Recently in Acupuncture Category

Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ~ New research shows that a special Acupuncture technique can help ease lower back and pelvic pain in pregnant women.
In a study, women who had pressure needles held in place with tape in their ears for one week, were more likely to experience significant reductions in lower back and pelvic pain than those who had the needles placed at three "sham" points or women in a control group who didn't get real or fake acupuncture.

Pregnant women often suffer from pain in the lower back and pelvis ~ and this can set the stage for chronic pain later on, according to Dr. Shu-Ming Wang of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

Ear acupuncture might offer a drug-free way to help ease pain in these women. Wang and his colleagues randomly assigned 159 women in the 25th to 38th week of pregnancy to receive real acupuncture, acupuncture delivered to points that would theoretically not affect pain in the pelvic or lower back area, and a control group.  Every woman was also instructed to use self-care as needed, including resting, taking acetaminophen, and applying warm and cold compresses.  All of the 152 women who completed the two-week study reported some degree of pain reduction and improvement in their ability to function.

A 30 percent or greater reduction in pain was reported by 81 percent of women in the acupuncture group.  Improvements in function were significantly greater among women who had real acupuncture compared to those who got the fake version or received no treatment.

A week after the end of acupuncture treatment, 68 percent of those who received the real thing still had a 30 percent or greater reduction in pain compared to the beginning of treatment ~ the only side effect was temporary tenderness in the ear area, reported by one woman in the acupuncture group and three in the sham acupuncture group.

The treatment is inexpensive and it takes about three minutes for the needles to be put in place if an experienced person is doing the job.

In future studies, it would be worthwhile, the researchers say, to explore whether extended continuous ear acupuncture yields a more sustained effect and determine the characteristics of acupuncture responders versus nonresponders.
They call for larger studies to investigate these issues, and to determine whether the treatment has any effect on pregnancy outcome.
 SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, September 2009.

To Western doctors, insomnia is the inability to sleep soundly. If there is no obvious physical reason, it will usually be seen as an emotional problem such as stress, anxiety, or depression.  For chronic insomnia the usual treatment is sleeping pills.

In Oriental Medicine the term Insomnia covers a number of different problems such as inability to fall asleep easily, waking up during the night, restless sleep, waking up early in the morning and dream-disturbed sleep. 

Oriental medicine relates insomnia to the Heart.  According to Maciocia, a well-known educator and practitioner, the amount and quality of sleep depends on the state of the Mind.  "The Mind is rooted in the Heart; if the Heart is healthy and the Blood abundant, the Mind is properly rooted and sleep will be sound." 

Diagnosing the cause of one's insomnia is very complicated.  There is not just one generic acupuncture point for insomnia that will cure the condition.  Your practitioner of Oriental Medicine should check your tongue, your pulse on both wrists, check your body for scars, moles and broken capillaries whose existence and location are indicative of certain problems.  One of my teachers is a great believer in Gua Sha which is diagnostic as well as a treatment. 

Once a diagnosis has been arrived at it is still a process; I often compare it to the peeling of an onion.  Treating certain organ and channel imbalances must be constantly reevaluated and the treatment adjusted.  Often Herbs are called for.  Make sure that your practitioner has been trained in Oriental Herbs.  I have heard people say that they are taking herbs to harmonize them.  Of course everything one does is to achieve balance and harmony but there is only one category of herbal formulas that harmonizes; this involves complex processes in different levels of the body as well as hot and cold. These formulas rarely relate to insomnia.

The commonest types of insomnia are as follows:

Chinese Medicine treats the whole body.  It looks at life-style, diet and emotional states.  The most important and first line of treatment is always nutrition.  They feel that what you eat and how you prepare it is the foundation for Health and Healing.  Then after Diet and Nutrition comes Herbal Medicine.  Asian people grow up knowing herbs and herbal formulas to treat common ailments and also to prevent disease.  Acupuncture is last. 

This is the exact opposite of how it is viewed in the United States.  I have my Masters Degree in Oriental Medicine which includes Nutrition and Herbal Medicine in the curriculum; yet in New York State only acupuncture is licensed.  In addition to my acupuncture license I went on to take the National Boards in Herbal Medicine and to become a Board Certified Herbalist.  There is no uniformity in the US.  Some states require both acupuncture and herbs to be licensed and some states have their own board exams.

