Mr. Anthony James Lorenzo, LAC

Of course. Not all acupuncturists are created the same. If at first you don't succeed, try another one. Good luck.

The state of one's health and balance is a combination of factors-how well we care for the body currently and whatever our inherited weaknesses or past insults to one's health happen to be...

That being said, two years, symptom free, without doing things to keep yourself in balance seems like a pretty good outcome to me. If life is throwing you out of balance, something is always going to come back eventually. This medicine can correct that imbalance, but had you engaged with it as it is designed (to also keep you in balance) by doing regular maintenance treatments after your symptoms went away, they wouldn't be coming back in all likelihood.

So, you have two options... keep engaging the medicine as you are, or only use it when you are feeling "bad" or out of balance, or keep going when you are feeling well to avoid getting out of balance.

Your specific question was how long does it last though... and that is a challenging question to answer. Imagine we went to the beach and where the surf/waves break, we were trying to put a post into the sand. The first time, we drive the post in about 3-6 inches into the looser sand... and the post will stay perfectly vertical for about 3-7 days, but eventually, the waves and shifting sand will push the post over... so a week later, we go back to the beach and push it in a bit further... 2-3 more inches into more packed sand.... but the waves, they never stop. Some days, they are calmer than others... some days, the waves are very rigorous, even overwhelming to the most strongly inserted post...

The waves are stress, eating foods that make you sick, not sleeping enough, etc. I like this analogy because those things never stop... And the times we set the post are when you come in to get put back in balance via a treatment. It also indicates that when there is a lot of destabilizing activity in your life, you may need to come in more to offset that.

Nothing lasts forever... all things are impermanent. My advice is get back into your acupuncturist's office asap. Hope that was adequately explained and do let me know if you have any further questions.

Yes, there are absolutely risks to acupuncture treatment. We insert needles into your body, so the obvious risks would be: pain, bruising, infection, puncturing an organ that should not be punctured.... That being said, I have only experienced the bruising and quite rarely with my patients, aside from some discomfort/pain. The puncturing of an organ, such as the lung's cavity (aka a pneumothorax), has as far as my understanding goes only happened 3 times--and none of those incidents were done by a fully trained acupuncturist (it was a physical therapist performing "dry needling," which I recommend never trying due to inadequate training).

I have never heard of anyone being severely harmed from acupuncture performed by a licensed, fully trained practitioner (beware: chiropractors, doctors and physical therapists can often do aspects of what we do with significantly less training).

Personally, I prefer Japanese style practitioners and those familiar with the work of Richard Tan for pain and tension treatments. Hope that is helpful!

Remember: Acupuncture is just ONE treatment modality that is part of Chinese medicine... so I think acupuncture could be helpful to treat anemia, but I would add other modalities such as dietary recommendations and perhaps supplements and herbs to a comprehensive plan for that particular condition. But yes, I think it would help.

Yes. In 7 years of practice, I've only met one headache I couldn't get rid of with treatment.

I have seen amazing results (completely symptom free) with lots of patients who had GERD. Not to mention, the medication you are taking for it has horrible long term side effects and isn't a solution I would personally engage in with my doctor. The prescribing of medication is outside the scope of my practice, and that was not intended as medical advice. Please consult your doctor to figure out what is best for you....

Most of the time, I am treating something for a patient with just acupuncture/Chinese medicine. That is not to say that there aren't tons of exceptions. For instance, one time, I had a diabetic patient who had a wound from surgery on his foot that he came to me to work with. I immediately referred him to a western wound care specialist doctor. Some things western medicine excels at fixing, especially on an emergency basis. The one area there seems to be a conflict is with the overmedicating nature of some doctors. In my experience, too many medications = toxic patient. And toxicity impedes or, at best, slows acupuncture's effectiveness. And I am not legally allowed to tell a patient that they should stop taking something a doctor has given them. I am allowed to educate them about the damage the substance they are taking is causing and to refer them to a physician who doesn't have the same drug-pushing philosophy as some other physicians. And those physicians are becoming more and more common in my experience, thankfully.

Yes, acupuncture works very well at treating issues of digestion. We are also trained in nutrition and herbal medicine, so he may need multiple modalities to get right. But an acupuncturist would be a great place for him to start if he's willing to show up.

