Tag: acupuncture

Acupuncture and Drug Abuse

Acupuncture is a bright light on the road to recovery for many drug addicts and alcoholics. As an addict is recovering, the physical and psychological urge to get another fix or get another drink can be overwhelming. If the addict can get past that feeling, there is more hope for another successful day on the road to recovery. Currently there are a number of chemicals to help reduce that feeling, such as the nicotine patches to help people stop smoking. However, a major advantage of using acupuncture is that it uses no chemicals in the treatment, can be used for a number of different addictions, and is quite inexpensive compared to a number of other treatments.

Let’s take a look into a clinic that uses acupuncture to treat recovering addicts. Before the clinic used acupuncture, it was somewhat loud and not a pleasant place to be. The treatment room holds dozens of clients at the same time, each sitting in a chair. Each person sits with five long needles dangling from each ear. Depending on the person, a few also have some acupuncture needles in their hands, arms, or feet. When the time comes to remove the needles, some are removed by one of the acupuncture practitioners, or an assistant, or some clients remove their own needles at the appropriate time. Needles are left in the patient for an average of about forty-five minutes. The chairs are arranged so that the clients can see and talk to each other if they wish. This helps when they share experiences, and helps if some of the new clients are nervous about the use of acupuncture. The room, though it holds a number of often troubled patients, is generally quite calm and peaceful.

What advantage is there in using acupuncture for a recovering addict? Most of the addicts describe a release of that feeling that insists they must find a fix or must find a drink. The patient describes it as the feeling when you get home after a long day and take off your shoes. The effect of the treatment lasts for about a day, and so newly recovering addicts are scheduled for daily treatments. People such as dry alcoholics can come by on a periodic basis, or when they feel they need another acupuncture treatment. Many dry alcoholics are fine as long as their daily life is not stressful, but if a family problem arises at home or at work, the familiar feeling becomes strong once again. At those times an acupuncture clinic is a great help, for it affects an actual physical change in the person.

Many detox clinics that use acupuncture in its regimen incorporate it into an overall program, where the acupuncture treatments are the first steps that a patient takes. A typical clinic will schedule a new patient for daily acupuncture sessions, and at each session take a sample to ensure the patient has not used drugs during the past day. After 10 “clean” days, the patient is considered in sufficient shape to start additional therapy, such as a twelve step program. Acupuncture treatments continue during this time. If a patient has a relapse, the patient just starts all over again with the ten day acupuncture treatment.

Using acupuncture in recovery programs has definite advantages, both economically and in support of physical and mental health for the recovering addicts. It is just another example where the use of acupuncture incorporates healing in all areas: physical, mental, and emotional.

Acupuncture and Children

As parents, we all want our children to be happy and healthy. Consider the idea that acupuncture might be a wonderful way to treat your child’s health. Acupuncture can be good preventative treatment, as well as a technique to cure various symptoms. In China, some acupuncture professionals in China are paid only as long as their clients remain healthy!

Your first question might be if any children are actually acupuncture clients? Sure! Nearly all children find acupuncture treatments very easy, even enjoyable. Especially the younger ones, for acupuncture needles are not painful, and younger children don’t have our “a needle is painful” association that adults do. Children also seem to be more aware of their bodies than adults, and can feel themselves feeling better quite quickly. Also, the improvement in energy and vitality is often so clear with children.

Are there differences for acupuncture treatment with children? The general treatment is similar, determining the locations and times to insert needles in order to effect the treatment. (Needles are inserted to different depths depending on the treatment, anything from just under the skin up to a maximum of a few inches. Even so, the needle insertion does not hurt. Sometimes an insertion can be described as a “slight pinch”, but once the needle is in, it isn’t felt at all unless it is moved.) The number of needles and the number of treatments for children is generally less, for their very active bodies respond quickly to less stimulation. Because of this, acupuncture treatments for children often bring noticeable results very quickly.

Another good reason to visit an acupuncture clinic with your child is that the diagnosis uses a number of different aspects: physical symptoms, observed physical signs such as the pulse and condition of the tongue, behavioral symptoms such as anger, aggression, depression, an even external physical conditions and the time of year. A goal of acupuncture is to bring the whole person into harmony: physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially. This attention to the child as a whole is of great benefit, both to the child and to your whole family.

You can bring your child in for an acupuncture visit to maintain their health, for a physical symptom, or for a behavioral problem. One common problem that frequently responds quite well to several acupuncture visits is the problem of bed-wetting. Some children have the problem disappear after one acupuncture visit; others may require a few more visits. Interestingly, most parents are aware that the child has negative emotions, and assume that of course it stems from having wet the bed. However, a number of parents report that, after thinking on it, that actually sadness or other emotion preceded the bedwetting by several weeks. This is not always true, but there is often a connection other than the assumed “wet the bed then feel bad” connection.

