Balancing Point

Cleansing Is Contagious

05/18/2013 11:16:00

Once in a while, I'll get all pumped up to do a detox. And every time, without fail, everyone I tell wants to do one as well. Apparently everyone secretly desires a squeaky clean colon...they just need someone to spark the idea.

My detox wasn't too crazy, and I opted to ingest some avocado and coconut because I wasn't doing this to lose weight, and I also didn't want to keel over with a patient on the table. Days one and two SUCKED. I was tired, cranky, and my head was throbbing. On day three I woke up feeling like Wonder Woman (remember her? I'm old.) I felt like I could run a marathon. I could feel energy thrumming through every cell of my body...no wonder people eat all this raw, insanely expensive Whole Foods crap!

The strangest thing I noticed was my complete lack of hunger. I wasn't really hungry at any point during the week, which makes me doubt the accuracy of what my stomach normally tells me. My friends kept asking me if I was starving yet, but I honestly have to say that I never experienced anything more than a low-grade hint of hunger-nothing I couldn't ignore. In fact I felt so good on this cleanse that I considered adding a week; the only reason I didn't was that I started to miss the actual act of eating.

This was interesting: hunger wasn't the issue, nor were cravings for things that I was missing. The hardest part of cleansing is trying to find ways to fill up the space normally devoted to meals. Oh, and also the alienation that comes with knowing you have to sacrifice your social life for a week.

We don't realize how much of our lives are dedicated to dealing with the issue of food, until we give it up. Even through my typical eating schedule is far from typical, I still know that there is a certain amount of space for "time-outs" during the day when I can relax and put something into my mouth. Without these times, I felt kind of confused and aimless. I would start to think about what sort of meal I should have when I got home, only to realize that...nope. No food for me. I'd have to find something else to do to fill that void. I did lots of reading and exercising and writing (not to mention spending LOTS of money at the mall), but it felt inauthentic, like it was just filler.

It was strange, how my life felt like it shifted into a totally different gear. It was only food I was lacking, but giving it up made me see how much of our time we spend eating and drinking. The beautiful weather made my heart cry out for social activity, but I didn't want to call any friends to go out. I knew it would lead to me sitting in a bar with a glass of club soda, tortured and drooling over the aroma of yummy food all around me.

Don't get me wrong; I'm glad I did it. I feel fresh, glowing, and motivated to start eating cleaner foods. Eating clean really makes SUCH a huge difference in how we feel; sometimes we just need a kick-start as a reminder of this. Also, getting rid of sugar and salt for a week totally revamps your taste buds! The very thought of adding any salt to my food turns me off completely. By the end of the cleanse, interestingly, the taste of avocado was so overwhelmingly sweet to me, I could hardly stand it. Most people assume that the day after a cleanse is a big sugary carby greasy free-for-all, since you have been deprived all week, but I can't imagine eating any of these things. If anything, my normal cravings for sugar are (at least temporarily) in hiding.

By the way, if anyone wants the details of what this detox entailed, just shoot me an email-I would highly recommend it!

Phone Manner

05/10/2013 15:13:00

I really dislike talking on the phone, but I don't think it shows. I can never figure out to end a conversation without seeming abrupt, so ending my calls seems to take a loooonnng time...but I try my best to be polite, courteous, and succinct. I grew up in a family of phone-shy people, so I was always the one who had to deal with making and taking calls. Through the years, I have honed my phone skills to the point where I think I sound fairly professional, even when answering my personal line.

When I opened my practice, I waited with anticipation every day for the phone to ring. And, without fail, EVERY TIME a new client called to ask about acupuncture, they would end the call without setting up a session. If someone met me in person first, this wasn't an issue. But consistently, patients would call to schedule, talk to me for a bit, and then tell me they would get back to me...which they never would. It was so frustrating! Especially since I expended so much energy on handling calls with the right tone of professionalism and courtesy. I couldn't imagine what I was doing wrong.

For a while I wondered if it was my voice. For a middle-aged hag, I have a very soft, sweet voice, particularly over the phone. Perhaps people thought I was far too young to be an experienced practitioner? I wasn't sure, but this phone issue was getting in the way of my income! If things didn't pick up soon, my career choice of "acupuncturist" was going to have to get switched out for "phone sex operator."

