One of the basic principles of acupressure and acupuncture is diagnosing if the body is too cold or too hot and then helping it back into balance. Sinus headaches and cold headache symptoms are a result of a body dealing with changes or pathogens that is running too cold or too hot.

External pathogens, for example, can cause the body to produce too much mucus. That creates the uncomfortable sinus pressure and blockages above or below the eyes, around the nose and in the chest and throat. In the beginning, this mucus is a clear color, which means the body is cold. After a longer period of time, the color is yellow, which means the body is running hot, inflamed and fighting to recover.

The Role of Acupressure, Cupping & Herbs with Headaches

We use acupressure to help stimulate the body and reduce the pathogens causing sinus pain and congestion. What that means for you is that you receive a head and sinus massage that provides relief, feels great, gets circulation going and clears blockages all around the eyes.

If a patient comes in with a cold, cupping can really stimulate the lymphatic flow and kick that cold out much faster. Rather than a week or more of lingering feelings of being sick, often a patient has one really sick day and then is done and better.

Herbs are also a crucial asset because of they’re ability to change the body’s temperature and especially help warm it up. Eating warm foods, drinking only warm liquids and lots of rest and care will also help warm the body and speed the recovery process.

With inconsistent weather and hectic schedules, it can be a challenge to stay in balance — both in terms of lifestyle and health. Acupressure, acupuncture, cupping and herbs can be valuable resources to stay happy and headache-free.

I recently had a patient come to Eastern Medical Center with scans that showed three spots on her lung. It was a form of cancer, her physicians said. But the spots were so small there wasn’t much in terms of Western medicine that could be done or needed to be done, she was told. Physically, she was in no immediate danger. But emotionally, she was struggling mightily. She wanted the cancer gone from her body … no matter how small it was. But she also didn’t want to be taking powerful and toxic Western medications unless urgently necessary.

She started exercising regularly, changed her diet and did everything within her own power, but the tiny spots remained. That’s when she turned to Traditional Chinese Medicine. We began treating her lung channel, using acupressure to release blockages and acupuncture to open energy channels and increase blood circulation to the area. Three months later, she was re-tested, and the small spots were gone. The doctors wouldn’t say she was “cured,” but there was no more cancer in her body. Her results were clean—and that’s what she needed to put her mind at ease.

In this case, acupuncture helped her physical body heal. But perhaps more importantly, it restored her emotional quality of life. It’s one more way in which acupuncture is truly holistic care.

Acupuncture & Digestion: The TCM Perspective

TCM states that the stomach receives food, while the spleen transports, distributes and transforms nutrients. They both share the work and coordinate to fulfill the task of the digestion and absorption of food. When the function of the spleen in transporting and transforming the nutrients is in disorder, symptoms such as poor digestion, poor appetite, abdominal distension, weakness of the limbs and weight loss may occur.

The small intestine receives the food content that has been partially digested by the stomach and then completes the digestion and absorbs it. In the light of modern medicine, most of the carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the food are absorbed by duodenum and jejunum, while the bile salts and vitamin B12 are absorbed by ileum. Water and electrolytes are also exchanged in the small intestine. The endocrine function of the pancreas also contains various digestive enzymes important to digestive function.

So what does that all mean for your acupuncture treatments? Acupuncture stimulates energy to the liver, gall bladder, stomach and spleen (the four main channels for digestion) along with the small intestine, large intestine and even lung or heart channels (depending on the particular patient). Acupuncture isn’t a one-size-fits-all treatment. Needles can be placed at specific points to maximize the effectiveness for the patient, and those “patterns” will somewhat change from session to session based on exactly how the patient is doing that day and responding to treatment.

Acupuncture & Digestion: The Process

Every patient is different. Some patients have varying degrees of “excessive heat” in their system causing problems, while others have varying degrees of “excessive cold” creating symptoms. Through a consultation we’ll discuss your main issue, the type and intensity of your discomfort and when that discomfort occurs. We’ll discuss your diet and lifestyle and eating habits to determine if there’s anything contributing to the problem. And the acupuncture sessions will combine treatments and nutritional counseling.

