You Did It! 01/30/2012
 You did it! You voted Thrive Acupuncture as one of Portland's Top Dog Businesses for the third year in a row! Portland is definitely the place to be to work with wonderful pets and their truly caring owners. I'm very lucky to get to work with both people and their pets, helping them to feel their very best! Thanks for helping to share the word that pets can really thrive with Chinese medicine too! Add Comment Now Accepting Credit and Debit Payments 01/06/2012
Until now I haven't accepted credit cards. The cost of just getting set up to accept them was enough of a deterrent, let alone the transaction fees. This kept me from being able to accept many Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts payments though! I've now found a company that I feel comfortable working with and am accepting all credit and debit payments including HSA and FSA! Here's to a new year of sharing the health! AOM Day Contest Winners 10/24/2011
 Happy Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Day, everyone! Thanks to all of you who entered our contest to celebrate AOM Day! Here are the winners, chosen randomly from contestants who provided the correct answers :
Don't forget that AOM Day is a day to learn more about Chinese medicine and maybe even give it a try! AOM Day Contest 10/05/2011
October 24th is Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Day! In its honor, Thrive Acupuncture is offering one Free Stress Reducing or Sleep Enhancing treatment to three lucky winners! You may be asking yourself, "How do I get in on this?" Well, let me tell you: Search through this blog to get the answers to these questions: 1. According to “Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine” (Apr 6, 2009), what are the three main things your acupuncturist is looking at? 2. According to “Strengthen Your Spleen at Home” (Sep 21, 2009), what are three things that you can do to strengthen your Spleen without stepping foot in an acupuncturist’s office? 3. According to “Ear Acupuncture” (May 19, 2011), what part of your body is represented by your ear lobe? Email your answers to Becca@ThriveAcupuncture.org by midnight on October 23rd. 3 winners will be randomly chosen and notified on October 24th! It's that simple! So get over there, help us celebrate AOM Day and win yourself some relaxation! (Free treatments must be used by December 31st, 2011) That Time Again! 09/26/2011
 Every year Portland's Spot Magazine holds a competition for Portland's Top Dog Businesses. These are businesses that are pet-centered You guys did such a great job helping secure second place for Thrive Acupuncture in the "Holistic Wellness Practitioner" category, and it's that time of year again!Please go to Spot Magazine and enter "Thrive Acupuncture" under the "Holistic Wellness Practitioner" category to let Portland know who your favorite pet acupuncturist is! And in case you had any doubts about pets enjoying their treatments, check out this video of Benny getting acupuncture for post-operative knee pain! Mosquito Bites 08/22/2011
 Ugh. I hate mosquitoes. I know, I know, I try to remind myself that they have their own place and purpose in this world, but I still hate the results of their feasts! When you get a mosquito bite, rub Tiger Balm on it. Tiger Balm is a product that is normally used for muscular injuries (too many sit-ups, ran for the first time in 2 years, etc.), but because of its "spicy" herb contents, it takes away the itch of even the worst mosquito bites! I like to place a band-aid over the bite to keep the greasy balm from getting on everything, but also to keep me from scratching it on accident.  Some mosquito bites may require more Tiger Balm than others! So the next time your arm is looking like my friend Kelly's (that's her munched-on arm above, and if you couldn't tell was the inspiration for this post!), slather on the balm and feel the sweet relief! Schedule Online! 07/11/2011
Here at Thrive Acupuncture, we want to make it as easy as possible to become your healthiest. That's why we're now offering online scheduling! Simply click the "Schedule Now" button below and be whisked away to our calendar. Click on your desired appointment slot and get ready to thrive!  And, of course, if you're the old fashioned type or have questions to ask, feel free to continue scheduling with us by phone at (971) 285-4825! Allergies 07/07/2011
 Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Allergies. Many of us have experienced them. The itching, watery eyes, the sneezing, the coughing, the over all fatigue. It's enough to bring ANYONE to their knees! Science is debating if this is the worst allergy season ever (not just that we've forgotten how miserable we were last year), noting that pollen counts have been the highest in over 10 years! Chinese medicine is great for treating allergies. Not only can we treat the symptoms quickly, we are able to treat the underlying cause of your allergies and prevent them from occurring in the first place! Allergies are treated in two phases. During allergy season, your symptoms are treated to get you immediate relief. Unfortunately, it's not possible to treat the underlying cause of the allergies sufficiently during an active attack, so treatment must be continued in the off-season in order to prevent future allergy attacks. If you should have bought stock in your favorite facial tissue years ago, why not give your acupuncturist a call? You'll feel better this year and could completely avoid allergies from here on out. You can still buy facial tissue stock even if you don't need the tissues.  Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net I try to preface every treatment by addressing this question. Because Chinese medicine is a holistic medicine, and we're all different people, we all respond differently. Some people will feel tired. Others will feel energized. Some won't feel any different at all. When I was in acupuncture school, we joked about acupuncture treatments taking you to "Aculand." Aculand is that place that leaves you feeling blissed out after a treatment, but not exactly sure if you're safe to drive for a few minutes. It's kind of like when you take a nap in the middle of the day and take a little while to fully wake up. Lots of patients visit Aculand. I've had patients describe it as the feeling of being ever so slightly tipsy. (Taking sips of cool water and sitting for a minute or two helps clear the feeling, by the way) But what might you feel in the days following your treatment? Again, you may feel tired or energized. (Feeling tired usually only lasts a day or two) Almost all of my patients mention how they slept the best that they have in a long time the first couple of nights after treatment. Another reaction that most of my patients experience is a decrease in stress levels. Almost across the board, people like coming to acupuncture regardless of their original health complaint because of the reduction in stress and anxiety. Who wouldn't want to feel more relaxed? Some people will notice that other minor health complaints start to resolve. Their slightly looser bowel movements might never have been something to complain about, but now that they're firmed up, it's pretty exciting! Or maybe they felt cold all the time and realized that they haven't needed that extra sweater all week. If you were treated for body pains, your muscles may feel a little sore or tired (as if you exercised a little too exuberantly). Some people may experience flu-like symptoms, much like is possible after a good deep-tissue massage. In relaxed muscle, the byproducts of normal cell function are flushed away by our body fluids. In tight, spasmy muscles these byproducts get trapped. When tight muscles relax, they may release all of those pent-up byproducts all at once, rather than gradually, which can cause body aches, a sensation of chills and fever and mild nausea. Flu-like symptoms can be prevented by drinking copious amounts of water after such treatments. Really, it's a good idea to drink lots of water after acupuncture treatments regardless of what's being treated. It helps your body accomplish all of the functions that it needs to accomplish! Oh, and of course, many people start seeing a change in their original health complaint. Their painful knee might not be cured, but they notice that they can walk just a little longer before it starts getting cranky. Or their headaches aren't likely gone, but they had fewer that week. Most people are pretty pleased with that last reaction ;) Heavy Periods - A Case Study 05/31/2011
A female patient in her late 20s came in with heavy periods. She'd had heavy periods for as long as she could remember, but they'd gotten worse after having her 2 children. She bled approximately 300 mL/month (with normal being 10-80mL) since having her last child. She'd been to her biomedical doctor and it was found that she wasn't anemic (which surprised the doctor) and that her thyroid function was normal. Her doctor could find no other causes for the abnormal bleeding. We used acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas to stem the flow, and treat her underlying Qi deficiency. Her energy levels had risen some (she'd been experiencing extreme fatigue), but found no changes after 9 months of treatment, trying many different formulas and acupuncture treatments. What I have found when patients don't seem to respond to Chinese medicine is that there is often some sort of underlying nutritional deficiency occurring. So we started looking into what sorts of nutritional deficiencies may be present. This patient also has a gluten intolerance and has been gluten-free for 7 years. Upon doing some research into Celiac disease, I found that many nutritional deficiencies are common because of the changes that occur in the bowels in Celiac Disease. Most common are the fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and K. We started by supplementing with vitamin K because of it's role in clotting, but after 2 months found only minimal changes in her flow amounts. Next we tried supplementing with vitamin A. After only one month, her flow has decreased by approximately half. We looked into the other symptoms of vitamin A deficiency and found that she has experienced many of those as well! Food IS medicine. Unfortunately for this patient, because of an absorptive issue, even eating a healthy diet wasn't helping to rectify her health complaint. | ArchivesJanuary 2012 CategoriesAll |
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