AP ANALGESIA FOR SURGERY
Before AP analgesia is attempted, the practitioner should have a good AP electro-stimulator. You are advised not to use AP analgesia in the presence of your clients until you have tried the technique many times (to your satisfaction) in the privacy of your surgery. Even then, the disadvantages of AP analgesia may prevent its use in routine surgery. However, it is worth consideration in highly toxic, debilitated or weak patients which present a high risk of intolerance of general anaesthetic, or in Caesarian sections (all species) and in routine dystocia and prolapsed uterus in cows. (The latter two cases do not require a stimulator). It is ideal for use with reduced doses of local or general anaesthetic.
The client should be informed (in those cases which are operated on in his/her presence) that AP analgesia is being used and that supplementary local anaesthesia may be required in 10-30 % of cases. For this purpose, an indwelling i/v catheter is placed before surgery is attempted. The points for use in AP analgesia are discussed elsewhere (9,11).
VETERINARY AP TRAINING
Vets who want to study AP have 3 main options: (a) self-study of good human and veterinary AP texts; (b) formal, long courses in human AP, followed by shorter study of veterinary AP abroad (UK, USA, Europe, Far East etc) or (c) formal, short veterinary courses, such as those organised by IVAS (International Veterinary AP Society) or national groups in Europe (especially Belgium and Denmark), combined with guided reading. Short courses are also available in UK. However, because of our isolation from mainland Europe, it is difficult for Irish vets to study AP. There are no formal training courses here and a lot of time and expense is needed to follow courses abroad.
It takes more than a few weekend seminars to transform a novice into a master. You must study for at least 60 hours of formal lectures and >400 hours of guided reading in the next year or two if you hope to become a really competent acupuncturist. Even then, your skill and success rate will improve with further study and practice of the technique, especially if you combine it with other methods of healing.
The student of AP is advised to concentrate on a few clinical conditions, rather than attempt to treat dozens of clinical conditions in the beginning. When the approach to a few responsive conditions has been mastered and the vet is satisfied with the results, he/she may study the approach to other conditions.
If you study it seriously for a year or two, it is relatively easy to learn the mechanical approach to AP (the Cookbook method plus the Classic Laws of choosing points). Those of you who regard medicine as a mechanical or physical therapy will get good results with "mechanical AP". Your results will improve further when you combine different therapies (including AP), as each new case indicates.
THE HOLISTIC APPROACH TO DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY
The aim of all medicine should be to heal by the best methods available or, if these are impracticable, by any method which gives the desired result with minimal side-effects.
The bases of effective healing are:
a. accurate diagnosis of the causes of the diseases and their removal, if possible and
b. enhancing the defence systems of the body to cope with the various challenges that the organism meets.
a. Orthodox medicine has a very limited view of the causes of disease. Therefore, its diagnoses are equally limited.
The concepts of holistic medicine have been discussed more fully elsewhere (5,6,7,8). The holistic approach tries to assess how the external or internal environment may be changed to help the health of the patient. Harmful electromagnetic fields may be neutralised or eliminated; scars "obstructing the Channels" can be mobilised etc; diet can be altered or supplemented; management errors in animal handling can be corrected etc.
b. By its nature AP is holistic, especially if practised in the more classical method, using the laws of Choosing Points or the laws of Energetic AP (Pulse Diagnosis, Five-Phase Theory, the Eight Principles etc (5,6,7,8).
AP works not only on the affected region, organ or symptom, but on the defence system of the whole organism. It can not be compared validly with suppressive or symptomatic therapy (aspirin/ analgesics/tranquillizer), nor with the diabetes-insulin dependence approach. In mild diabetes, AP (at the correct points) helps to counteract any infection or mild inflammatory changes in the pancreas, assists pancreatic function and helps the body to produce its own insulin. The outcome of a successful course of AP in this case would be a patient who is kept reasonably healthy by its own defence response. The patient is not dependent on exogenous drugs or further AP ad infinitum to keep it healthy.
In our therapy, we must be ready to use whichever system or combination of systems which we feel are necessary. In many instances, we will use the well-tried and usually successful orthodox methods first. Only if they fail would the unorthodox methods be considered. In other cases, where we know from past experiences that orthodox methods give unsatisfactory results, we should be ready to try the unorthodox. AP is indicated in many of these cases.
