People's Acupuncture

This patient came in for the first time, with raging red and hot hands and feet, so painful that she could not use her hands nor walk well.  My first acupuncture treatment gave her instant pain relieve and mobility with normal range of motion with her knuckles and ability to walk.  I gave her some herbal wash for her to soak her hands and feet for a week.  I also showed her a bottle of the Curamin that I had tried, a natural remedy for pain and inflammation that she could get from this specific health food store.  I also had her husband read a detailed description of this product and indicated that she could try this on her own initiative only (not from me).  She went home happy and I told her to come back in a week.  From this point on things began to unfold as follows.

I got a call the next day from her crying excruciating pain, so I asked her to come in immediately so I could offer some relieve.  I came to learn that the herbal wash worked well to relieve the inflammation and pain in the extremities.  However, instead of getting the Curamin, her husband had bought Turmeric from a different store in a different town, by mistake of course.  Therefore she was NOT getting the much needed pain relieve last night.  I quickly treated her again and restore her totally to a happy state and sent her home with more of the herbal wash.

She stayed out for a week and returned for her 3rd treatment, free of the antibiotics that she was on for 10 days.  During this visit, she complained that she couldn't stand this any longer, as it has been 5 weeks since her flare-up, a psoriatic arthritis that she's had for a long time.  I coached her to get the probiotics with high bacteria count to help restore her GI/Gut health, so I could give her some herbal tea to take.  I had her try this herbal tea that I've prepared ahead of her arrival to test for dosage and taste to ensure that she could take it ok.  I tasted the tea with her as well.  So, she went home this time with a stronger herbal wash for the skin and the herbal tea to drink.  I wrote down the cooking instructions for the tea and added caution that if she had any adverse effects after drinking the tea, she would stop taking it and call me immediately for further instructions.  Then two days later, she called and complained about having diarrhea all that time.  She failed to stop taking the tea and call me immmediately after the onset of the diarrhea.  And she explained that it was because she didn't understand what "adverse effects" meant in my written instruction to her.  So I asked her to come in so I could stop her leakage and restore her GI strength that I was guarding so far.  First she said she was too tired.  And I said I could also help boost her qi and energy so she won't be so tired.  So she came in for the 4th time having another emergency.

I gave her Powerrade to drink to restore lost electrolytes, coached her to be on the BRATY diet until she fully recovers from the diarrhea.  Also offered her some herbal tablets that quickly plugged the leak.  I then gave her the usual acupuncture which made her feel strong and steady again.  I gave her more herbal wash and found out that she wasn't following my instructions on soaking her hands/feet in the herbal wash for 15-20 minutes at a time.  She said she couldn't do it that long and opted to dip her hands/feet whenever the pain and inflammation returned through out the day.  Therefore, the efficacy of the herbal wash never fully took off for long duration.

I felt so sad then that I wasn't able to get the patient do what she really needed to follow.  I gave her another good treatment and sent her home with more herbal wash (4 days worth), now without the tea to drink at all (even though the tea contained no ingredient that would cause her to have dirrhea!).  Now her psoriasis got more aggressive on the scalp and body, very dry and itchy.  I told her that for her next visit, I'll focus on the psoriasis and had ordered some good herbals and to stay in tough with me as we're only a cell-phone away.

I called her as I knew my herbal wash must have run out, and heard her say that this medicine I practiced is not scientific at all and she doesn't want to try any longer.  So I indicated to her my new shipment of herbs for her have arrived and that if she's not having good luck elsewhere, feel free to call me.  I also asked her about her GI health, and she said it was not all over yet.  So I talked to her as a friend and tried to find out more about her diet and the probiotics and learned that she was only taking one serving (1 TBP) of the probiotics and coached her to take more per day.  I said goodbye to her and felt sorry that she's been entirely defiant towads my insturctions, although evertime she got my treatment, she left my clinic with huge happiness and confidence.

I don't get it.  What's she thinking?  I felt like that my total efforts have been sabotaged all along!  What wasted efforts!!!  Now I'm the one that's hugely upset.                  

I started blogging at www.maymefu.wordpress.com with Articles on health tips in Traditional Chinese Medicine; and blogs on my personal experiences, current events, etc.

I welcome you to check them out.

On my 'Patient Education' page I shared five top self-help health tips that really matter to your health.  One of them addressed Sleep in terms of the Circadian Clock mechanism that is important for people to understand.

