Optimal health. We all want to have it, but very few of us are anywhere close to achieving it. Unfortunately, this is because health is not a high priority for most of us. Even more so, most of us don’t even know how to define optimal health. Our medical model teaches us that health is the absence of disease. We can guarantee you that health is much more than this. There are millions of people who don’t have a diagnosable disease, but are still in poor or mediocre health.
Interestingly, there are also many people who do have a disease but are in good to excellent health. How could this be? Because we define health in a much different way than our western medical model does. We define health as the absence of addiction, not disease. Health is about living spontaneously.
In our private practice, PMS and dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps) are certainly common reasons for seeking treatment with acupuncture and herbs, as these holistic methods tend to be very effective and safe options for most women. Chinese medicine and acupuncture have enjoyed a rich history in treating gynecological issues. Even today, many women turn to this style of treatment for numerous female health concerns. PMS and cramping usually respond very well to treatment. The key is to give it sufficient time before discerning if it is working for you. Our experience has been that women younger than 25 typically respond very quickly to acupuncture and herbs, while women in their 30’s and 40’s may need to be a bit more patient. This is because the time frame of progress is usually based on how long one’s symptoms have been present. The longer they have been there, the longer treatment tends to take. Even in worst case scenarios (long-term and severe symptoms), we still expect that the woman’s overall health should improve greatly within 2 months of weekly treatment.
Both PMS and cramping are generally attributed to an underlying liver imbalance that is based on qi (energy) and blood stagnation. The liver is responsible for balanced circulation throughout the body; cramping pain and PMS are signs that the blood has congealed and qi has become stuck. The primary cause of liver qi and blood stagnation is emotional in nature and is specifically related to the suppression of anger and frustration. When you feel stuck in your life and your creative resources are thwarted, the natural byproducts are anger and frustration. The continued attachment to these emotions makes us feel stuck on all levels. Thus, the body will mirror to us this stagnation by impairing the circulation of qi and blood through the liver meridian. This in turn causes pain, mood swings, and further emotional upset.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a commonly misunderstood condition that currently affects around 5 million Americans. Acupuncture, along with a variety of natural treatment approaches, can often offer profound benefit to people diagnosed with PTSD or share a similar constellation of symptoms.
Acupuncture can treat PTSD by harmonizing the underlying energetic imbalances that cause the condition. In acupuncture theory, PTSD is treated as a state of shock that must be cleared out of one ‘s nervous system and body. Shock can linger long after the triggering event occurred, often for several years. There are a number of acupuncture treatment strategies that effectively take someone out of a state of shock. This is accomplished by clearing the underlying energetic imbalance that is causing the shock to persist. Another important factor is to stabilize the pulse, as almost all patients in shock exhibit unstable pulses that show continuous deviation in rate, rhythm, intensity, or amplitude.