Hi Sandy,

An acupuncturist, who was known as a master in my community, used to say that
if you did not see some improvement with him after three visits to then see
someone else for treatment (in other words you might not be cured in three
visits to him but something ought to be improving by then). Sometimes using
herbal formulas will help improve pain pictures and outcomes when used in
conjunction with acupuncture, effecting a more rapid change and sustaining
the effects of the acpuncture.

In this master's case I usually saw most people return to see him as they
mostly (not always though) did improve and with improvement saw their visits
to him gradually taper off as the acupuncture's effects on the pain lasted
longer and longer between visits, until finally these patients were down to
no visits and were pain free. In some cases, when they came in after the
pain was first noticable the effects were more rapid and the outcome better
than in those cases were the patient waited for some time to come in for pain
treatment (coming in right after a car accident say, rather than waiting six
months or a year).

Sarah