And then one day...everything changed. It was miraculous, really. And also weird...very weird.

I was sitting in my hypnotherapy class one day last year, and the instructor had us come up with something we wanted to manifest. The idea was to find something we wanted to change in our lives, then to perform self-hypnosis to make it happen. Now, as most of my readers know, I'm REALLY good at manifesting stuff. As the instructor came by to ask me what I wanted to change, I blurted out, "I want every patient to book a session with me when they talk to me on the phone."

I explained further, "When people meet me in person, they book. When they go to my website, they book. If they talk to me on the phone...never. I have literally never had a patient book with me after they've heard my voice. I can't figure it out!"

One of my classmates suggested that it could be the youthful quality of my voice. Yes, I answered, I had already thought about that. But the question was, what could I do about it? Did I have to take up smoking just so I could book clients over the phone?

In lieu of smoking, I wrote out a suggestion for myself to read to myself every night before bed. It simply read, "I book an appointment with every patient that I talk to." I read it to myself once in class, then lost it. I never found it or read it again.

Nor did I need to. From that point forward, well over a year ago, I have never had anyone NOT schedule an appointment after talking to me over the phone. Every single person who has called since that point has scheduled a session. Every single one. And my phone rings all the time.

Isn't manifestation the best?

Referral

05/04/2013 08:49:00

As you all know, when I find someone or something that I like, I tend to talk about it. A lot. If you are in the Foxboro, MA area and looking for a mental health counselor, I highly recommend this business:

www.amyjohnsonmaricle.com

Be sure to check out her website!

I Can't Believe This Acupuncture Voodoo Actually Works

05/02/2013 11:56:00

Waking up this morning was a sad state of affairs. My head was aching and throbbing, and I wasn't sure why. I felt flushed and overall fatigued and lethargic.

After popping a few Excedrin migraine, I headed to the office. With every hour that passed, my headache grew worse, and I felt warmer and warmer. My eyes were red and burning, though, so I was rooting for allergies to be the culprit for all this suffering. I so badly didn't want to be coming down with something; I just don't have time to recover.

My malaise continued to build until I took the next logical step: bitching. I texted my acupuncturist friend to complain about how I felt. She replied with a series of texts that wouldn't make sense to anyone outside of this field:

"TW5."

"LI11."

"LV2."

"Yin Qiao."

"Clear Wind Heat."

Now, for all of you out there not versed in TCM, the first three are acupuncture points. Yin Qiao is an herb, and Wind Heat is the TCM definition of what was going on with me: the feeling of heat, red eyes, and headache are all part of one specific diagnosis. Basically, she was telling me a variety of things that I already know.

I'm in my office. I am an acupuncturist. I have needles. I know where they all go. Yet, for some reason it never occurred to me to treat myself. Why? I have no idea.

So now I have a break between patients. I'm sitting here at my desk, writing this, with 4 needles inserted into 4 acupuncture points. I opted for short and simple: two in the elbows, two between the first and second toes. The elbow needles clear Heat from the body, and the toe needles can help with the headache. (It's also great for rage, if I was feeling especially pissy...and who isn't, when they are in pain?)

Within, I'm not kidding, four minutes...the headache is so slight that I can barely feel it. I started to get some sensations of chills; they passed, and I was left without any residual traces of excess heat in my body. My eyes aren't burning, and my energy seems to be coming back. I'm back to normal.

I guess this alternative health crap really does work!

Pain Sucks

04/30/2013 15:40:00

As a child, I wasn't very active. I lived in fear of dodgeball, I despised running, and to this day I still don't know whether I throw with my left or right hand. As a result, I didn't suffer many of the injuries that plagued the athletic kids; I never broke or twisted anything, and was fortunate enough to never need hospitalization. My most painful memory is dropping an xylophone on my toe. It hurt like hell, but I wouldn't exactly call it a devastating event.

You would think that such a trauma-free childhood would leave me feeling fearless about pain. Unfortunately, the opposite became true. My lack of exposure to physical pain meant that I had no experience facing it, dealing with it, and moving on. Pain became this great mystery to me, something awful and overwhelming, but unknown. Just the thought of being in pain became painful to me; I lived in terror of the day that I would finally have to face it. Because, really, how could I avoid it? Pain is a necessary part of life, and at some point we will all feel it, like it or not.

