though it is a key local point for breast

issues.

 

As mentioned in my last mail, IMO, we can treat breast pathology by distant

points, especially on ST, LV, SP, GB Channels.

 

As regards regional points, as the nipple is in 4th intercostal space and the

breast basically spans the area between 2nd and 6-7th intercostal space,

one can use ANY BL point in those same intercostal spaces (i.e. between

BL12-BL17 or BL41-BL46, or GV12 to GV10, or the Huato Jiaji points beside

T2-T7) to influence breast functions and spare the patient's blushes or

anxiety at the thought of direct needling of the breast area.

 

If I think that activation of local breast points would help further, I would

advise DIY massage / TENS or Accuband 9000-gauss magnets applied to

the points, giving the patient the URLs on Yinyanghouse or Acuxo to identify

the exact locations of the points for DIY Tx.

 

See:

www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/stomach_meridian_graphic

http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/st18

 

www.acuxo.com/meridianPictures.asp?point=ST18 & meridian=Stomach

 

For ST16 and ST 18, I would simply say to stimulate a point 1 inch directly

above and below the centre of the nipple.

 

The Accuband 9000-gauss magnets are really powerful for DIY use. See:

http://tinyurl.com/2w77hs

 

My personal experience of treating any breast pathology in human females

is extremely limited. I have not treated fibrocystic breast / breast distention

but have used acupuncture in a few female friends as part of a holistic

programme for medically confirmed breast cancer after surgery or

chemotherapy. I have treated only one case of severe nipple sensitivity in a

man (elderly, on hormone Tx for a prostate problem).

 

As mentioned in my last mail, I avoid examination or needling of females

anywhere near their Yin areas, esp breast or pubic / perineal areas. For me,

one of the most exciting and clinically useful aspects of acupuncture is the

immense variety and choice of points to treat amenable problems in any part

of the body.

 

Within any point selection, using any 3 or 4 of at least 14 different " Laws of

Chooosing Points " , one can construct an acupoints formula relevant to most

cases, even WITHOUT using local points. [The main EXCEPTION to this is

the absolute necessity to work DIRECTLY on real TRIGGER Points; in my

experience, distant needling does NOT remove / deactivate TPs].

 

For example, I treated 5 horses this morning for muscular spasm / pressure

sensitivity that was impairing their balance / flexibility of movement at speed.

Three had a combination of neck and contralateral rump pain. Three had

some pain in the caudal rib and lumbar area and one had mid-hamstring

pain. There was overlap of those pain areas in some horses.

 

For rump pain, needling the contralateral TH14 point is " miraculous " - the

hypersensitivity in the rump disappears in seconds.

 

For rib / loin pain, needling contralateral LU01 removes the pain in seconds

also.

 

For mid-hamstring pain, needling the contralateral shoulder muscles circa

half-way between TH14 and SI08 usually does the trick.

 

I add regional needles, selected from ipsilateral GB34, BL13, 23, 26, 40 and

Animal Baihui (lumbosacral space) to reinforce the contralateral distant point

(selected from Richard Tan's Contralateral Mirror concept).

 

But horses are very special creatures, with a very finely-tuned CNS and

autonomic nervous system. They are beautiful patients with which to work. I

only wish that people and dogs could respond as quickly and dramatically as

horses do. If so, the clinician would know within minutes of initial contact

whether or not the points used were really helpful to the case or not.

Unfortunately, that special quality of horses applies to no other species that I

have treated.

 

Best regards,