Jane Ford-Stewart

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Barbara Orban arrived in the Aurora West Allis Medical Center in agony from food poisoning.

"I never had pain like that in my life," Orban said.

She was curled up in the fetal position, begging the doctors to relieve the pain.

Vashir Xiong, head acupuncturist at the hospital, offered her acupuncture and Orban agreed, assuming she would get painkillers, too.

The acupuncture needles went in, and in a half hour they came out. By then, the pain was already gone.

"All I really felt was a little nauseous, and even that was gone by the time I left," a mere two hours after she had arrived at the emergency room, she said.

Beyond pain and nausea relief, she said the acupuncture left her feeling remarkably relaxed.

"I got real comfortable, almost like when they are about to put you under, but you don't go under," she said.

West Allis is the only hospital in the state that offers acupuncture in its emergency room, and one of only two in the country, said Xiong.

Other hospitals have some acupuncture in a few other hospital settings, as does West Allis, but not in their emergency rooms.

The West Allis emergency room started offering patients acupuncture as an option in January 2017.

The more than 50 percent of patients who accepted acupuncture treatments reported pain reduction of up to 50 percent, said John Burns, manager of acupuncture for the Aurora Healthcare system. That's up there with Oxycodone in terms of effectiveness, although it would take a head-to-head study to do a scientific comparison, he said.

"Our hope is that it will be in other hospital emergency rooms next year," Burns said of acupuncture.

Acupuncture won't set broken bones or staunch bleeding, but it will relieve even severe pain, headaches, nausea and anxiety while doctors do scans and X-rays or treat injuries, he said.

Orban started out a skeptic.

As Xiong inserted thin needles into her from head to toe, she remembers thinking, "Oh buddy, if you think these little needles are going to help."

Now, she's a believer.

In light of the epidemic of opioid addiction, Orban suggests trying acupuncture. It doesn't work for everybody, she said, but "people should really try acupuncture before painkillers."

Acupuncture needles affect the body in three ways. They stimulate the production of endorphins, the body's own pain medication; they reduce cortisol so inflammation is decreased; and they enhance production of serotonin, a substance that brings calm, Xiong said.

Acupuncture needles are so fine that the person doesn't even feel them going in where skin is thicker as in the back, legs and arms. Areas where skin is thinner such as on the hand, ear and foot will register a mosquito-like prick.

Although acupuncture has been around for centuries in the east, western doctors have taken some convincing.

For example, one day a patient came to the emergency room with abdominal pain that came from two-and-a-half weeks of constant hiccuping, Xiong said.

The emergency room doctor could do nothing to help her, and finally offered acupuncture.

"Five minutes after the needles were in, the hiccups stopped," Xiong said. After six months of skepticism, the doctor was won over, he said.

Xiong remembers another time when an 84-year-old woman and her daughter came into the ER with half her face drooping from palsy. Once again, western medicine couldn't address the problem, so the woman was offered acupuncture.

"As I was doing it, her face started to become normal. When all the needles were in, her face was back to normal," he said.

The ER doctor was still skeptical, and put the fix to the test by asking the patient to smile.

"She lit up just like normal," Xiong said. The doctor's face dropped in astonishment, he said.

From skeptic to advocate

Michael Urban, medical director of the emergency department, doesn't mind admitting he was one of the skeptics.

"I was not sure how it would fit into our flow in the ER," he said.

Now he calls acupuncture a terrific option.

A couple of weeks into the pilot acupuncture program, a man with chronic back pain came into the emergency room in severe pain.

"He was really miserable," Urban said. Xiong asked to take a shot at helping him and both Urban and the patient agreed.

"Ten minutes after they were done, the patient was waving me over and I thought, 'Oh, boy, he's going to berate me,'" Urban said.

But what the patient actually said was: "Doc, I have not felt this good in three years," Urban related.

The pain was better and the patient said he felt more calm and relaxed, Urban said. And he didn't need any drugs, he said.

Offers alternative

That's a real plus at Aurora West Allis, where the emergency room sees a lot of people with opioid addictions, he said.

"On a daily basis we will treat patients who have overdosed on opiates or help them detox from opiates," Urban said. "This is an every day problem."

Because some people get hooked on opioids after being prescribed painkillers, Urban said, "I'm proud we have this opportunity to treat people in this way."

In addition, the medical community nationwide is taking notice.

Recently, the Aurora West Allis program was featured in a newsletter published by the American College of Emergency Physicians.

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