Many conditions may be alleviated very rapidly by acupuncture and herbs; however, some conditions which have arisen over a course of years will be relieved only with slow, steady progress. As in any form of healing, the patient’s attitude, diet, determination and lifestyle will affect the outcome of a course of treatment. Traditional Oriental medicine is also an educational process in which the patient becomes more aware of his or her own body, thus increasing
its ability to maintain well-being.
Although there are techniques in Oriental medicine for healing most conditions, there are medical circumstances which can be dealt with more effectively by Western medicine. In such cases, your acupuncturist will recommend that you contact a physician. As is the case in China, acupuncture should be seen as complementary to Western medicine.
- IS ACUPUNCTURE SAFE?
In the hands of a Certified Acupuncturist, your safety is assured. In our clinic, the needles used are sterilized and disposable and are not reused. This eliminates the risk of infection.
IS ACUPUNCTURE PAINFUL?
Acupuncture bears no resemblance to the feeling of receiving an injection, since the main source of pain from injections is the large diameter, hollow needle and the medication being forced into the tissue by pressure. Acupuncture needles are very fine and flexible, about the diameter of a thick hair. In most cases, insertion by a skilled practitioner is performed with a minimum of discomfort. Most patients find the treatments very relaxing and some fall asleep during the treatments. For patients who are particularly fearful of needles, non-needle stimulation of points in the ear (Auriculotherapy) is especially effective. There are also techniques which don’t use needles at all such as using magnets or pellets. I also offer a non-needle form of electro-acupuncture called Frequency Specific Microcurrent (FSM) which is painless. I can use it to treat a wide variety of conditions. Some of the treatments are quite long however and often taked more treatments to cure a problem than I can do with needles but FSM also can do some things that I cant do with needles.
HOW OFTEN DO I NEED TO BE TREATED?
I let your body tell us. I have found that twice a week works best to start. That allows the treatment effect to build up. Some conditions require more frequent treatments. For example, treatment of opiate addiction requires twice a day treatment for the first day or two to help with the initial withdrawal symptoms. Once the improvement maintains itself without any backsliding, I know I can stretch out the treatments. from twice a week to once a week to once every two weeks. At this point the treatments will probably hold without further treatment, so I recommend coming in only if things act up again.
For a more complete description of how acupuncture works, read my book “”Electro Acupuncture and how acupuncture works from a scientific point of view” (not yet released)where I discuss it in much more detail. You will find a fairly complete explanation on the page “How Acupuncture Works“.