Insomnia is regarding stubborn, chronic sleep disturbance.  The symptoms are unable to sleep, unable to fall asleep, frequent waking and then unable to fall back to sleep, restlessness at night, irregulat sleep cycle, dream disturbed sleep, and above all not getting the correct amount of sleep needed thus waking feeling unrested and fatiqued.  To treat it can be as easy as taking a hot shower or bath before bedtime, and no tv, texting and checking emails a couple of hours before bedtime; or stubborn and hellish to deal with.  

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, there're many causes such as follows:

• unresolved livery frustration, anger, and prolonged emotional turmoil that leads to liver qi stagnation, stagnant heat and even liver fire that has no escape route.
• prolonged worry, anxiety, and depression that results in stagnant qi, heat and fire attcking the heart.  When heart can't settle at night, it leads to restless night with little sleep.
• Eating late at night, overeating, eating rich and greasy foods, irregular eating habits all contribute to impaired digestive system that generates stomach and intestinal heat and phlegm that can be unsettling at night.
• Certain deficincies in qi and blood, and yin deficiency in heart, kidney and liver also creates internal heat and havoc to sleep.
• Stressful family life dealing with various forms of abuse, fear, violence, shock, fright and timidity; drugs, alcohol, and certain medication could add stress to the heart and gall bladder, disturb the psyche or deprive sleep.

Any of the above is a big reason for people to seek help.  We're well trained to diagnose and treat the symptoms holistically.  Good sleep is worth gold as we'd all agree.  Sleep is central to your overall health and peace of mind.  Good sleep will help you lose weight, and gain a surge of energy that can help you with improved mental stamina and overall happiness. 

The human intestines are about 25 ft long.  In order for body wastes to travel this length and be pushed out of the body, it takes a mix of the right amount of water, fiber and the stool to exit this long length through the work of peristalsis.  So it's not that easy.     

Treating constipation is way more complex than just drinking lots of water and eating fiber.  The cause of constipation from the Chinese medicine perspective could be from:

• External heat that gets in the lungs, the stomach or the intestines, thus drying up the stool.
•  Internal heat from emotional turmoil that impedes the liver qi that transforms into stubborn heat that stays in the body and dries the stool.  This heat could be from improper diet such as hot spicy foods, processed foods, alcohol, or cigarette smoking.
• Foods that introduce phlegm such as dairy products, rich/greasy products, overeating, and obesity could all cause the so-called sluggish stool, the result of qi stagnation making it hard to pass.
• Deficiencies in the body from lack of yin, blood and body fluid could also dry the stool.
•  Deficiencies in the body from lack of qi and yang that introduces internal coldness to the body, thus lacking the energy to pass the stool per peristalsis.
•  Lack of exercise leads to sluggish qi or stagnant qi all throughout our spine.  Daily stretching exercise, especially of the back totally relieves this type of strain that prevents normal bowel movement.
• Medications such as iron supplements, codeine, opiates, diuretics, and antidepressants are notorious in drying up the stool.
• Certain health conditions also lead to sluggish stool.

In conclusion, when the body has free flow of qi, and blood; good balance between yin and yang, and there is enough body fluid and fiber and without the built-up of internal heat or cold, then stool should pass easily through peristalsis.  With Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine we are well equipped to diagnose and treat constipation and we’ve had many happy patients who were helped to steer clear from this nasty condition. 

Usually people find us through referral, our outreach via brochures, youtube, public speaking events, and chance meetings, etc.  The following are some of the scenarios.

If you like our clinic and service, I'd ask you to refer us, as we treat you well, take good care of your health, we accept most insurance plans, and offer 50% cash discounts to the uninsured.          

• You've had some good experience with acupuncture already, and would like to give it a try with me now.  That's good and we'll see, since I came well recommended by your chiropractor or someone you can trust. 
• You've had some bad experience with acupuncture, because it hurt a lot, but you still needed help and wanted to try acupuncture again.  There could be many reasons for encountering pain such as if your constitution was weak, you were already fatiqued and hungary, you got acupuncture on an empty stomach, you had internal stagnation such that when acupuncture started to move your qi around the qi and blood got stuck even more, etc.  If you really can't take needling, I can treat you with Chinese Tuina massage or Herbal medicine that I'm well trained to do also to provide the proper healing you'll need. This type of approach would work well also if your prior encounter failed to produce the desired results and you know others have and would like to try again with me. 
• You have friends, neighbors or family members who were my patients and they told you about my approach and cool results.  You called and wanted what I gave them.  That's good and we'll see, but I may not be able to give you exactly what I gave them, as each person is different and your treatment is unique to you.