Firstly, it is a good idea to make sure you have something to eat 1-2 hours before your treatment. This will help reduce the risk of you feeling faint during your session by keeping your sugar levels up.

You will be asked to complete a registration and ‘consent to treatment’ form when you arrive at the clinic. Medical acupuncture is considered very low-risk medical technique, when performed by a medical professional, with the incidence of severe adverse reactions being less than 1 in 200,000 reported treatments.

According to the British Medical Acupuncture Society, the word acupuncture is derived from Latin stemming from ‘acus’ meaning needle and ‘punctura’ meaning puncture. The technique involves piercing the skin with fine metal needles in order to relieve symptoms, cure disease and promote health.

The GEANF was founded in 2004, bringing together 14 pain specialists and researchers in a top down and bottom up neuromodulation.

In Ireland there are largely two types of professional groups that practise acupuncture.

One group has studied acupuncture as part of Chinese Traditional Medicine studies; the other will have completed four years of Western medical studies (to become a doctor or a physiotherapist for example) and have learned about acupuncture as a post-graduate study, concentrated on and applicable to their western training.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterised by severe disabling fatigue, accompanied by four of more of the following symptoms: unrefreshing sleep, exertional malaise, impaired concentration, sore throat, tender lymph nodes, headaches and musculoskeletal pain.

The cause is not fully understood but there are various hypotheses including immunological, endocrine and viral illness. CBT and graded exercise programmes are the more common treatment approaches.