• As the expression goes, “there’s no such thing as minor surgery.” Surgeries are serious business and often have lifelong consequences (both positive and negative).
• Surgeries are incredibly expensive. In a best-case scenario, you’ll be buried in insurance company paperwork. In a worst-case scenario, you’ll be on the hook for thousands of dollars in many cases.
• Surgeries put you out of commission. The recovery process following surgery totally changes daily life, for a period of time that depends on the complexity of the procedure.

Needless to say, I have many people come to Eastern Medical Center following incidents who have been told they need surgery and are looking for “another way” to heal. I’m always excited to see these patients because in many instances, acupuncture, acupressure and Chinese herbs can help the body sufficient heal and avoid surgery entirely. There are cases where I recommend the patient should have the Western surgery done and then come for acupuncture as part of the recovery process, but at least the person has the peace of mind knowing he or she left no superior options on the table.

Two areas where people should think “acupuncture!” before going through with surgery are torn ligaments and broken bones. Under the right circumstances, acupuncture can be a totally non-invasive alternative to surgery and save the patient time, suffering and thousands of dollars.

Two Patients, Two Surgeries Avoided

I have recently been treating a patient who simply fell wrong on her knee. It wasn’t a dramatic accident, but it did have a dramatic effect: She damaged an interior knee ligament so badly that doctors recommended surgery to insert a cadaver’s ligament into the knee. She came in on crutches and could barely walk or put pressure on the leg … but most of all, she was creeped out with the idea that part of a dead person was going to be inserted into her knee.

We began a protocol where she came in every day for treatment – and every day the coloring around the knee improved. The healing stimulated by the multiple acupuncture treatments was so effective that when she went to meet with the surgeon, she was told she didn’t need surgery anymore. She was so happy!

Another patient just fell on her elbow wrong and managed to break it. Her healing process is a similar story, but she was primarily motivated to choose acupuncture because she didn’t have health insurance, couldn’t afford the surgery and didn’t know what to do. After a number of acupuncture treatments, she returned to her doctor. The doctor said surgery was no longer necessary to repair her arm because it had healed very well-and fast! Ultimately, she went back to work as a waitress far sooner than I would have liked!

It’s totally common these days for someone to get a “second opinion” before undergoing a costly surgery. Let’s spread the word so more of those second opinions are with acupuncturists!

I recently treated a patient who had been diagnosed with Wegner’s granulomatosis (inflammation of the blood vessels affecting the kidneys, lungs and other organs).  He was on immunosuppressants, steroids and in horrifying joint pain. Everything was inflamed, from his knees to his arms to his wrists to his ankles. He had been told that he’d be dealing with this forever, and this person who you could tell had once been bursting with energy and zest for life was now a shell of himself. He loved to travel and felt that part of his life was over. He loved an active lifestyle and thought that part of his life was over. All this, based on the idea that he’ll never change. I would argue that there is change from day to day, hour to hour, albeit subtle and small. There is always change.

He only ended up in my office because his daughter had been coming for acupuncture and persuaded him to give it a try when he lost hope. After weekly visits for a month, he began to notice little changes. He was sleeping better and some body functions were normalizing. By two months, he was riding his bike again (a favorite activity). By the time we finished the critical phase of his treatment, he was flying internationally again. This person thought his life was over. In just a few months of acupuncture and complementary nutrition, he had his life back.

A body is not a car. It will get worse if left untreated and will improve when healing is stimulated. Nothing in the body stays the same forever. Anytime someone tells you or someone you love that “no change is possible,” they may honestly believe that … but you don’t have to.

All of these patients ultimately got pregnant, but they all came in for very different reasons:

The Endometriosis Patient

This woman came to Eastern Medical Center experiencing intense pain from a recent surgery. On a scale of 0-10, she said her pain level was a “10.” All she wanted from acupuncture was some pain relief — and after one treatment she reported an “90 percent” reduction of her pain. She returned one more time to get rid of the rest of that pain for good.

Once she wasn’t dealing with excruciating pain, she was again clear and relaxed enough to consider, and talk about, her other health goals. The big one revolved around fertility. She wanted to get pregnant, but physicians had told her that it would be difficult for her to get pregnant considering her endometriosis condition. We started addressing that through acupuncture by removing blockages and increasing blood flow. The acupuncture helped stimulation to the uterus and vascularize the lining and keep the area open from obstructions or imbalances. We strengthened her energy so that she could hold the pregnancy. And soon after, she got pregnant!

The Arthritis Patient

This woman came in with arthritis in her hands. As that condition improved with acupuncture, she mentioned that she wanted to have another child but had a very particular concern: She once had an abortion that might affect a new pregnancy. From an Eastern medical perspective, this abortion left a bruise, stagnant blood that we wanted to get rid of so that the energy could flow properly again. We also didn’t want there to be any cellular memory of the abortion to be there, as that could increase the possibility of a miscarriage. She was already exercising regularly, which was a big help. So, we used acupuncture for stimulation, blood circulation and good energy flow through the meridians in her body to help boost her metabolism. After four treatments, she got pregnant and we kept working together to support her body and prevent any problems throughout the pregnancy.