My fear of pain did not diminish with age; in fact, it grew stronger over time. My mother has had countless surgeries; my sister spent years in a wheelchair after her hip literally came out of its socket. I only had the xylophone incident to remind me what pain could be; watching my mother and sister suffer, I wondered how it was possible to go on in the wake of such agony. And the longer I went without, the more my fear grew.

I'm pretty sure I ended up becoming an acupuncturist just to maintain some sense of control over these illogical fears. Knowledge is power, right? Knowing that I have the ability to lessen suffering eases my own mind, because it grants me at least the illusion of control.

The more painful conditions I see, the more I realize that pain is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole slew of icky stuff that starts happening once debilitating pain sets in. Fear, of course. Hopelessness. Stress. Depression. Anger and resentment. All of these emotions, while warranted, only serve to increase the perceived intensity of the pain. Negative emotions cause fixation on the pain; the fixation increases the perception of it; the more pain someone perceives themselves to be in, the more angry/stressed/depressed/fearful they become. The body tightens in response, the pain grows worse...it's a vicious cycle.

The beauty of this medicine is that is can treat the entire cycle of pain: the pain itself, and all of the emotions that stem from it. These magical needles loosen and lighten and relax, allowing things to flow smoothly and regularly. The way you feel about your pain is half the battle. Try finding something else out there that can ease your spirit along with your physical discomfort, without any side-effects except for relief. I so love what I do.

Scraping Away The Pain

04/21/2013 09:27:00

We humans are nothing if not adaptable. Take pain, for example...headaches in particular. Now, there are lots of unfortunate souls who suffer from debilitating migraines, and I don't think they ever get used to it. But there are also so many people who get headaches 3, 4, 5 times a week, and they simply consider it part of their life. They stock up on Excedrin and wait for the pain to hit, then they start treating their headaches at the expense of their stomachs.

Thankfully, I have never suffered from chronic migraines. I've had a few, and I can't understand how people get through their lives in such agony. But overall, I am more of a headache person than anything else. My stomach is rarely sick, I'm not usually prone to aches and pains, and I don't catch colds frequently. If anything in my body is out of balance, though, it will usually manifest in a headache.

I spent a good portion of high school in the nurse's office, trying to relax my headaches into submission. Not eating breakfast, getting my period, spending the night talking on the phone rather than sleeping...any of these factors would inevitably lead to an aching head. I could have changed my habits, of course, but I was a teenager. What teenager has the presence of mind to shift their habits in an attempt to be proactive about their health? Some, maybe, but not me. So I took lots of aspirin and naps, and just dealt with the pain.

Now that I'm an adult, I know my headache triggers and am better at avoiding them. I know that I need a certain amount of sleep, that I can't go long periods without eating, that regular acupuncture helps to keep them at bay. Looking back, it's kind of sad to think of all the time I wasted feeling like crap. It could have been worse, of course, but no one wants to miss out on a good time due to preventable pain.

I see a lot of headache/migraine patients, and the results they get from acupuncture are pretty amazing. I myself am sometimes completely blown away by the efficacy of a medicine that is so astoundingly simple. Take gua sha, for example. Gua sha is a way to move the qi and blood in the body by using some sort of lubrication combined with a flat, smooth-edged object. I have a professional gua sha tool, but really, we acupuncturists can use almost anything. Most of us tend to use Chinese soup spoons, but I have seen people use coins, Snapple caps...you name it. We simply take the rounded edge of the object and rub it against the lubricated skin, until we see the appearance of "sha." Sha is the redness that comes from the scraping, and it often looks like a scrape-red, with tiny dots that are darker in color. Break up the stagnation in the tissue, and healthy, fresh blood will flow to the area, releasing tension and pain. So simple. Yet it works.

I have patients come in who have debilitating migraines, patients who are on tons of meds, patients who haven't been able to find relief anywhere else. More often than not, I gua sha the necks and shoulders of these patients. Some patients find that their headaches resolve completely and permanently. Others don't have experiences that are quite so dramatic, but find that their headaches almost instantly shift in intensity and duration. More often than not, this seems to be a key factor in ending the succession of headaches.