It can be wonderfully empowering for a patient to not only feel better and experience better digestion from acupuncture treatments, but also feel he or she has more control over how to stay healthy moving forward.

In the next post, we discuss the effect of the “American diet” on digestion and how acupuncture treatment and nutritional changes can lead to radical digestive improvements.

Quite frequently, people come to Eastern Medical Center looking for help with getting off “lifelong” Western medications. Often I hear about symptoms such as sluggishness and tingling in the fingers and toes, which are common side effects of many drugs. Fortunately, acupuncture is a powerful tool for getting off of medications while balancing the body so that it doesn’t “need” the pills to sustain stable health. We can use acupuncture to taper off medications in a safe, gradual way and balance the chemicals in the brain so that the patient doesn’t suffer withdrawl symptoms.

It doesn’t matter if the patient has just been diagnosed and still has a prescription slip in hand or has been taking the same medication for a decade. In either case, there’s almost always an alternative to a lifetime of medication use.

It’s also important to reiterate that someone can appreciate the benefits of Western medications while still desiring to get off of them. Western treatment and drugs play a critical role in medical care — especially in acute, short-term situations. But that doesn’t mean we want to be at the mercy of medications for a lifetime! I often say that pills can create temporary stability, but acupuncture can achieve sustainable natural health.

In the next post, I’ll discuss how acupuncture can help the body detoxify from drugs (recreational or medical) and alcohol. This is a key piece of the puzzle because after the body has been subjected to external influences over an extended period of time, it needs to flush out all those toxins before truly being well again. So please stay tuned for that!

Simply put, when your body’s energy systems and blood flow are brought back into a natural, balanced state through acupuncture, the body can do what it’s designed to do: function properly. Health conditions are various forms of dysfunction in the body as a result of toxins and clogging and imbalances. A body that’s in balance is a healthy body. We may never put a needle at the sight of your health issue; but when the needles that are placed help to correct the underlying imbalances, the health issue becomes less and less noticeable … and in many cases just vanishes completely. That’s not magic; that’s just a body working the way it’s meant to do.

Many people have been in discomfort or pain or illness for so long that they’ve forgotten what being healthy actually feels like. That’s the state acupuncture helps restore.

Now, let’s be clear: There is certainly a time and a place in our society for taking your concern directly to Western medicine. If someone’s in a car accident and is in critical condition, that person should go directly to the hospital for acute care. But in pain management, accelerating recovery and rehabilitation, acupuncture would be of great service to that individual.

Major Conditions Treated by Acupuncture:

According to sources as official and recognized as the World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health, acupuncture is useful in the treatment of:

Chronic and acute pain: Injuries, headaches, neck and back pain, tendonitis, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia

Neurological disorders: Post-stroke recovery, Bell’s palsy & Trigeminal neuralgia, movement disorders

Upper respiratory disorders: Asthma, allergies, bronchitis, sinusitis, sore throat, laryngitis, colds and flu

Digestive disorders: Irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, constipation, diarrhea, gastritis, heartburn, food allergies, ulcers

Urinary and reproductive disorders: Cystitis, menstrual cramps, irregular or heavy periods, infertility, menopausal symptoms

Immune function: Recurrent infections, supportive treatment for cancer and AIDS patients

Addictions: Dependency on nicotine, alcohol or drugs

Eye and ear disorders: Tinnitus, Meniere’s disease

Depression, anxiety & insomnia

Much more … Please click this link for additional details about our acupuncture services and benefits.

If you or someone you care about has a specific health concern (whether on this list or not), please feel free to call us at Eastern Medical Center at (925) 847-8889 to discuss how acupuncture or other forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine might be able to help.

Eastern Medical Center offers a number of complimentary acupuncture brochures both in the office and right here in this post, which can be downloaded and printed:

‘Your First Visit’ Acupuncture Brochure

Download: (Acupuncture brochure – Your First Visit)

It’s easy for us in California’s Bay Area to forget that acupuncture is still a mystery (or even a scary unknown) to some. But once a person understands what to expect from their first visit, things are quickly demystified and comfortable. From there, newbies often get quite excited about the benefits and possibilities of acupuncture.