The ‘Cravings’ Patient

This woman wanted to lose weight and needed help with the various addictions in her life. Through acupuncture, we helped her stop smoking, reduce her cravings for junky foods and reduce her appetite. Yet, she still wasn’t seeing the weight loss she wanted. An investigation into that concern revealed that she wasn’t losing weight because she, in fact, had gotten pregnant! So, our acupuncture started focusing on alleviating “morning sickness” and helping her body feel good throughout the pregnancy.

Many women experience morning sickness because of energetic weakness. Energy is meant to go down through the stomach channel. But when there’s a bulge and if the body is weak, the energy tries to go down but fails … and begins to reverse flow. And when what’s supposed to be going down reverses flow and comes back up, that’s what morning sickness looks and feels like.

Acupuncture is a tremendous resource for dealing with the various conditions women experience when pregnant — from food cravings to morning sickness to arthritis, swelling and migraines. Sometimes a woman’s body runs so hot during pregnancy that no amount of air conditioning will give her relief. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs help her reduce those problems naturally, without medications.

So, if you or someone you care about either wants to get pregnant or is concerned about ensuring a healthy pregnancy, please contact me at Eastern Medical Center to see how acupuncture can help. And if any of the other conditions mentioned in this post (endometriosis, arthritis, addiction, intense pain) ring a bell, we’d love to help with that, too.

“Six years ago I was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease. Menieres is known as an inner ear disorder that causes a feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear, tinnitus/ringing in the ear, fluctuating hearing loss, and episodes of vertigo/spinning. Unfortunately, the origin of Meniere’s disease is presently unfounded and for that reason, I was faced with many variables and ‘what ifs’ in the scope of coping with this disorder or the hopes of ever getting better and being ‘attack’ free.

“I tried multiple options to lessen my symptoms in the hopes of creating a higher quality of life for myself and indirectly for my family, as they were greatly affected by my immobility during the lengthy attacks and the aftermath of the attacks, which would leave me exhausted for days at a time.

“I turned to Eastern Medical Center for help, and I am incredibly happy to say I have experienced great progress in my health and stand symptom free of a debilitating disorder.”

“Under the care of Westernized thinking, I was instructed to take an over-the-counter anti-nausea medication called Meclizine in addition to an antihistamine. The reason given was that this route worked for some of the patients some of the time. Being the good patient that I was, I did as I was told despite my apprehensions. I probably took these OTC medications for three and a half years, religiously, sometimes two to three times in one day depending on how I felt. I didn’t feel good about popping these OTC medications like candy every day for the rest of my life, as I was instructed to do. The clincher was when I was informed that there was no real way of knowing as to whether the OTC medications were actually working but to continue using anyway.

“Sadly, after the three-year mark of being symptom free, I found myself dealing with an attack that lasted 12 hours. The attack set me back both physically and emotionally. I became slightly depressed, anxious, and felt helpless. I felt fatigued all the time and this was frustrating as I have always considered myself to be an active person. Upon returning to my Western doctor in search of help, I was told to continue taking the OTC medications despite the recent episode. I was also offered a prescription for Valium to ‘take the edge off’ during any future attacks. This didn’t make any sense to me, as I didn’t want to take a drug that could potentially be addicting, as well as the impossible feat of being able to keep the prescribed medication in my stomach while vomiting profusely. My other options in the Western frame of mind was to possibly undergo a procedure that would inject a high potency antibiotic into the inner ear causing the probability of permanent hearing loss to increase dramatically and with no guarantee that it would relieve the symptoms. Unbelievably, that was the least intrusive procedure, the alternative procedure was explained literally as ‘a step away from brain surgery.’ Need I say more!

“It was after that visit when all my dismal options were layed out for me I realized I needed to seek out alternative choices in dealing with my disorder, as the Western way of approaching symptoms no longer made much sense to me. I turned to Eastern Medical Center for help, and I am incredibly happy to say I have experienced great progress in my health and stand symptom free of a debilitating disorder. I began seeing Dr Shen shortly after the occurrence of my last attack, back in January 2010. In the months I have been undergoing acupuncture and taking herbal medications — both purely natural treatments — I have gone from the state of having fullness in the ear, moderate ringing in the ear, and the feeling of exhaustion to a gradual transgression into a symptom free person who has her energy level back to its normal state. The extremely promising aspect for me is that as a person who has been living with Meniere’s, my symptoms in the past have always followed a natural progression into a full-blown attack. Since seeking out the help of the Eastern Medical Center, the typical progression of  my disorder has become non-existent and I am truly forever grateful.”  —Amanda C.

Click here for many more testimonials and Eastern Medical Center success stories!