Phranque Wright

This is generally a normal response. We are greatly unaware of how much pressure the stresses of daily life put on us and how it truly affects our bodies. When we receive acupuncture (or massage or other treatments that help us releases stress) the body goes into what I call "it's true state of deficiency."

In short, you're feeling tired because your body truly is tired. The rest will help you heal better, so take advantage of that restful feeling. This will also allow you to start taking better care of yourself i.e. rest well, eat well, play well...

I hope this answered your question, if not feel free to follow up with another.

There are many different techniques of acupuncture that can help with this. As always, though, a practitioner would need to see you to know the best course of action. Your lifestyle will be an issue (like a person with cough who still smokes, we can treat the cough but the smoking isn't helping).

Even with knowing your lifestyle, the practitioner can do treatments to rebalance the body's sleep clock, can help to reduce the stress in your body (work related and other stressors) and can also help you sleep more deeply. The treatments can include acupuncture, maybe herbs, and lifestyle discussions on taking breaks, how to approach sleep, dietary advice, etc.

I hope I answered your question, if not, feel free to ask another. Good luck in your health goals.

Hi, The short answer is yes, acupuncture can help with indigestion but a practitioner would need to communicate with the patient directly to find the best route for treatment. I have treated many patients with a variety of types of indigestion problems.

In Chinese medicine, the digestion system can be disrupted by emotional causes or physical causes and the acupuncture treatments help to regulate each. In some cases the indigestion is caused from a historical problem, i.e. someone had poor eating habits or ate too many types of food that are hot or foods that are cold or too sweet or too bitter, etc. Eating at improper times, eating when emotional, eating while trying to do mental work (study, learning, etc), sporadic eating, depriving self for times, etc. can all create a problem in the digestive system.

What I would need to know as a practitioner is what types of indigestion are happening, where in the body it is felt, what types of food is typical in your husbands diet (not just now but historically) and if there are any elimination problems.

I would also ask about stress levels, life stressors, emotional issues he may be experiencing, his feelings towards work or the community you live in etc. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine look at all aspects of the self to help distinguish what is actually leading to the complaint. From there we're able to have a better idea of how to treat.

Hi, generally speaking, acupuncture and Chinese medicine are very helpful for chronic issues such as asthma, chronic pain, respiratory issues, sleep, etc. So, yes, it can be helpful for your son.

However, "asthma" is a Western diagnosis and Chinese medicine would need to differentiate it a bit in their own system to know which treatment would be best. For example, it may be what we would call "hot" asthma or "cold" or "damp" asthma, it could be from a deficiency or from environment issues. To best treat, we would need to assess the patients signs/symptoms and come to a best treatment strategy.

We can work in concert with your sons medications or other treatments he may be receiving from other doctors and we can do quite a bit of work that can clear his breathing quite quickly in many cases.

In addition to acupuncture, we also have cupping (a suction treatment, which can help release tight chest to help with breathing) or guasha (a scraping technique that again would help release tightness and allow freer breathing). There are also herbal treatments, but those, again, would need a diagnosis to see if it is more cold/damp/hot environmental/deficient etc.

There can also be dietary, stretch, exercise, advice that can be given as well as qi gong (breathing) exercises to help him build his strength and increase capacity.

Acupuncture can increase fertility by reducing stress, increasing blood flow to the reproductive organs and balancing the endocrine system, according to several studies and medical research.

The goal of an infertility treatment from a Chinese medicine perspective is not just to get pregnant, but to stay pregnant and to have a healthy baby. So, regulating the menstrual cycle is the starting point, and keeping the body in balance throughout the pregnancy is vital.

Among many other benefits, acupuncture can provide better blood flow to the ovaries and uterus, creating a stronger chance for an egg to be nourished and carried to term.

By reducing stress, acupuncture can prevent hormonal disruptions that are caused by cortisol, can help prevent stress related spasms in the uterus or fallopian tubes. Acupuncture can also help regulate the balance between the hypothalamus, pituitary and the reproductive organs.

For men, acupuncture treatments can again, help with hormonal balance, with production and motility of healthy sperm.

There are some things that acupuncture would not be able to help, i.e. blocked tubes or tubal adhesions, menopausal women would not be good candidates, etc.

I do not personally work with infertility, but can help you find a practitioner if you would like more information from someone who works directly with this issue.

I use acupuncture alone for many of my patients, some use me only, some use me in conjunction with other systems of health. In addition to the acupuncture needles, there are times when I use additional modalities i.e. Cupping (suction), Guasha (scraping), moxa (heat), Tuina (massage), herbs or other treatment tools at my disposal.

There are times when dietary consultations are important, there are times when exercise consultations are important. Quite often there are discussions on a persons lifestyle/habits, emotional wellbeing, social life, family life and all other aspects of their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing are affected. This is particularly true in my clinic. I try to see all of the components of a persons life to help them achieve wellness in all aspects of daily life, not just when things go wrong.

In addition to the treatments being done here, there is also the question of "what other medical practitioners are involved?" So, in conjunction with the acupuncture, et al, the patient may also be on western medicines, may need to be monitored for blood levels, glucose levels, may need surgeries, etc. I do not discourage patients from getting other work on them. It often helps to have them monitored by western medicine because the need for medications may reduce and we want to make sure the patient is safe at all levels. The western tests can also give objective findings to show that our treatments are helping.

My services can greatly enhance the treatments provided by western medicine and vice versa. I think it is always important to utilize all the tools that medical fields offer us and I believe in the patient's autonomy to choose what directions they want to go in.

The short answer, though, is YES, acupuncture can be a stand-alone treatment, but it is part of the Chinese medical field and so is only one of the tools available, others can and will be used if necessary. It can be accompanied by other medical fields and as cases vary, which is better can also vary. Emergency medicine should be left to the emergency rooms, once out of the emergency stage our services are quite effective.