Something that you may want to discuss with your acupuncture practitioner is child vaccinations. As time goes on, more vaccines seem to become available for a wider range of diseases, as the recent popularity of the chicken pox vaccine. Most acupuncture practitioners have a list of vaccines they still strongly recommend, such as the vaccine against polio. It is worthwhile to discuss the various vaccines with your acupuncture practitioner.So, please consider an acupuncture practitioner as a wonderful health specialist for your child.

Acupuncture and Biorhythm

We all know something about biorhythms. Basically, a biorhythm is an internal clock that regulates our bodies in relation to the daily positions of the sun, and the monthly positions of the moon. This can be seen in the time it takes our bodies to adjust to small changes, such as the changes of daylight savings time, or in large changes, such as jet lag. Our understanding of and interest in biorhythms has been recent, within the last thirty or forty years.

The ancient Chinese observed this connection between our bodies and the planets many centuries ago, and use it in
their practice of acupuncture. They list a number of different biorhythms, from the normal twenty four hour cycle up through longer several day periods. All of these are used to follow and influence fluctuations in body energy.In acupuncture, this energy circulates through each part of the body throughout the day, each organ having a two hour time for maximum energy and a time for minimum energy. For example, the major organs have their maximum energy in the following order: first the liver, then the lungs, large intestine, stomach, spleen, heart, etc., in sequence, for all of the twelve major organs. This order was discovered by years of observing the times of day that the disorders of the various organs displayed their worst symptoms. The acupuncture practitioner can use the times of a patient’s symptoms to help determine which organs and energy channels are affected, and also help select the favorable times to treat the patient. For example, many of the worst asthma attacks take place during the wee hours, which is the maximum energy period of the lungs. The best time to treat these cases is at a time as close to this time as possible.

In the science behind acupuncture, a symptom may be caused by too much energy at an organ, and other symptoms by an insufficient amount of energy. (The determination of which symptoms fall into which category has been catalogued over many centuries, and there are many books on acupuncture detailing these for each of the major organs.) The best time to treat a symptom associated with too much energy is during its maximum energy output, and a symptom with a deficiency in energy is just after the maximum output is over. Of course, it may not be possible to get to your practitioner at those particular times, and there are also other good choices at other times of the day.

In addition to the daily biorhythm, there are also ten day intervals associated with the moon, and so the acupuncture practitioner might strongly suggest that a particular day would be better for treatment than another, based on the particular symptoms reported. Each day of the ten days is associated with one of two aspects of the Qi energy, and also associated with one of five elements. Particular organs are associated with particular elements, and so stimulation of these organs will be more successful on those days associated with the correct element.

It is important for us to take note of the times our symptoms occur as well as what our symptoms are, for that is important information in our acupuncture treatment plan. And know that the time and dates for our treatments are an important part of how well the treatment works.

Acupuncture and Beauty

Most of us are familiar with the picture of someone getting an acupuncture treatment. We can also list a few things that acupuncture is used for, including reducing anxiety and reducing or eliminating pain. However, few people know that acupuncture is a wonderful thing to add to a beauty routine.

Let us look deeply into the mirror before any makeup is applied. What would we like to get rid of? There are too many fine lines, the dark circles under the eyes are not attractive, and the large pores really should be gone. There is a small hint of a double chin, and the complexion has a few age spots and can’t be compared with that of a young woman. Sigh. Well, these things will take a lot of makeup, and maybe more drastic steps, like a little plastic surgery.

Thinking about plastic surgery suddenly makes the thought of a few needles and an acupuncture treatment much easier to tolerate. When an acupuncture practitioner inserts the tiny needles into areas of the face, this stimulates the production of collagen in the general area. The skin will be supported and nourished by the body rather than by some external application. This production of collagen will firm the skin and stretch out any fine lines.

Many women that undergo this procedure have noticed results within one or just a few treatments. Their complexion becomes more even and clear, wrinkles become less noticeable, and there is a general glow to the face. This treatment simply restores the energy of the face to the normal state, and so each woman looks naturally healthier and more beautiful.Now that our faces our beautiful, we can turn our attention to the rest of our bodies. Most of us have tried, with varying degrees of success, to trim off the extra pounds that we wish were not there. By the time many of us see the wrinkles and dark circles described above visits to the gym no longer produce any truly visible difference.

Successful long term weight loss is incredibly difficult for most of us to achieve. Many people have done all kinds of diets, which just turned into yo-yo dieting. It doesn’t seem possible to achieve and keep our weight at a number that is healthy and attractive. This is a second area where acupuncture holds out some promise.

As you would expect, acupuncture weight loss treatment is also done with needles. This time they are not inserted into the face, but instead hair-thin needles are inserted into particular spots on the body that will redirect vital energy to help the body function properly. Sometimes the acupuncture practitioner may also suggest some herbs or an herbal tea. After each acupuncture session is over, most patients feel very good. Western scientists have found that one reason this treatment is successful is the release of endorphins, which is one body chemical that is beneficial in weight loss. The patient continues in a series of treatments, and afterwards maintenance treatments are scheduled periodically. Anyway, healthy people would benefit from a periodic trip to an acupuncture clinic to restore their energy to optimal levels. And these visits will not only keep us healthy, but beautiful as well!