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Hi Norman, I just read your request for feedback on acupuncture & chinese herbs as I was away on vacation for the past three weeks. My advice is to give it a fair trial, $1,000 is nothing if it even arrests or keeps you at your present level of function. However, acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine, as practiced up until recent times, was always combined with Chinese herbs, Qi Gong and Tai Chi as a complete system. Acupuncture alone will not work as well as an isolated therapy for PD although it does work for many less severe and chronic disorders. I am 41 and have had PD symtoms for 13 years. I was able to put off taking sinemet until 3 years ago by doing yoga and taking herbs, but my PD symptoms still progressed to level 4 with my most annoying symptoms an uncontrollable urge to urinate even at night, severe psoriasis, and loss of my short term memory. I still remember replaying my phone messages and copying phone numbers one digit at a time! In the past three years I have spent a fortune on ayurveda, acupunture, chinese herbs, massage, craniosacral therapy, homeopathy and a vegetarian diet. It is very important to look at all aspects of your lifestyle including diet, stress, mental habits, unresolved emotional entanglements, etc. and not just rely on the acupuncture to "cure" you. Something has caused your PD, get it out of your system whatever it is. If something is lacking or missing get it into your system and life. Presently, I am taking 4 x 100/25 sinemet CR and 2 x 5 mg Deprenyl a day along with alfalfa, blue green algae, chlorella, bee pollen, multi-vitamins and a full spectrum antioxidant formula. In the past 6 - 8 months, unles I'm really tired or off, my symptoms have diminished to the point where people who have known me for a long time are amazed at my improvement, especially my skin which is now completely free of psoriasis. All without increasing my dosage of medication. A friend of mine in L.A. was diagnosed in 1986 at age 48 and heavily medicated himself so that he would have no symptoms, but he now needs to take 100/10 sinemet/ hour to function at all. He is now almost totally incompacitated even after a fetal cell transplant and pallidotomy. In the past year my handwriting has returned, something I could not do since 1990, and my right arm swings freely when I walk, something I was not able to do since 1993 when I had my first symptoms of PD. I avoide taking medication until I had no choice and since then have always taken the absolute minimum of sinemet to function, perhaps even a sub-clinical dose to keep what nerve cells I have functioning still producing dopamine. Also, I take my last dose of sinenet at between 5 - 6 pm and no matter how I feel, I don't take another dose until about 7 am when I wake up in the morning. This give me a drug holiday every night, although turning over in bed can be a challenge. I usally wake up an hour before I need to be up and take my first dose of medication with a glass of water and perhaps a piece of fruit and relax in bed until it takes affect. I can usually go until 11 am before my next dose. I used to be exhausted most of the time and probably spent 25% of my day either lying down or sleeping. Now I have lots of energy and go from 8 am till midnight often without even a nap! Anyway, this is what has worked for me, my advice is to give nature a chance. Write me if you feel a need to talk. Joseph