Can Acupuncture Help Our Elderly?

Last week, we compared the cost of acupuncture to the cost of Western medicine and touched upon the massive costs of Western prescription drugs for the average American. No part of the population has been hit harder by the rising costs of prescription medications than the elderly.

Purchases of cholesterol and diabetes prescription drugs by elderly Medicare beneficiaries reached nearly $19 billion in 2007 — about one-fourth of the approximately $82 billion spent for medications for the elderly, according to the latest News and Numbers report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). And according to a recent AARP study, the average prices of many brand-name prescription drugs widely used by elderly Americans rose more than twice as fast as general inflation during a three-year span. Moreover, we have all seen news reports about elderly Americans having to choose between paying for food or paying to fill their prescriptions — and the difficult side effects they have to try to live with.

On top of the skyrocketing costs and side effects, most of these drugs are designed to treat (or cover up) symptoms rather than address root causes of illness and pain. That approach ensures elderly patients will be taking — and paying for — these medications for the rest of their lives and may never truly feel they way they did before the illness presented itself.

This isn’t a pretty picture, which is why it’s so essential that we all play a part in educating the senior part of our population about the benefits and possibilities of acupuncture and other forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In California and many other parts of American today, acupuncture is well known, accepted and celebrated for its natural and lasting health benefits. But for our American seniors, acupuncture isn’t so “mainstream.” Many elderly Americans have never experienced an acupuncture treatment or even heard a thorough explanation of how acupuncture works and helps people heal.

For all Americans, acupuncture holds the promise of treating the root cause of illness by balancing the whole body, so it can heal itself. Every case and every person is different, but for many, acupuncture treatments can gradually remove the need for taking prescription medications at all — even those prescribed “for a lifetime.” For some seniors, acupuncture may give them a feeling of health and vitality and energy that they sacrificed long ago and never thought they’d get back.

Our commitment at Eastern Medical Center is to do everything we can to help our patients find relief, comfort and healing, regardless of age or circumstance. If you or someone you know is a senior suffering from an illness or the cost and side effects of drugs associated with illness, please call us to set up a consultation where we can discuss what’s possible with acupuncture. It may be something “different,” but it also may be something positively life-changing.