The Yin and the Yang of a Blog

Recently I was perusing other blogs to see what people had to say about acupuncture. I came across an account of one woman’s unhappy experience with her acupuncturist. I wish I had bothered to bookmark the page to link as a reference but I forgot to so you are stuck with my recollection of the event. Anyway the blogger was upset because she felt that the acupuncturist was making unreasonable demands of her to change her lifestyle. She was angered by the enormity of the things requested and felt they were impossible to achieve.

At first glance I was completely on the side of the patient however upon re-reading the blog I started to understand that there truly were two valid sides to the story. The patient had a complicated medical history and was trying to get pregnant. She had limited funds and could only allocate enough money for a few treatments.

As a practitioner this very situation has happened to me. I’ve been aware that in order to try to achieve their dreams of becoming pregnant the patient may have to make extreme lifestyle changes. These include dietary, exercise, sleep and possibly work habits. These are hard things to ask of a person and I like to try to start small so as not to overwhelm a person. The thing is if you only have a few weeks to help a person than it’s impossible to start small.

Unfortunately this is often confusing to the patient as they usually have no background in the theory of acupuncture and therefore have no idea why you are asking such difficult things of them. Explaining your reasoning is always a good idea however sometimes it just comes down to the fact that they have to trust in you and believe that you are trying to help them.

Given that I didn’t bookmark the blog I have no idea how the situation turned out. My only hope is that the two people involved were able to see where the other was coming from. If that is the case than they both have a better chance of achieving their goals.

One Acupuncturist Does Not a Field Make

Periodically I get to leave my office and get out and socialize. During these rare instances it often comes up what I do for a living. Occasionally somebody will say to me “I tried acupuncture once but it didn’t work”. When asked if they tried switching to a different acupuncturist the answer is usually no.

This has always struck me as funny. Usually my response is “Well if you went to your doctor and weren’t satisfied would you declare that western medicine didn’t work or would you switch doctors”? I know this sounds a bit snitty but I don’t mean it to. The thought that one acupuncturist could represent an entire field is crazy to me.

An acupuncturist’s individual styles and personalities as well as varied levels of expertise and education all come into play. I can think of several patients who came to me dissatisfied with their former acupuncturist who then went on to become some of my greatest sources of referrals. Likewise I’ve referred people out of my practice knowing that I could find them a better fit elsewhere.

I guess the moral of this story is if you’ve tried acupuncture once before and weren’t thrilled with the results give the field another try. Hopefully you’ll be happy that you did.

What Can Acupuncture Treat?

Being that acupuncture is still a relative newcomer to our nation this is a question I hear quite frequently. At this point in time many people have at least one friend, or a friend of a friend, who has had an acupuncture treatment. The erroneous assumption is often made that whatever ailment it is that sent their aquaintance searching for an acupuncturist is the only thing that acupuncture can treat. Even some of my own patients surprise me by saying “Oh, I didn’t know that acupuncture can treat”, and then they list whatever it was they were inquiring about.

Part of the problem is that acupuncturists themselves aren’t that great at answering the question. When searching the websites of colleagues I’ve noticed that in the “what can acupuncture treat” section there is often a reference to the World Health Organization followed by a list of various diseases, injuries and afflictions. If a specific thing isn’t listed then many people believe that they can’t be helped by acupuncture.

The truth is acupuncture can help with most anything. Consider this, acupuncture is just another system of medicine. It was developed over 3,000 years ago to help people maintain their health and to provide treatment if somebody became sick. This was before the time of X-Ray’s, blood work and clinical double blind research studies. However people still became ill and needed to be treated.

That is why I oftentimes will smile when somebody tells me that I won’t be able to help them because they’ve been diagnosed by their doctor as having a torn rotator cuff, allergy to ragweed or some other ailment. These are not new illnesses, simply technological advances has allowed us to give them new names. Of course, just like with anything there are definitely some conditions that are more readily treated than others. There are also some acupuncturists who choose to specialize in their practices. That is why searching for the best acupuncturist available to treat your condition is important.

Therefore if you find yourself wondering if acupuncture can help you, most likely the answer is yes.

Spring has Sprung

The past few weeks have found me swamped with people trying to get some relief from their seasonal allergies. The symptoms of which just seem miserable. I know that whenever I get a cold my head feels like a frozen pineapple so the thought that some people are stuck feeling like this for weeks motivates me to get them better quickly. Ironically the best time to treat seasonal allergies with acupuncture or herbal medicine is in the off season. This is something that I try to impress on people so that when spring rolls around they are well on their way to recovery. Prevention, however, is not something that many people are good at so most of my patients arrive when their symptoms are at their worst.

In order to try to speed the healing up I offer many suggestions for at home care. One of the simplest things I do in the spring is offer take home samples of Chrysanthemums (Ju Hua in Chinese) flowers. Chrysanthemums are a common ornamental flower found in many American gardens. In China however its merits extend far beyond beauty. This medicinal herb is frequently used to lower blood pressure, rid acne, soothe sore eyes and alleviate symptoms from colds & flues.

It’s healing powers lie in its ability to disperse the pathogen wind heat. In Traditional Chinese Medicine all pathogens mimic nature. The pathogen wind will cause symptoms that come on quickly and can cause acne, rashes or hives. When wind mixes with heat “hot” symptoms such as redness and swelling may accompany it. Thus the use of chrysanthemum is often used to reduce red/itchy eyes due to seasonal allergies.

Considering its cooling nature Chrysanthemums are a good choice for a spring or summer tea (see recipe below). However all herbal teas are not created equal. The most beneficial way to prepare the tea is from the dried flowers themselves. Keep in mind though that Chinese herbs are picked not only by their species but the habitat that they are grown in. The cultivation process meets very stringent guidelines that will maximize the flowers healing abilities. To ensure the safety as well as the potency of an herb it is always a good idea to purchase from a trained herbalist.

Instruction

1. Separate 5 – 10 chrysanthemum flowers.
2. Bring water to boil and reduce to a low simmer
3. Add chrysanthemum flowers- these can be put in a teabag to keep seperate
4. Simmer flowers for 5 minutes
5. Strain flowers from water
6. If desired honey can be added to taste