For more about fire cupping, please check out our dedicated post on that topic. Below are the details of our current cupping special to give you even one more reason to pick up the phone and make a cupping treatment appointment!

Cupping can help you feel better, lose weight and look younger! Call EMC today for special rates and packages.

Weight Loss/Cellulite/Skin-tightening Cupping Special!
Cupping will increase local and whole-body circulation on all the trouble spots in your body … and much more. For a limited time, cupping treatments are only:

• $300 for a 10-treatment discount package
• $40 for a single treatment

Check out Cosmetic Acupuncture and Cupping for Weight Loss
Using the secrets of the Mei Zen Cosmetic Acupuncture system, we can help you lose inches off your waist naturally!

This special includes acupressure, cupping in all the trouble areas and Mei Zen Cosmetic Acupuncture all together for an amazing treatment.

For pricing on this special offer, please call Eastern Medical Center at (925) 847-8889. We are happy to answer all your questions and are excited to help you feel better and look your best with cosmetic acupuncture and cupping!

But it’s not “normal.”

No woman should have to suffer every month, and from the perspective of Chinese medicine, you shouldn’t have those difficult symptoms. “Normal” from an acupuncturist’s point of view is a body in balance — a body that’s not exhibiting signs of Qi stagnation. PMS as we known it is the result of blocked energy. That’s what causes the swelling, cramping, distention pain and imbalance (physical and emotional).

Different women regularly experience different kinds of pain. Pain before menstruation suggests energy blockage and blood stagnation together, along with other lifestyle and emotional factors. Pain now and after menstruation is likely a result of a deficiency from having lost so much Qi and blood during the cycle. Pain in a particular part of the body is a combination of energy and lifestyle: Some have low back pain, whereas others have breast distention or are emotionally distraught.

What acupuncture is able to do is replenish or free up the energy the body needs to function properly. We’ll open up the liver or gall bladder channel, strengthen and tonify kidney energy, remove blood stagnation — whatever the particular situation calls for. In doing so, we’ll eliminate much of the pain and allow you to get back onto a regular, far more comfortable cycle.

“Regular” can refer to the amount and the timing. Acupuncture and medicinal herbs well help balance both by balancing the body’s hormone levels.

How Long Will it Take to Get Relief?

As a general rule, I say to receive regular acupuncture treatment through the course of three menstrual cycles to enjoy all the potential benefits. When the body’s natural energy and blood is flowing and its hormones are nicely balanced, the change can be tremendously significant. For some women, one treatment is enough to feel very different; they just need that little boost to get back on track. Some women take longer, depending on the other lifestyle factors in play.

Anger, unhappiness and stress can put additional stress on the body and work against the treatment’s balancing benefits. Anything that brings a person farther out of balance will require more help to bring back. So, to avoid rocking back and forth from improvement and regression, it’s helpful to address the pain holistically. What lifestyle changes can be made that will complement the treatment and lead to lasting relief and improvement?

Good information is also key. Many women don’t realize that eating cold food and drinking ice-cold beverages at that time of the month has a “numbing” effect that slows down blood flow and works against a natural, comfortable cycle. Constricted blood vessels will not help menstruation flow. On the other side of the equation, drinking warm liquids and eating warm foods will increase circulation and help keep things open. Many women having extreme discomfort will drink ice water and other iced drinks simply because they don’t know it will make them feel worse.

At Eastern Medical Center, we hope to be a source of helpful information through this blog and private in-office consultations, as well as a source of healing and relief through acupuncture treatments. If you’re in intense (or even marginal) discomfort every month, it’s not to be expected. There are straightforward steps we can take to improve your health and comfort level.

I am a member of the American Pregnancy Association, a wonderful organization promoting pregnancy wellness. Their Web site is an exceptional resource for all things relating to pregnancy and infertility, and they also have sections that go into treating infertility with acupuncture and herbal medicine in great detail.

Here’s a brief excerpt from their article on treating infertility using acupuncture:

“Acupuncture can be used to treat any type of fertility disorder including spasmed tubes. (Spasmed tubes are often de-spasmed with acupuncture, though blocked tubes will not respond to acupuncture). Acupuncture is often combined with herbs to treat elevated follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), repeated pregnancy loss, unexplained (idiopathic) infertility, luteal phase defect, hyperprolactinemia (when not caused by a prolactinoma), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) with annovulatory cycles, and male factor including men affected with sperm-DNA-fragmentation.”

Their articles also discuss how acupuncture can help prevent miscarriages (and on the other end of the spectrum, help women have a quicker, easier, less painful time giving birth). Please browse their site for more on herbs, acupuncture and many other articles, videos and tools for a comfortable, healthy pregnancy.

If you or someone you love is experiencing infertility problems, has a fear of miscarriage or is going through a difficult pregnancy, please feel free to call Eastern Medical Center (925-847-8889) or come in for a consultation to talk about how acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can help.

Acupuncture is like opening up the dam and letting fresh water rush in.

Picture that rushing river of clean, fresh, fully moving energy. Cells are fully oxygenated. Blood is circulating. By just thinking about it you begin to feel better because our body and our Earth are the same. They need the same essential nourishment and conditions for prosperity. That’s why no matter what’s going on in your life, start “at the roots.” Start with your body.

When you’re feeling healthy and energetic and clear, only then can you really be of help to others in a sustainable way.

Emotions and Stuck Energy

When we have certain emotions, they cause our energy to go certain directions. When you’re regularly experiencing a range of different emotions, it all generally balances out. But when we stay with one emotion for a very long time (anger, jealousy, resentment, fearfulness, etc.) and keep the energy fixated in that emotional place, problems start to develop. With frustration or anger, for example, energy becomes trapped high in your head. That leads to high blood pressure, migraines, headaches, red eyes, neck pain and shoulder stiffness … it’s all energy that’s stuck up there because of a constant emotional state.

When you relax and release that energy through acupuncture or other means, the benefits are immediately noticeable. But one emotional break followed by weeks of anger and frustration won’t effect substantial change. It has to be consistent. Just like with nature, it took time to get there, and it will take time and consistency to get out of it.

This may sound more obvious when discussing something such as exercising. If you really want to build muscular strength, you can’t just work out once a month (and skip a month here and there) and expect a dramatic result. It takes persistence and time to see and feel a difference in your body.

You instinctively know when you’re “stuck” or something is out of balance. Whether it’s physical or emotional discomfort, you can use acupuncture as a support system to achieve balance, release and movement toward where (or who) you want to be.