One may decide to combine AP with medical therapy, say in acute infections. For example, in acute pneumonia with fever, diluted antibiotic solutions may be injected at APs for the lung (BL13; PC06; CV17; NX04; LU01 or 05 or 06) and at AP points for fever (GV14) and immune response (LI04 or 11; ST36), so that the total dose of antibiotic is correct but many active APs are also treated.
In the beginning, it is safer to use this combination method until one is reasonably advanced in one's AP study. (From a research viewpoint, the combination method is not so satisfactory as is makes it difficult to assess the value of AP in relation to the orthodox therapy). Later one can use AP alone in suitable cases.
Drugs which may antagonise or reduce the effects of AP include: large doses of narcotics, methadone, analgesics, corticosteroids, opiate antagonists (naloxone, naltrexone etc), alcohol, tranquillizers or sedatives.
These drugs may antagonise or reduce the neural effects of AP at the level of the specific and non-specific receptors in the brain, spinal cord and other target areas. Where possible, a period of 24-28 hours abstinence from these drugs is advisable before AP treatment. Patients on corticosteroid therapy should be weaned off steroids for some weeks before AP. Care should be taken not to terminate steroid therapy too abruptly.
In certain circumstances, it may be necessary to administer sedatives or tranquillizers to facilitate AP, for example in difficult patients (such as cats, vicious dogs or horses). The alpha-2 agonist (opiate substitute) detomidine or medetomidine (Pharmos, Finland) is said to enhance AP effects in horses and dogs. Administration of D-phenyl alanine (DPA) for some days before AP analgesia in humans is said to enhance the depth of analgesia and to turn "non-responders" into "responders".
Similarly, in AP analgesia, intravenous sedatives (diazepam etc) can be very useful supplementary drugs. Also, small doses of general anaesthetic can be used with AP analgesia (doses which would not adequate for good anaesthesia if AP was not given also).
In the treatment of withdrawal from cigarette smoking, a Dublin physician (Tom Elliott) combined a mild dose of tranquillizer (Ativan, 1 mg/day) with press needles in the Earpoints LU and ShenMen. His results were >80% successful at 4-5 weeks after commencement) as compared with 45-65% success by other acupuncturists using the same points but no tranquilliser.
In the treatment of human narcotic addiction, electro-stimulation of Earpoint "Lung" or the mastoid processes has been very successful in detoxification without withdrawal symptoms, but detoxification requires 4-8 days before urine tests are "negative" for the drug. A new development (pioneered by H.L. Wen, Hong Kong) is to combine AP stimulation with repeated i/v injection of naloxone. This reduces the detoxification period to about 10 hours. (Naloxone displaces the drug very rapidly from the opiate receptors and AP prevents the withdrawal symptoms by stimulating the release of endorphin, which had been inhibited by the exogenous drug).
DEVELOPMENT OF INTUITIVE DIAGNOSIS AND HEALING
As I wrote the first version of this paper (1980), I was on holidays with my family in Fethard, a fishing village on the South East coast of Ireland. A 7-year-old boy was drowned in a large river a few miles away. The river is tidal and the drowning occurred while the tide was rising.
Dozens of fishermen with nets, grappling hooks, fishing lines etc dragged the river for 5 days. They had the assistance of a diver also. The body was not recovered. A friend of the boy's father knew of my unorthodox interests. He asked if I could suggest a diviner who might locate the body. Next day, I brought the boy's father and his friend to Sgt. Neil Boyle, an instructor in the Garda Training School, Templemore. This man is one of the most famous diviners in Ireland. He does most of his divining in his own house by divining over a map!
Within minutes of our arrival, and working over an accurate navigation chart of the river, the diviner got a reaction some 75 metres west of a fixed marker-buoy in the river. He said that the body would be found there. The boy's father then exclaimed that the boy's teacher had dreamed that the body was near there but the search party had not acted on this dream!
The search was switched to that area at 1900h on Friday night but was disrupted 3 times by ships passing up the river. At about 2300h, one of the fishermen hooked a submerged object but lost it. Early next morning, the body was seen floating on the surface of the river within 10 metres of the mark as indicated on the map by a man about 120 km distant from the spot! The search was over. Was the diviner's mark a coincidence? Definitely not! This man has located dozens of missing persons, alive or dead, using this technique. He usually knows immediately if the missing person is dead. He has located them in lakes, rivers, the sea and on land.
