Mine never changes colors, I am either an emotionless shell of a human being or it’s broken. Now, I’m depressed, I’ll check to see what color that would be…Black, of course 
An occasional (or daily) cookie seems to work pretty well for me!
I’ve done with being a scientific materialist, as I’ve found that paradigm bleak, boring and bankrupt in a way no slap chop can supplement.
Since you are a recovering Christian here’s the abstract of a recent article showing both efficacy of “true” acpuncture and problems with double-blind studies that use sham acupuncture as placebo.
medscape.com/viewarticle/556408
A Complementary Approach to Pain Management
Meenakshi Khatta, MS, CRNP
Posted: 05/30/2007; Topics in Advanced Practice Nursing eJournal. 2007;7(1) © 2007 Medscape
Complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) has been defined as, “diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention [that] complements mainstream medicine by contributing to a common whole, by satisfying a demand not met by orthodoxy or by diversifying the conceptual frameworks of medicine.”[1] The majority of patients suffering from pain due to musculoskeletal conditions will use some form of CAM.[2]
Persistent pain may be associated with morbidity such as depression and anxiety,[3-7] physical disability,[6,8-13] and sleep disturbance.[11,14,15] Despite the prevalence of pain in musculoskeletal disorders, effective treatments are not without severe side effects. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may cause serious morbidity and mortality.[16-19] Opioids, although effective, may cause constipation, altered mental status, and falls.[20-22] When traditional treatments are ineffective or cause morbidity, patients either have to suffer in pain or seek alternative treatment.
Many different CAM modalities are used to treat pain; amongst the most popular are:
* Acupuncture;
* Mind-body therapy;
* Herbal preparations;
* Ayurvedic therapy;
* Nutritional supplements; and
* Spinal manipulation.
This article reviews the effectiveness of each of these modalities based on the best evidence available in the form of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) or systematic review of such studies.
Acupuncture
The first written account of acupuncture is believed to be the 2300-year-old Huang Di Nei Jing, or the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine.[23,24] Since that time, acupuncture has undergone several evolutionary processes, both in theory and practice. Energy, or Qi (chi), flows up and down the meridians. Sometimes the energy is blocked, deficient, excessive, or unbalanced. This throws Yin (the feminine aspect of life) and Yang (the masculine counterpart) out of balance, which in turn causes illness. Acupuncture restores the balance, thereby encouraging healing.[25]
Thus far, there is not a concrete method to prove whether or how acupuncture works. There are several theories, however, to explain the benefits of treatment, and researchers have been experimenting with nuclear medicine techniques to study acupoints and meridians.[25] Acupuncture is believed to stimulate secretion of endorphins, serotonin, and noradrenaline in the central nervous system. Acupuncture could also work by constricting or dilating blood vessels due to release of vasodilators such as histamine. Acupuncture also may have a role in controlling pain by closing the gates of nerve fibers that result in pain perception.
Evidence of Efficacy
Back pain and fibromyalgia.The data on effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of back pain are conflicting. A meta-analysis of 12 RCTs looking at acupuncture as a symptomatic treatment of back pain resulted in favorable outcomes with acupuncture.[26] A systematic review of all RCTs of acupuncture for fibromyalgia revealed only 3 studies,[27] each of which supported use of acupuncture for relief of fibromyalgia symptoms.
Neck pain.Even though clinical or anecdotal reports often show neck pain relief from acupuncture, a systematic review of RCTs provided mixed evidence regarding how this modality compares with placebo for neck pain[28]:
* In 1 trial, acupuncture was superior to waiting-list controls;
* 3 trials showed acupuncture to be either equal or superior to physiotherapy; and
* Needle acupuncture was not superior to indistinguishable sham control in 4 out of 5 studies.
The bottom line was that for the 8 high-quality studies included in this review of acupuncture vs placebo for neck pain, 5 were negative.
Osteoarthritis. An RCT of 570 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee were randomized to true acupuncture or sham. At the end of 26 weeks, acupuncture seemed to provide improvements in function and pain relief as adjunctive therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee.[29]
Acupuncture and Clinical Practice
Because even the best-designed studies are methodologically limited, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions that will generalize to clinical practice. Most studies are methodologically limited because of:
* Questionable intervention quality;
* Lack of an adequate control group; and/or
* Lack of adequate follow-up.
The use of a sham acupuncture group (that is, placement of needles superficially and/or in nonacupuncture points) as an experimental control is problematic. There is evidence that acupuncture needles placed in nonacupuncture points lead to pain reduction because of stimulation of endorphin release via a mechanism called diffuse noxious inhibitory control.[30] Because of the difficulties in designing rigorous acupuncture studies, we continue to rely on our clinical experience as evidence of the effectiveness of acupuncture.
We’ve established that acupuncture works, however, if I understand correctly, the main arguments against it are a) sham, or ‘toothpicks anywhere’ acupuncture is just as effective and b) any effect is psychogenic. This article contradicts both ideas
It also mentions the difficulty in performing studies using “sham” acupuncture, I’d add to that the difficulty in finding any absolute truth given the disturbing effect of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
While the osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia data showed a greater effectiveness of true acupuncture than “sham” acupuncture, I don’t really believe in sham acupuncture since all acupoints have their effectiveness in healing the body (not to be confused with the idea that all points work the same in healing the body.) Using a toothpick however, would probably not have the endorphin-releasing effect mentioned above.
The last part, “we continue to rely on our clinical experience as evidence of the effectiveness of acupuncture” gets to the root of the matter for me. If you put your faith exclusively in double-blind trials, you could end up taking Celebrex, or decide against getting your child vaccinated for fear of autism.
Dunno about Celebrex, but there’s never been a double-blind trial that showed any connection between vaccines and autism. The only trial that ever showed anything (and has just been withdrawn by the publisher) didn’t use any blinding at all, but relied on “anecdotal reports.”
So it doesn’t help your argument any. Probably considered an association fallacy in formal logic.
If one accepts the religious/superstitious and supernatural explanations for “true” acupuncture working, then I totally understand why one would reject any evidence to the contrary. If your belief is based on religion, there’s no amount of logic or logic that will convince you otherwise, is there?
What would it take to convince you that the effect of acupuncture is a placebo effect? Since you reject scientific “materialism” – there’s no real way to prove the negative, is there?
I’m not one to try and convince someone that their religious and supernatural beliefs are incorrect. No more than I would want anyone to try and convince me that my faith was wrong. Faith is believing in the unprovable.
But you could make the same arguments for witch doctors, shamans, voodoo, etc.