Classically acupuncture is viewed as moving energy or Qi, that is why it is so successful in treating pain.  There is a Chinese saying: "Where there is pain there is stagnation; where there is stagnation there is pain."  Classical acupuncturists will argue that for conditions that require more than just moving energy that you must employ Nutritional and Herbal therapies.  I know that there are many acupuncturists that will argue that acupuncture can do everything - however I side with the Classical approach as this has been practiced for over two thousand years.  Japanese acupuncture is another discussion for another time.

Memorial Day  ~  That great American Holiday when we honor our war Veterans.  Yet the ritual always seems to end with overindulging ourselves with our favorite food and drink ~  to diet at this time would seem positively un-American.  Although I primarily believe in Preventative Medicine ~ in this case I have a few tricks in my bag to get us through. 

Fructus Crataegi, also known as Hawthorn Berry, is the best herb for food stagnation due to overindulgence in meat or greasy foods with symptoms of abdominal distention.  Recently this berry has also been used for hypertension, coronary artery disease, and elevated serum cholesterol. It's always fascinating how much those Chinese Doctors understood over two thousand years ago.

 Hawthorn Berry is used dry fried for food stagnation.  This is such a fascinating herb.  It has also been used in research at a 20 percent solution of Fructus Crataegi and Sugar to treat bacillary dysentery.

So after hot dogs, hamburgers and of course ribs, drink a cup of Hawthorn Tea.  Hawthorne Berry  is also available in a tincture or capsules.  In Chinatown, in New York City, they sell a Hawthorn Berry chewing gum that is regularly chewed after meals.

But if pasta and breads are your downfall  ~

                                                          I have other herbs to help you.

 

Today's subject is very serious...smoking.  I would be remiss if I didn't at least ask you to think seriously about why you are smoking.  You must have heard over and over again that smoking is at the root of many serious diseases and quitting is absolutely the best preventative medicine available to you.

Did you know that Marlboro cigarettes were originally developed for women as they were filtered?  Everyone was surprised that men started to smoke them and the advertising company immediately switched their focus and voila .... "The Marlboro man".  The popularity of the cigarette was so immediate that other companies started to study Marlboro  to discover why.  They found out that Marlboro cigarettes were treated with ammonia.  The way ammonia works is that it makes the smoke less acidic. That changes a portion of its nicotine into "free nicotine," a form that is more readily absorbed in the lungs. Free nicotine's effects are felt in the brain within seconds.  Boosting free nicotine also ensured that cigarettes would remain addictive even though companies were bringing out low-tar, low-nicotine brands.  In addition, tobacco leaves are cured with sugar which wrecks havoc with people's blood sugar.  To make matters even worse the tobacco companies have admitted that in the past ten years they have increased the nicotine content of their cigarettes by 10%.

In a class I took to stop smoking I was told; "picture the largest rat you have ever seen. It would weigh about a pound. The 1mg of nicotine that entered your bloodstream from your last cigarette would be sufficient to kill that rat.  A smoker smoking 30 cigarettes per day is, over an entire day, taking in enough nicotine to have killed a 160-pound human if the entire 30mg had been taken at once."

I do know how difficult it is to quit.  I loved my cigarettes yet I wanted desperately to stop.  I quit for three years - yet in a period of stress I picked up a cigarette and smoked for a year.  Again I quit for 3 and half years and went back again.  It is very very difficult.  I have lost six very close friends to smoking related diseases.  They all suffered and none died quickly . It was hardest on their families whose lives were forever altered by giving up everything to care for their loved one and then ultimately losing them.

There are as many ways to stop as there are brands of cigarettes. Call around - people will be very happy to talk to you about their stop smoking protocols.  I tried everything and they worked for years but I still went back. Twelve years ago I quit through an acupuncture protocol that was developed by a Chinese oncologist and so far this has worked for me.  Other acupuncture protocols did not work long-term for me but this one has.  You have to be relentless and keep trying till you find the treatment that works for you.

There is never a perfect time to quit ~ just set a date and go for it.

If you have quit, please write in with tips and suggestions that helped you.  If you are struggling to quit please write in with questions and we'll try to help you.


Good Luck!



Taboo:  Never sit with open bookcases pointing at your back. You run the risk of symbolically being stabbed in the back by your co-workers.