Here’s an excerpt from the “Your First Visit” Acupuncture Brochure:

Initial visits generally last from 30 to 90 minutes. Your acupuncturist will take a detailed health history and a physical exam and will provide you with your unique treatment plan.

During the first exam, your acupuncturist will spend time getting to know you and your health concerns. You may be asked a wide range of questions about your symptoms, eating, exercise, sleep habits and emotional states — anything that may offer insight into your health. Once your acupuncturist has gathered enough information, you’ll receive a comprehensive diagnosis and a treatment plan that will explain:

• Your underlying imbalances
• Your timeline of care
• What types of treatment you will receive

‘Acupuncture Questions & Answers’ Brochure

(Click here to download)

What is acupuncture? What will my acupuncturist do? What is cupping? Will my insurance cover this? This “Questions & Answers” acupuncture brochure will put your mind at ease — quickly answering the most common acupuncture questions on people’s minds.

Here’s an excerpt from “Acupuncture Questions & Answers”:

How safe is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is extremely safe. It is an all-natural, drug-free therapy, yielding no side effects except for feelings of relaxation and well-being. There is little danger of infection from acupuncture needles because they are sterile, used once, and then discarded.

‘Acupuncture & Sports’ Brochure

(Click here to download)

More and more recreational to professional athletes are utilizing the benefits of acupuncture to heal faster and perform better. If there’s an athlete in your life, he or she should take five minutes to read this “Acupuncture & Sports” brochure. It could change their life — or at least get them back to the sport they love far faster.

Here’s an excerpt from “Acupuncture & Sports”:

In today’s hectic lifestyle, we often don’t allow adequate time to heal. We use painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications to dull the aches and pains and reduce inflammation. It’s a quick and easy approach, but only a temporary fix … Acupuncture can provide a competitive edge, leading to improved performance. It is also a viable therapy in the treatment of acute sprains, strains and pains. This ancient and effective form of health care can reduce swelling, improve range of motion, strengthen your body, speed recovery time and address any underlying problems that could contribute to a future injury. Acupuncture can help create a healthier, strong, faster and more agile You.

Purchases of cholesterol and diabetes prescription drugs by elderly Medicare beneficiaries reached nearly $19 billion in 2007 — about one-fourth of the approximately $82 billion spent for medications for the elderly, according to the latest News and Numbers report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). And according to a recent AARP study, the average prices of many brand-name prescription drugs widely used by elderly Americans rose more than twice as fast as general inflation during a three-year span. Moreover, we have all seen news reports about elderly Americans having to choose between paying for food or paying to fill their prescriptions — and the difficult side effects they have to try to live with.

On top of the skyrocketing costs and side effects, most of these drugs are designed to treat (or cover up) symptoms rather than address root causes of illness and pain. That approach ensures elderly patients will be taking — and paying for — these medications for the rest of their lives and may never truly feel they way they did before the illness presented itself.

This isn’t a pretty picture, which is why it’s so essential that we all play a part in educating the senior part of our population about the benefits and possibilities of acupuncture and other forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In California and many other parts of American today, acupuncture is well known, accepted and celebrated for its natural and lasting health benefits. But for our American seniors, acupuncture isn’t so “mainstream.” Many elderly Americans have never experienced an acupuncture treatment or even heard a thorough explanation of how acupuncture works and helps people heal.

For all Americans, acupuncture holds the promise of treating the root cause of illness by balancing the whole body, so it can heal itself. Every case and every person is different, but for many, acupuncture treatments can gradually remove the need for taking prescription medications at all — even those prescribed “for a lifetime.” For some seniors, acupuncture may give them a feeling of health and vitality and energy that they sacrificed long ago and never thought they’d get back.

Our commitment at Eastern Medical Center is to do everything we can to help our patients find relief, comfort and healing, regardless of age or circumstance. If you or someone you know is a senior suffering from an illness or the cost and side effects of drugs associated with illness, please call us to set up a consultation where we can discuss what’s possible with acupuncture. It may be something “different,” but it also may be something positively life-changing.

