I've got some super exciting news!

How many times has it happened that you've been taking your supplement diligently and then you run out before your next acupuncture appointment?

Or it's cold and flu season and you were wanting to pick up your secret-cold-fighting weapon, but everyone else had bought them already?

If you are a current patient of Thrive Acupuncture, in addition to still buying your supplements through us directly, you can now purchase your supplements through NPScript and have them shipped directly to you!  

The supplements available through NPScript are the same ones we carry in our clinic, so you know that they've been tried and tested!

​It's super easy to get signed up, too!  Simply visit http://npscript.com and enter the code: ThriveAcuPDX

I recently did an interview with Sara Calabro of AcuTake about treating pets with acupuncture.  I'm glad to have had the opportunity to share with all of you some of the work that I get to do!  I hope you enjoy the interview and feel free to ask me any questions you might still have!

Psoriasis is a skin condition caused by skin cells that replicate too quickly resulting in a scaly, often itchy, patch.    Biomedicine often prescribes cortisone to try to control the overgrowth.  For some people this works, but for many it doesn't.  Many people find their scaly patches minimized, but not gone.  

If you've already been following me on Twitter and Facebook you may have noticed some sweet deals being offered for any of my services!

I'm calling them Last minute Appointments and they mean big savings for you!

Here's how it works:

• I list the appointment slots that I have open that day available as Last Minute Appointments
• You message me saying you'd like one of the appointment slots.
• We schedule you and you get 50% off the regular cost of that service.
• You come in later that day and have a relaxing, healing, mind blowing treatment!

Get Cupping, Gua Sha or Reflexology for only $15! Get a New Patient Exam and Treatment for only $75!  If you're a returning patient, you get your treatment for only $40!  It's really simple!  You keep an eye out and you get great discounts!  And there's no limit to how often you can take advantage of Last Minute Appointments!  Just keep an eye out for those posts and tweets!

So follow me on Twitter and Facebook and get ready to do some major healing with only a minor dent in your wallet!

This is Toby.  He's coming to see me for arthritis.  He's 16 years old - he looks GREAT for his age, right?

People ask me, all the time, HOW I do acupuncture on pets.

Don't they move around?

Do they bite you?

Do you have to anesthetize them?

Nope!  Just look at Toby!  He hardly even notices that the needles are in!  Some dogs will lay down and fall asleep.  Some do move around (and this is fine!).  My main goal (aside from making them feel better via acupuncture and herbs, of course) is to make sure that they're comfortable and unstressed when they come visit me.

A stressed animal is preventing the acupuncture from working to its full potential, so keeping a relaxed environment is KEY to speedy healing.

Stay tuned for video of my buddy Benny who's being treated for post-surgical pain in his knee, and you'll see just how relaxed most dogs are during their treatments!

This is a question that I get asked regularly.  We're used to seeing our doctors only in times of trouble (even if then!) and otherwise, we go on our own merry ways.  So when an acupuncturist says that they'd like to see us again in a week, we question it.  

In our society, because we don't go to the doctor until we're experiencing symptoms that are bringing us to our knees, we've dug ourselves into a bit of a "health hole."  What do I mean by that?  We spend our lives worrying, and stressing, and not exercising or eating properly, in effect neglecting our bodies, until our bodies finally break down and we experience a symptom that is worth complaining about. But in Chinese medicine, we've been unhealthy and out of balance for a lot longer than this uncomfortable symptom has existed!

In order to get back to a truly healthy state of being, one in which our uncomfortable symptoms don't come back a short while after treatment, it takes time - and practice.  Our bodies have forgotten, and need to relearn, how to be healthy!

When we get acupuncture, it does its thing for a certain amount of time.  Some people may feel better for a whole week after their first couple of treatments, while some may only feel better for a couple hours.  How long an acupuncture treatment lasts depends on the person, how out of balance they are and how quickly their body responds.  

It is best to get another treatment before much of the effects of the acupuncture have worn off.  For some people this will be a couple times a week, but for most people this is once a week.

Now remember, the whole point here is that your body starts remembering how to be healthy on its own - without ANY outside help.  So once you become symptom-free from treatment to treatment, your acupuncturist will start spacing out your treatments.  If you were coming in once a week, perhaps you'll go to every other week for a while, then maybe once a month.  

In effect acupuncture is reminding your body how to be healthy again, and once it starts remembering, it's time to wean you off treatments so that your body has the opportunity to practice being healthy between visits!

Just like riding our first bikes, once we get the hang of it, and our bodies know how to be healthy again, it's time to take off the training wheels!