Jeffrey W. Beimler, L.AC.

Acupuncture can help with many of the malfunctions of the different organs in the body and the stomach is one of those organs. Acupuncture has had great success in strengthening the function of the stomach and its sphincters, as well as balancing its production of stomach acid levels.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease or(GERD), happens when the lower esophageal sphincter muscle at the end of your esophagus, where the esophagus joins the top of the stomach,
does not close properly. Its function is weak or not happening at all. This allows stomach contents mixed with the stomach acid to leak back, or reflux, into the esophagus and irritates it. The person may feel a burning in the chest or throat, called heartburn.

Other things that a person can do to help with this situation while seeking help with acupuncture is to strictly observe a no eating the dinner/supper meal late at night. Finishing the meal NO later than 7pm. This early meal policy will keep people from going to bed on an over-stuffed stomach. Lying down after any huge meal, especially late at night will greatly increase the chances of acid reflux symptoms. Making sure to discontinue eating any greasy fried foods or foods high in saturated fats will help. Also, controlling portion sizes for all meals, but especially at the evening meal will greatly assist one in avoiding chances of a recurring bout of acid reflux. Eating smaller portions for all meals, but increasing the number of meals throughout the day can also help. This will keep the blood sugar levels more even through the day, keeps hunger feelings away better, and the stomach will not feel so stuffed that it wants to reflux its contents back into the esophagus and possibly damage the sphincter muscle.

Hope this information helps your husband and anyone else following this advice.

Jeffrey W. Beimler, L.Ac. MsTCM

The shortest answer that I have for you is a resounding and definite, "Yes!!" Acupuncture can help people suffering with migraine headaches. As I've said in other article answers, that acupuncture is very good at helping the body to re-balance the natural functioning of its organ systems and chemical/hormone levels in your body. I have been able to help many of my clients suffering from these debilitating Migraine headaches, either diminishing the intensity levels they were experiencing and/or the length of the duration of these headaches. I have even been able to completely get rid of many of my clients migraines within a reasonable amount of time, as little as two to three months with once a week treatments. Remember, though, that all results are individual and will be different for each person.

Hope this information helps,

Jeffrey W. Beimler, L.Ac. MsTCM

The short answer to your question is yes, acupuncture can help with the problem. The acupuncturist will help you figure out what is the cause of your problem and then recommend an appropriate course of action using acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Maybe even giving you some dos and don'ts on your dietary and nutritional intake.
Hope this helps.

Jeffrey Beimler, L.Ac. MsTCM

In regards to whether acupuncture can help with your mother's anemia, the answer is yes.

To what degree it can help, in addition to the injections for a time, will depend on the level of anemia she is experiencing, how old she is and how long she's been anemic. The acupuncture can help stimulate the red bone marrow, the immune system and the specific organ functions involved in the production of the bodies blood.

Now, as much as acupuncture can be of some help with the anemia, it is specifically Chinese herbal medicine formulas and dietary nutrition that will both be far more helpful in
creating the red blood cells and providing the iron the body needs to create more healthy hemoglobin.

The other thing to understand is that these "natural" treatments are gentle and easy on the body's systems and therefore may necessarily take a long time, possibly (3 months, 6 months, 1 year or more) to help the body with the building of the red blood cell levels.

The body has its own healing time table and can't be forced, lest we should cause harm or damage, hence the term used with these modalities, "Natural."

So, finding yourself an acupuncturist with Chinese herbal medicine training is very advisable and also seeking out the advice, if the acupuncturist doesn't have the nutritional training, of a licensed nutritionist to help with the dietary part of the treatment regimen.

Hope this information helps with your mom's condition.

Jeffrey Beimler, L.Ac. MsTCM

Although women's health issues are not my area of expertise, I can say in general that the lasting success and effectiveness of acupuncture treatments on a person's body depends on many different factors, both internal and external.

Internally, we can look to stress, trauma, diet, aging, hormone balance, etc., that can have effects on the lasting duration of the acupuncture treatments. Externally, we can look to trauma, diet, exercise, environmental pollutants, work stress, family stress, etc., that can have effects on the lasting duration of the acupuncture treatments.

You can see what I'm getting at here.

It's hard to say for each person just how long their acupuncture treatments will last. Typically, the first to the last acupuncture treatment builds a wave a relief from pain and discomfort, while creating a balancing effect on the bodies operating systems. And as long as there are no factors that will cause further injury or recurrence of symptoms, the body will stay in balance longer. Possibly for the rest of their lives.

In my clinical experience, I have seen some clients whom have had lifelong lasting relief from their health issues within the first few acupuncture treatments. All complaints they came in for were gone for the rest of their natural lives. Other clients have had relief and success after months of treatments and then had the complaint(s) come back, usually less severely, after several months, and some after many years. In most of those recurring cases, those clients were having some factor(s) in their lives causing the recurrence of the complaint(s).

So, I recommend that you go back to getting acupuncture treatments and have the practitioner add Chinese herbal medicine into the healing equation to help maintain the balance that the acupuncture treatments will bring back to your body. The Chinese herbs will be something that you can take and do for yourself to prolong those positive effects that you first experienced with the acupuncture treatments. You can also think about working with a nutritionist to help your body through your dietary regimen.

Good luck,

Jeffrey W. Beimler, L.Ac. MsTCM