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But Can Acupuncture help ME? When Sue was 13 years old, she started having such bad pain with her periods that she would often go into shock. This went on until she was 16 when her mother finally took her to the family gynecologist who discovered an ovarian cyst. Sue was given a rather painful shot of hormones and told to wait a few weeks to see if the cyst would decrease in size on its own. Sue did wait, dealing with all the depression and fluctuations of mood that hormones can cause. But shortly after, laparoscopic surgery was scheduled and performed anyway, only to find that the cyst had indeed shrunk. The surgery was labeled exploratory, leaving Sue with two small scars on her abdomen and the trauma of a 16 year old spending the night before surgery alone in the hospital. Now, 25 years later, Sue's 15 year old daughter Piper is also having severe cramping with her periods. Sue's response is to quickly trot Piper off to her women's healthcare specialist where she is informed that Piper too has an ovarian cyst. But Sue has more options now than her mother had 25 year ago. With the Western medical diagnosis in hand, Sue calls her acupuncturist and makes an appointment for Piper the following week. Knowing that she is not dealing with anything malignant, her acupuncturist goes to work. Within a few months of using both acupuncture and herbs, Piper's monthly battle with cramps ends, and upon her next visit to her Ob/Gyn, she is told that the cyst has disappeared. A miracle? Voodoo? Luck? Probably none of those. More likely it's knowledge accumulated over the last 5000 years put to good use. But how, you might ask, can herbs and a few needles that are not much larger than a hair make a cyst go away? According to the Eastern view of the human body, the basis of health and disease is something called qi (pronounced chee). Qi flows throughout our bodies, and when it's flowing smoothly, there is balance and health. But when something interferes and blocks its flow, symptoms and diseases occur. One of functions of qi is to keep our blood moving smoothly. If qi gets stuck, or stagnant, the blood in that area may also slow down and become stagnant. When blood becomes stagnant, hard masses, cysts, tumors, and fibroids can form. Your acupuncturist's job then is to break up the stagnation (the hard mass) and get the blood and qi moving again. Side affects? A more balanced energy system and better health. And there's more good news. We don't have to sit and feel powerless waiting for these seemingly random afflictions to strike. Again, according to the Eastern medical model, there is much we can do to keep ourselves healthy. In this case, one form of prevention for a patient who is prone to abdominal masses of any kind is to avoid too much "cold-energy" food, like raw fruits and vegetables, and especially cold drinks. This is because cold energy from the food can cause the qi to slow and become stagnant in the lower abdomen. Another thing we can do is to avoid exposure to cold or damp (like sitting in a wet bathing suit on a windy beach) during menstruation or after childbirth. And a third form of prevention is moderate exercise to keep the qi moving in that area of the body. Brisk walking in the open air, or the practice of taiji quan are excellent forms of exercise to remove or prevent stagnation in the lower abdomen, and are particularly suited to people over 40. Like the vast majority of Americans, I grew up with the Western model of medicine, and I am grateful for the powerful things it can do. I am also grateful that acupuncture has found its way into the mainstream of American healthcare. Its vastly different view of health and the human body mean it offers a completely different approach to healthcare, one that takes not only physical symptoms into account, but also the mental and emotional aspects of who we are, as well. The healing is done by the patient, not the practitioner, and it is holistic a healing of the entire mind/body, not just a symptom. And finally, I am grateful to have found a kinder, gentler, more compassionate way to treat myself and my patients when we don't feel well. After all, isn't that when we need it the most? Ellen Leonard, M.Ac. |
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