Sometimes patients receive a diagnosis that creates a tremendous amount of fear and stress—even when the problem is too small to warrant intervention. It’s a curious but common combination of circumstances that can destroy peace of mind even if it’s not destroying the body.
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Dr. Teresa Shen of Eastern Medical Center explains how acupuncture can help bones and ligaments heal well and fast enough to avoid surgery in many cases. One of the many debilitating symptoms of Fibromyalgia is extremely low energy. It’s hard to function and get anything done – and there’s not a pill you can pop to give you that energy back. To compound the problem, the body can’t heal itself it if doesn’t have adequate energy, and the spiral that occurs leads to all kinds of joint pain and a constant feeling of being “too cold.” The low energy, unyielding pain and “coldness” all negatively impact lifestyle. You want to be active. You want to dress normally (instead of wearing tons of layers). You want peace of mind and a sound body. And these are all totally understandable, reasonable “wants” for a human being to have. Scoliosis is a problematic curvature of the spine. The curve usually takes the shape of a “C” or “S” and can cause the person to stand and walk off-balance and have uneven shoulders and hips. According to the National Institutes of Health, a birth defect, tumor or another disease might cause the spine to have a curve that isn’t temporary. People with mild scoliosis might only need checkups to see if the curve is getting worse. From the Western medical perspective, others might need to wear a brace long-term or have surgery. 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. 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. Sometimes doctors tell their patients things that are difficult or unsettling to hear during a diagnosis: “I don’t know … We can’t do anything for you … Wait and see …” These types of conversations leave the patients feeling powerless to affect their own health and are especially common with autoimmune diseases or other “lifetime illnesses.” These aren’t mean or vindictive physicians; they’re just speaking the truth from the Western medical perspective. But from the Eastern medical perspective, the picture looks very different. Last week, we compared the cost of acupuncture to the cost of Western medicine and touched upon the massive costs of Western prescription drugs for the average American. No part of the population has been hit harder by the rising costs of prescription medications than the elderly. So when people ask me if acupuncture has side effects, I say yes! But it’s not the kind of side effects you find on the label of a prescription drug bottle. Instead, these are positive side effects, the result of balancing out your body. And when you balance out the body, good things happen. Last week’s post talked about how PMS pain and discomfort is “expected” in the West — and how women are just expected to suffer through it with the help of over-the-counter pain medication. Of course if you read that post, you’ll know that women shouldn’t and need not suffer every cycle. But there’s another related topic that could almost be considered Part II of what women need to know: Prescribing birth control pills to regulate your cycle is NOT normal, either! It happens all the time. In fact, it happened to me. |
Eastern Medical Center provides natural, non-invasive healing techniques from ancient Chinese medicine.
Free up the body's natural energy for effective (and side-effect free) pain management, beauty enhancement and healing. Call Eastern Medical Center today (925-847-8889) to make an appointment and sign up for our newsletter here. |
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