Development of intuitive diagnosis and healing was discussed in more detail elsewhere (7). Those of you who already have some ability in this area (or who may be interested) will find it very helpful to join groups or societies of professional colleagues (medical and vet) who discuss these topics. Discussions with colleagues who know this reality can accelerate your own growth in the area. AP is only one system! There are many others and combinations are possible.
One such group is the Scientific and Medical Network, c/o: David Lorimer, Lesser Halings, Tilehouse Lane, Denham, Uxbridge, Msex UB9 5DG, UK. (Fax: +44-1985-835818; Email: Scientific and Medical Network @smnet.demon.co.uk, or, 100114.1637@compuserve.com)
If one wishes to grow in skill as a healer, one must continue to study many different methods. Study must be a routine part of one's profession, despite the great difficulties that this poses to private practitioners (and their partners and families!). What to study? There is so much in orthodox literature that one could study specialist journals in one small area and never get to the end! I would urge you, however, to read some unorthodox concepts, such as those on osteopathy/chiropractic, homeopathy, food allergy, psychic phenomena, radiaesthesia. Even if you can not yet accept their scientific validity, you will find them highly entertaining! Some of you will know by "gut reaction" that their main claims are valid and you may be stimulated to continue this aspect of your study in greater depth.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) on Email and WWW: Those who want to explore the more esoteric aspects of the psyche in healing can subscribe to SIGs on Email Lists (such as CAM&VM, Holistic, INDHN etc; details on request), or visit specialist Home Pages on the Internet (WWW), such as AltMed, AltVetMed, Dowsing Pages etc.
If one can improve one's intuitive or divining ability, it can be of great value in reaching a detailed and accurate diagnosis as to the causes and nature of the problem. This gift alone would be of great value. However, if one can also develop ones psychic (transmitting) healing power, the healer and the patient are doubly blessed. There are a few who have these gifts. If they are latent in you, please do not waste them. If (like me) you have mediocre talent in the intuitive/psychic field, don't worry! The more rational pragmatic methods may be slower in day-to-day use but they also give good results.
FOSTERING PUBLIC AWARENESS OF AP
TV and press coverage in recent years have informed most people that AP therapy and analgesia for human surgery have definite roles in medical science. However, few people know that AP is equally applicable in vet science. Research in humans and animals has shown that AP is a powerful physiotherapy which involves reflex effects, humoral and neuroendocrine effects (1,2,5,11).
While vets are learning the system and trying to integrate it into their approach to animal diseases, they may not wish to enter into much discussion on the topic. Later, as they grow in experience, they should gradually let their clients know that AP is just one more modality in the fight against pain and illness. The mystique and magical image of AP, so often exaggerated in the public press, should be dispelled. In its place, the concept of reflex therapy (activation of the normal defence and healing systems of the body by the stimulation of reflex points) should be fostered. If used properly, AP is the most powerful form of physiotherapy. In incompetent hands, AP may give poor results and in the wrong hands, may spread viral diseases (AIDS, hepatitis etc in humans; swine fever etc in animals).
Practitioners new to AP should replace the temptation to be over-enthusiastic with a more pragmatic approach ("let us try it in this case"). Over-enthusiasm can lead to great disappointment when failures occur.
AP, like every other attempt to fight disease, has its failures (2,15). It also can be a costly system in terms of professional time. With orthodox vet medicine, many cases can be treated by one or two visits, leaving appropriate medicines to the owner to administer when the vet has diagnosed the case. This is not applicable with AP therapy, unless the owner has a TENS instrument or Laser and is instructed in their use, or unless he/she is shown which points to massage between sessions. In chronic cases, AP therapy often requires repeated therapy sessions and these cost money. The owner should be warned of this, as some people expect miraculous cures after one or two sessions!
In many western countries, physicians and vets, especially those in the academic life, have a strong scepticism towards AP. Some are definitely prejudiced against AP. This is largely due to lack of knowledge on the types of conditions which respond to AP and to the mechanisms involved. We should discuss these topics with our colleagues when suitable opportunities arise and we should be prepared to assist them in their search for factual data and research information, should they require this.
It is very helpful to the practitioner and to those colleagues who may require clinical information to keep accurate records of all cases treated by AP. These records should contain details of the clinical examination, the diagnosis, the AP method and the APs used, any other medication used, the dates of treatment and the outcome of the case. If 20-40 vets in each country kept notes of their cases, very valuable information could be made available to their AP society as well as to their State Vet Schools after 1-2 years. I strongly urge you to organise such a study as a group.