HEALTH CONCERNS
Acute & chronic conditions
LYME
I have suffered from Lyme and I have recovered from it. My initial recovery was a combination of acupuncture and a protocol prescribed to me by an integrative doctor. Supplementation, antibiotics, and IV therapies brought me back from the brink.
I had been on a prescribed Lyme protocol for over two years when I was introduced to Asian botanicals. My herbalist, who is also an incredible teacher, likened my body to a city after a war: no working infrastructure. Everything needed to be rebuilt. While the protocol had killed the Lyme, it had done nothing to repair the damage. That’s where the botanicals came in. Through their use I was able to rebuild my stores of Qi and Blood, upgrading the quality of both, which further restored my health.
Lyme and Acupuncture
I set out looking for research that explores the effects of acupuncture on Lyme Disease, and found no studies. Most acupuncture research focuses on the reduction of pain. And despite a huge amount of Lyme research, none of it involved acupuncture as a treatment. Interestingly, while reading the papers, I noticed that two chemicals were frequently mentioned: IL-1, and TNF-α. These two chemicals are proven to be abundant in an autoimmune response, and research shows they are suppressed by acupuncture. It is my theory that acupuncture can reduce the autoimmune symptoms of Lyme (pain, inflammation, brain fog, memory issues). It is my hope that someday I will have a chance to prove this hypothesis.
It is my experience that the best Lyme recoveries come from blending Eastern and Western medicines.
I will start Asian herb school in 2023. Until then I will happily refer patients to amazing herbalist colleagues who can help.
MENOPAUSE
Menopause is difficult in several ways. First, each woman has her own unique experience, which makes it difficult to anticipate, or maybe even relate, to another woman’s experiences. Further, the frequency and intensity of the symptoms vary wildly from one woman to the next. If we had troublesome menstruation in our youth, we may find menopause to be just as difficult, or we may not. Until we are going through this part of life it is hard to know what symptoms will arise and how long they will be a part of everyday life.
Menopause isn’t an illness that needs to be cured. It is a natural transition which, in health, can be symptom-free. Yet for most of us, symptoms will arise. When we have sleeplessness, feelings of heat and cold, unstable or intense emotions, brain fog and memory issues, fatigue and malaise, bone loss, low or no libido, and body parts becoming drier and more irritated, it’s hard to find a way to rejoin and enjoy life. We go to doctors for help, and assuming they take us seriously and are “cutting edge” enough, we may be prescribed hormones. That is the only answer Western medicine can provide at this time.
Acupuncture and Asian botanicals offer alternative solutions which reduce the frequency and severity of symptoms and shorten the menopause transition. By strengthening the quality and quantity of Qi and blood, correcting channel deficiencies and removing stasis and blockages, we can free ourselves from menopause symptoms and reclaim our bodies. We can smooth the transition to the next stage of our maturity, experience the liberation of our bodies and utilize our hard-won wisdom. Asian medicine has spent thousands of years testing treatments for this transition. Other than Ayurveda, no other modality has this much research and clinical history.
If you are struggling with peri-menopausal or menopausal symptoms, acupuncture and Asian botanicals will help. Please contact me today to discuss.
PAIN
Acute or chronic, pain is the great disruptor. Pain changes everything: how we see others, how we see ourselves, how we live our life! I’ve spoken with many patients who, after describing what their days and nights are like, realize how much they change HOW they live in order to control the pain. That’s when it hits home: when tears fall, when they feel desperate or think they are out of options… when they have almost no hope.
Will they ever be comfortable again? Or healthy again?
Acupuncture has been proven to provide relief from acute and chronic pain in all parts of the body. Depending on the area of the body that is disturbed, there could be more than 10 possible diagnoses. There are multiple approaches to eliminating pain and resolving its root cause within the realm of Asian medicine. From an acupuncture perspective, I have had a great deal of success using a method which bases treatment on the geographic location of the pain, the channels involved, and the body as a mirror image of itself. The entire body is recreated in the foot, the hand, the ear, as well as in the leg, arm, torso and back. By imaging the affected area onto other parts of the body we can use the healthy meridians to cure the sick meridians, thereby eliminating pain. This doesn’t happen overnight. There is a direct correlation between the length of time it takes to correct the root cause of pain and the length of time the pain has been experienced. While it may take some time to heal, acupuncture and Asian botanicals will work. No surgery. No dangerous pharmaceuticals. No lifetime prescriptions. No addiction. No side-effects.
If you are in pain, please contact me.
“We are not the flickering images playing out their drama on the movie screen, but the screen itself – a nonjudgmental witness of the unfolding movie of life, with no beginning and no end, infinite in its potential.”
— DAVID R. HAWKINS, M.D., PH.D.