It’s a Quality of Life Question

It’s a question that can be answered on a number of different levels. My thoughts immediately go to quality of life for those who aren’t finding relief using our society’s default approach to medicine. In our culture, we pop pills, treat symptoms (rather than root causes) and if things get really bad, have surgery. But if you’re still suffering through daily experiences with pain, low energy, emotional distress or a million other nagging conditions, what’s the cost of that? What do you miss when you’re always sick or weak … or are distracted by pain or symptoms? How many side effects do you have to deal with from prescription medications before looking for a better way? How much do you have to struggle before you’re worth the cost of a better life? To me, the real “cost” is in not seeking natural and effective treatment methods to have a healthy body and well being.

It’s a Dollars and ‘Sense’ Question

But most people aren’t necessarily looking for a philosophical discussion. They’re looking for numbers and dollars. Well, we can certainly do that, too! The easy answer is Western medicine is dramatically more costly than acupuncture and other natural treatment methods. Take one statistic as an example. According to a recent Associated Press article, Americans spend a staggering $86 billion a year treating back pain without even finding much relief. The vast majority of that care is Western in its medical nature, from scans and X-Rays to pain pills to other drugs. Speaking of medications, the latest statistics I can find from the U.S. Department of Labor state that the average American spends $335.36 on medications each year, with the average American family spending $185 per year on over-the-counter drugs. And the cost of prescription medication continues to rise steeply, contributing to the health care crisis that prompted recent national legislation.

It’s About Prevention

In comparison, acupuncture is far more cost effective than surgery and a lifetime of lab work and expensive medications. An acupuncture treatment center at Eastern Medical Center costs $80. If you have an acute condition, you might have to come back once a week or so for a while. When your body is back to its natural state of good health, those sessions will become once a month or once every two months.

And while acupuncture will help you get through any current health difficulties, acupuncture by its very nature is about prevention; it’s about preventing you from getting sick, which also prevents you from having to spend money on medical care. Regular acupuncture prevents heart attacks, strokes, illnesses resulting from a weak immune system, diabetes and unnecessary surgeries, just to name a few. This is possible by keeping the body in natural balance, where it functions properly and can really take care of itself. In addition, people who cannot derive the energy they need to recharge themselves (such as with fibromyalgia), people whose lives are filled with constant stress and people who cannot seem to fully recover from illness using conventional Western techniques, these patients can all benefit from regular acupuncture. Why wait until you get diabetes to start taking medication? If you know you are pre-diabetic, did you know that acupuncture, natural herbs and diet change can help prevent the onset of diabetes?

Not to mention, when getting acupuncture treatments regularly, many other symptoms start going away as well. Acupuncture can help the body with so many ailments that I will normally see a patient for one reason, and end up helping with that and healing something else entirely. That’s two medications off the monthly books — along with all the out-of-network specialist visits. And most insurance plans cover a number of acupuncture treatments, and at Eastern Medical Center we accept Workers’ Compensation and auto accident claims.

I hope this helps explain how much acupuncture costs. I also hope it helps even more to explain the cost of not seeking better, more natural care.

“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!

She didn’t know what else to do. So after someone told her about acupuncture,  she came to Eastern Medical Center. After I talked to her at length and checked her tongue and her pulses, I realized that had a lot of fluid in her body. I gave her herbs to reduce the fluid and did acupuncture, which increased her body’s healing ability to move out dampness.

After the first sessions, she noticed a few small changes. But after coming back twice a week for two months, she experienced a sharp decrease in pain; her ears weren’t filling up as much, either. Now she has no symptoms and just comes in once a month for maintenance.

(You can read a testimonial from the patient here.)

It’s possible to get relief from Meniere’s disease with acupuncture. Unlike western medicine, acupuncture isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. For example, I used a totally different method with another Meniere’s disease patient that was centered on her heart channel. Each person requires a different treatment and reacts differently to treatment. That’s why I spend a lot of time getting to know my patients, talking to them and figuring out what’s going on and where they are at.

If you suffer from Meniere’s disease, or another illness where you aren’t getting relief from your physician, come to Eastern Medical Center. I’ll take the time to understand your specific case — and help you get on the path to wellness.