Are You Ready to Thrive?

Welcome class, take a seat and get comfortable! Today, we're going to talk about Chinese herbal formulas. There are three forms of herbs that you can take, each has its benefits and drawbacks.

You've never had acupuncture before and, frankly, the needles are a little intimidating. Do they hurt? Is it safe? What does it feel like? Let's answer some of these questions (and more!) so that there is less to fear!

When you first go to an acupuncturist, you'll discuss your health in great depth. Don't be afraid to share symptoms that seem "weird" or "unimportant;" you'd be surprised how often these symptoms fit into the picture just right and will help your acupuncturist get a more complete and accurate diagnosis for you!

After discussing your health, your acupuncturist will check your tongue. Yes, I said TONGUE! Remember, acupuncture existed LONG before modern scientific tests, so ancient acupuncturists had to rely on the body and its signs to make a diagnosis. Our tongues reflect the state of our bodies. For example, if someone is having sleep troubles, you will often find that the tip of their tongue is bright red. Try using this as a party trick sometime!

Next is reading your pulse. In Chinese medicine, we have 3 different pulses on each wrist where our Qi is represented. Your acupuncturist will check your pulse for general speed (like at your doctor's office), but they will also check it for quality - what it feels like as it travels through the blood vessel.

And finally, your acupuncturist will start inserting needles. Acupuncture needles are single-use only, which means they will only be used on you, then disposed of properly in a sharps container, just like at your doctor's office! Acupuncture needles are super small - they're only about the thickness of a single human hair. They're solid, unlike hypodermic needles used for vaccines, so there's very little pain when the needle is put in (only a mild pinch!). Once the needle is in place, it shouldn't be painful at all! Some people may feel a sense of heaviness or pressure where the needle is - this is the sensation of the Qi! Some people feel the Qi, some people don't, both are perfectly normal responses.

Acupuncture needles are usually left in place between 15-45 minutes depending on your diagnosis. During this time, many people like to meditate, relax or even fall asleep (my personal favorite is the latter!). Whatever you choose to do during this time, the important thing is to physically and mentally relax so that the medicine can do its work.

After you have rested with your needles in place, your acupuncturist will remove them. Some people may feel a little tired after an acupuncture treatment, some people may feel energized, some people won't feel any changes at all. All of these are normal responses. Talk with your acupuncturist about how quickly they might expect you to start seeing results. Some people see some changes after just one visit, some people may not see results for up to 8 visits. We're all different, and we're all in different stages of health or unhealth.

Congratulations, you've just finished your first acupuncture experience! Welcome to the beginning of your path to health!

I was a non-believer. The active ingredient in acupuncture MUST have been the placebo effect. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the placebo effect, the mind is our most powerful healer, but surely that was the only thing powering acupuncture.

Then I started having horrible eye "dryness." I could no longer wear contacts because they were so dryly uncomfortable. So I started wearing glasses again (which I wasn't particularly happy with) and this helped for a while, but within a couple months the dryness came back, even without the contacts. For those of you who do or have worn contacts, it was similar to the feeling you have when you have slept with your contacts in. They're dry, they're sticking to your eyeballs and you can't WAIT to get those suckers out!

The ophthalmologist checked the amount of tears that I was creating. I tear more than the average person, so that wasn't the problem. When he looked at my eyes more closely, he found little bumps on the surfaces of my eyes that happen with allergies. We tried every eye drop known to mankind. Prescription, over the counter, under the counter, around the counter, you name it, I tried it. Nothing was helping longer than 5 minutes! I couldn't stand to keep my eyes open because they would feel like they were drying out, and I couldn't stand to keep them closed because it felt like there was sand in my eyes. I was left squinting and rubbing my eyes constantly.

The only suggestion from the poor doctor who had tried everything he knew of to help me finally suggested I take Benadryl everyday for the allergies. While in theory this was a great idea, in practice, not so much. I was working 20 hours a week while going to college for my undergraduate degree. I couldn't stay awake through any of my classes!