Acupuncture in essence is a therapy to move Energy/Qi. The act of moving something, just as one would realize logically, is slightly draining, as it uses some energy. Too much movement in a person already drained can cause even greater fatigue. However, I don't know the specifics about you. Are you sleeping 8 hours a night? Are you engaging in routine activities to mitigate your exposure to stress (like meditation)? If you aren't getting adequate sleep and your system is run down, then I wouldn't be surprised at all if you got tired after a treatment. Listen to your body. Take a nap. Ask your practitioner about some tonic/strenghtening herbs to help increase your energy.

If you were looking for sleeping during normal hours, I would say yes. Yours is a complicated case though... our bodies are meant to have a certain rhythmic harmony with nature and in this case the rising and setting of the sun. I have, in fact, treated a patient who worked nights with the same issue before and although she only came three times (which really wasn't adequate), we didn't really get much accomplished. Best advice I can give you is to attempt to find a job that allows you to sleep when the sun is down as nature intended us to do.

That is completely false. In fact, acupuncture can be quite effective at treating hypertension/high blood pressure.

General side effects of acupuncture: feeling blissfully relaxed, stress rolling off like drops of rain, feeling calmer, sleeping better, symptoms getting better or going away....

Perhaps you wanted to know what the risks are? What I have seen actually happen (rarely) in my practice would be the following: pain/discomfort at needle insertion, bruising. Other things that can potentially happen if the practitioner makes a mistake or is poorly trained is infection (very uncommon) and puncturing an organ (such as pneumothorax, or puncturing the lung cavity). Pneumothorax has happened from physical therapists performing "dry needling," but never from a fully trained acupuncturist, to the best of my knowledge and recollection. Other risks could be Chinese herbs having an interaction with medication, as Chinese herbs are often used in conjunction with acupuncture. Hope that doesn't sound scarier than it really is and that you try this very safe and effective, ancient medicine.

There are no guarantees... I must legally say that so people can't sue me if it doesn't work for them... I'm impressed that your search for healing has led you to consider acupuncture. In my 7 years in practice, no one has EVER come to my office just to have vertigo treated. :-) I see no reason that acupuncture and Chinese herbs could not help you, as it is certainly a condition we understand and have treatments for.

Hurt seems like a strong word to describe it with a lot of variance in what that means. Minor discomfort would be the terms I would use to describe some points that you will feel. Many points will be painless. Regardless, there are alternatives to needles to stimulate the Qi/Energy, and you really shouldn't let your fear inhibit you from healing. 19/20 patients who express what you have expressed to me come in and try one needle, realize the discomfort is very minor and tolerable, and are surprised they were so intimidated by the concept of needle in acupuncture. They really are smaller than anything you have every experienced and it is hard to imagine a needle not hurting due to our past experiences, but it is mostly true that there is no pain with acupuncture.

Acupuncture, one modality out of Chinese medicine, is just a portion of Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine as a whole addresses the entire body-mind-spirit system. Infertility is OFTEN, though not always, a sign of deficiency. This deficiency can be strengthened through the use of acupuncture, nutrition, and some supplementation. Western medicine fails to address this aspect in meaningful and lasting ways. Unfortunately, our medicine is mostly thought of as some magical pain management system in the United States where it is poorly understood, so not surprising that you would fail to see the connection. It would also help to ensure the child is born as strong as possible and I would recommend treatment before and throughout the pregnancy. It can also address issues during pregnancy such as morning sickness, aches/pains, insomnia, stress, emotional volatility, etc. In truth, the research is limited on this topic to provide you with any sort of scientific proof. The only decent sized study was done in Germany and involved IVF, with acupuncture being performed before and during the insemination only 2 times. As this is not how acupuncture really is designed or best utilized, I would say it was a poor measure of acupuncture's effectiveness. Not to mention, our medicine, when performed in the way I do, doesn't involve using the same points for every single patient struggling with conception... yet that is what scientific evaluation requires (empiricism). At the point you only choose a set of a certain number of points and do them on a large group of patients, you are no longer practicing REAL acupuncture... you have changed the medicine to fit the testing method. That being said, here is a link that discusses many of the currently completed studies in laymen's terms:

http://www.healthcmi.com/Acupuncture-Continuing-Education-News/744-ivfmoxa

Hope that is helpful and feel free to follow up with questions you may have still have!