And now, when my patients ask why the gua sha is helping their headaches, I can just show them this:

Little Pricks and Orgasms

04/17/2013 16:28:00

Sex is a complicated thing. Not only do our physical parts need to be in top shape for things to progress satisfactorily, we also need to be mentally and emotionally engaged. Stress, anxiety, exhaustion...all of these can lead to problems in the bedroom.

In the world of Chinese medicine, most sexual dysfunction stems from stagnation. Ah, stagnation...the root of all evil, at least in my world. If the flow of blood and qi to the genital area is impeded in any way, matters in the Land of Penis and Vagina simply won't have a happy ending. Fortunately, we acupuncturists can use our magical needles to move and nourish the qi and the blood, leading to smiles all around.

As you know, though, the physical and emotional are inextricably intertwined. If the mind can't get into the right state for arousal and orgasm, the body won't be able to, either. We humans are filled with all kinds of triggers that can drain our sexual energy and prevent us from reaching fulfillment. Past relationships, trauma, issues with body image and trust...the list goes on and on.

The good news? When we get right down to it, orgasms start in the brain. What better way to tap into this than with a few sessions of hypnoacupuncture? The acupuncture addresses the physical and energetic stagnation, while the hypnotherapy allows me to work on the mental and emotional components that are holding the patient back from achieving arousal and orgasm. It's Viagra without all the horrifying side-effects...a win-win. Happy endings for all!

Yesterday's Events

04/16/2013 10:08:00

Yesterday was my first time watching the Boston Marathon. Despite the fact that I've been living in this area for years, I simply never ventured out to see it first-hand. Too much traffic, too much crowding. Yesterday, though, I headed out there to watch a friend of mine run the race.

The sun had been peeking in and out of the clouds all day, deliberating over whether to show its full face. When I arrived on Commonwealth Rd, however, it was clear and sunny. Kids were laughing, people were cheering on the runners, and everyone was clearly enjoying each other's company. I could feel that bond building with those standing around me, that bond that comes from complete strangers rooting for a common cause. We didn't know each other, and it didn't matter. We were all drawn together in our admiration for these people who had run so very far, giving their absolute heart and soul to cross that finish line.

And of course you all know how it ended. But when I think of my first time watching the Boston Marathon, I find myself remembering that sense of camaraderie that went well beyond chatting with strangers. Watching the seemingly endless footage of the smoke and terror, I'm drawn not to the images of the injured, not to the explosion itself, but to the images of all of those people running toward the point of impact, doing whatever they could to help. Everyday, average people choosing to stay in the danger zone regardless of their own safety; staying to tend to the wounded, and to comfort the frightened. These images stay with me, and make me proud to live here. What an incredible community. What an amazing place to live.

Transitions and Upheaval

04/11/2013 09:49:00

I don't know what it is about this year, but it seems to be a time of massive transition and upheaval...for everyone else but me, that is. I'm generally used to being in a constant state of flux, but 2013 has me putting along here in the office, settled and content-at least for now.

I can't say the same for my patients. Holy malcontent! There are a lot of people out there who hate...and I mean HATE...their lifestyles, their relationships, their jobs. Especially their jobs. So many people seemingly stuck, wheels constantly turning in their ruts of misery, unable to move forward. So many people who despise every moment of being in their place of employment, feeling bored, abused, and undervalued.

I get it. I, too, once had a job that I reviled with a burning passion...more than one, actually. I know that feeling of waking up with dread, and sleeping with it as well...because I knew that tomorrow would be another loooonnng day of the same old crap. We spend the majority of our time working, so if you are unhappy there, you are spending a good percentage of your life suffering. It's unfortunate, but true: if you hate your job, you probably don't have much of a shot of overall happiness.

Misery sucks. Unhappiness sucks. Boredom and malaise? Suck, suck, suck. All of these feelings, however, do provide one benefit: they are a hell of a motivator to move on to bigger and better things.

When someone is in physical pain, the first thing we do is examine the cause, and then work to change it. Physical pain is a sign that something is

wrong. Why should emotional discomfort be treated any differently? We have no problem doing things to fix our physical maladies, but when all of our emotional signs point to an issue, we wait and wait, putting off any exploration for a cure. It seems that most people really need to hit bottom before being willing to seek change.