In comes acupuncture. I was desperate! There was an acupuncturist who shared an office with my chiropractor, and at this point, I was willing to try ANYTHING, even if it was just placebo! Within 2 weeks I was finally able to stop squinting, but still wasn't completely comfortable. Within a month I was feeling 100% again! How's THAT for a placebo effect? For a while I still had to see her every month or two for a tune up, but I was completely better, and now I haven't had any symptoms for about 5 years.

During one of my acupuncture visits, we talked about school and my plans to become a veterinarian. When she said, "Don't forget acupuncture for animals!" it hit me hard. Duh! I needed to use acupuncture to help animals regain their health! I needed to learn this medicine that had helped me so much!

Along the way my plans have changed a little. I didn't attend veterinary school, I attended acupuncture school instead. Through school I learned to treat humans, through my vet I learned how to use this medicine on pets.

I'm a very lucky girl; I get to help the WHOLE family return to health!

This is your standard-issue picture of the acupuncture meridians and acupuncture points. Many of us have seen this picture, or something like it, hanging around. The lines are the meridians and the Qi (or that stuff that means the difference between being alive and being not-alive) travels through them. The dots on the lines are the acupuncture points and we can access the Qi flowing through the meridians at these points. But still, how does it WORK?

I like to explain to people that meridians are like a freeway system and our Qi is like the cars on the freeway. When we're healthy and pain-free the cars are driving around fine, there's no traffic, no accidents and no road-rage. It's when accidents (a broken bone, a bruised elbow, an arthritic knee), the evening commute (an imbalance of Qi with too much in one meridian, and not enough in another), or road-rage (stress) occur that create symptoms in us.

For an accident example, you sprain your ankle playing basketball and it's doing all of the classic things that ankle sprains do: the area starts swelling (the Qi cars are getting backed up!), it is painful to the touch, let alone to walk on (the people stuck in the traffic jam are starting to get cranky!), and it's turning all KINDS of fun colors (the Qi cars aren't allowed past the accident). For treatment, an acupuncturist is going to play the role of the Department of Transportation. They are going to open the meridians and move blood (get the Qi cars involved moved to the side of the freeway to allow the cars to pass) and remove stagnation (get some of the Qi cars to exit the free way and take another route). All of these actions will allow for the swelling to come down and for the Qi to get to and from the area in a proper, organized fashion to promote healing.

For an evening commute example, you're exhausted constantly and really have a hard time getting yourself to do much of anything. You don't have quite enough Qi to spread around (there are too many cars on the road, instead of working or running the house - doing the things that help our society function), so you see a noticeable decrease in your ability to multi-task. Multi-tasking here includes the action of being alive, not just all of the things we say we're doing when we're multi-tasking such as exercising, painting the house, making dinner, keeping the kids entertained, etc. An imbalance is created because we need to use our Qi to stay alive and keep our bodies functioning, but there's not quite enough left over to do the fun stuff (or the not-so-fun-but-necessary stuff!). Treatment will be to increase your amount of Qi, while making sure that it is distributed properly. If our Qi levels aren't kept high and the distribution is uneven for very long, our bodies will start cutting back on its functions - this is when unhealth happens.

For a road-rage example, you're stressed out. Work has been too demanding; NO human can do what they're asking! You think and worry about it incessantly and it's even disturbing your sleep! Stress really messes with us, yeah? So what's going on energetically is that when we get stressed out, our energy flow becomes ragged instead of smooth (erratic driving), which then leads to getting irritated easily (that driver sure seems angry!) and our Qi going against its normal flow (the one committing the road-rage may even go so far as to follow someone off an exit that wasn't in their pre-planned route!) often leading to sleep disturbances, heart burn, appetite changes and such. Acupuncture will help calm us and promote the proper movement of Qi, allowing for health and happiness to return.

So in short, Qi is what makes us alive, the meridians are the pathways that Qi travels through to get to the different areas of our bodies to do it's work and acupuncture points are the access points to influence our Qi and its proper amounts, distribution and flow.