I originally went to see Chiho over some general health issues such as my sleeping problem, in order to improve how well I feel generally. She explained that traditional Chinese acupuncture does not treat the symptoms on their own separately, it treats the person as whole. A symptom is merely a presentation of the small part of the person.

So then I mentioned that I have had relapse remitting Multiple Sclerosis for around 25 years and am treated monthly with a drug at Sheffield Hallamshire hospital and in addition I take a muscle relaxant drug called Baclofen to counter spasticity.

Chiho mentioned that acupuncture has been used to alleviate some of the symptoms of MS and asked if I would like her to use some of the knowledge she has of this area to see if any improvement could be made in any of the symptoms I was currently troubled with. At that point I was suffering the usual problems I have with weakness in the left arm and leg coupled with a lack of sensation in the fingers and toes on that side. In addition since a severe attack around ten years ago I have had disturbed sensation on the right side of my face; specifically affecting the tongue and leaving my face feeling as if I have had a dental anaesthetic injection.

I am a natural sceptic and expected nothing from the acupuncture treatment, given that MS is a chronic ailment with no cure … The appropriate needle points for this application are mostly in the scalp and this made me moderately concerned until the first treatment started where upon it became clear that it is not painful and that the most one could describe it as is moderate discomfort on occasion. Chiho is very careful to monitor my feedback to check I am not suffering unduly!!

Well despite my scepticism I left the first treatment able to walk significantly better due to the improved sensation in my foot and reduction of excess muscle tone. I also had significant reduction in the sensation disturbance in my face. I put all this down to a possible placebo effect but reported the improvement back to Chiho on my next visit. She had read further between my visits and had other areas to explore. I remained sceptical but as conventional medicine has little to offer my condition I decided to continue with the treatment.

The next treatment was more successful than the first, my natural scepticism still endured but there was palpable evidence that something was happening! I have continued to have my condition treated by Chiho on a regular basis and found that there have been long periods of time where I do not need to take Baclofen.

I would now like the duration of improvement between treatments to extend and that is something Chiho is now exploring with my complete agreement!

Mark S, Matlock, 26th November 2013