We owe ourselves better. I remember a conversation with my father, long ago, about sticking with teaching. I hated teaching, and spent almost every day alternating between stress headaches, mental and emotional exhaustion, and feeling completely out of my element. One day, I was rambling off on another bitchfest about the various awful things my students had done to me that week. "I need to quit," I finished. "I need to get out of there...I really can't take being there anymore. I literally hate every moment of being awake."

"Well," my dad answered, "Just think of what a great pension you have to look forward to!"

I started to do the math: I was 28. If I retired at 65, I would end up spending the next 37 years in utter anguish. It was too much to contemplate; I found myself wondering if I should take up smoking again, or perhaps bungee-jumping. Anything was preferable to the thought of wasting my days languishing in a career I despised.

Thank God, I ended up forging a new path, which led me to where I am today. I couldn't be happier with the decision I made...but it took me a LONG time to get here. Like all of you out there, I needed to reach some sort of breaking point, that place where you simply can't take another moment. I had to get pissed and depressed and distressed enough to take action. And now, when I look back, I'm so very, very grateful for that level of stress and anger and sadness. Because if I had just drifted along on a mindless wave of general frustration and lack of fulfillment, I might still be there today. I might never have been catalyzed into change.

So for those of you who are feeling less than content with where you are in life, pay attention to those feelings. The worse you feel, the more loudly your inner voice is screaming to you: "Move on! Move forward! Time for a transition!"

Another Guest Blogger!

04/02/2013 12:16:00

I recently had a request from another acupuncturist to post an article that she had written about acupuncture and arthritis. So, enjoy...

In the United States arthritis is one of the most pervasive diseases in our population, affecting one out of every three Americans. According to The Center of Disease Control and Prevention, it is the leading cause of disability in our country. Most people experience the inflammation and pain of arthritis after the age of 50 due to the natural degeneration of our joints over time. However, some people will begin to to feel the effects earlier in life. This can be due to their type of work, repetitive activities, or simply genetics.

Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the two most common forms, and they vary in their causes, risk factors and effects on the body. Both of these types of arthritis can cause the joints to feel like they are on fire during flare-ups.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects many different joints and in some people, can affect other parts of the body such as the heart, lungs,or blood. It can be a disease of flare ups and remissions, or can last a long time. RA has been linked with autoimmune disease. Inflammation of the joint lining can cause pain, stiffness, swelling, warmth and redness. Some affected joints may lose their shape, restricting normal movements. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis and begins with the breakdown of joint cartilage. The affected area becomes tender, swollen, painful and stiff.

New research shows that these two forms of arthritis are among the conditions relieved when treated with acupuncture (Arthritis Today, 1/29/13.) A randomized, clinical trial at the University of Maryland has shown that elderly patients with knee pain due to arthritis improved significantly when acupuncture was added to their treatment. In a Scandinavian study, 25% of patients who had been scheduled for knee surgery cancelled their operations after a series of acupuncture treatments. None of the patients in these studies reported side effects from any of the acupuncture treatments.

Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine view arthritis as a complex disorder that comprises more than 100 distinct conditions and can affect people at any stage of life. When you visit an acupuncturist, they will look for all of the conditions in your life that have contributed to your arthritis. Your treatment will be designed to address relief of symptoms and their underlying causes, with the intention of preventing future flare-ups and progression of the disease. Each treatment is unique to the person being treated and can vary with each visit.

Acupuncture works on the "meridian system," or channels of energy that run through our bodies. This energy (called Qi) interacts with our nervous system, blood flow, matrix and organs. Insertion of needles into the appropriate places will trigger pain-relieving endorphins, reduce the inflammation, and improve blood flow to release stiffness in the joints. Acupuncture can also deactivate the part of the brain that deals with pain so that perception of it is reduced.

Managing arthritis of any type with acupuncture is beneficial for pain management as well as overall well-being, contributing to a more comfortable and improved quality of life.

This post was written for Healing Point Therapeutics by Karen Danish, LAP. Karen is a licensed Tampa FL Acupuncture physician and a valued staff member at Anne Hermann MD, PA. http://tampaacupuncture.org/