Does Acupuncture work?

 

As an acupuncturist of course I don’t just believe acupuncture works, I know it works however even with that knowledge, after 20 years in practice I still have “miracle” moments too. Having a western medical background I am and always will have a healthy scepticism .. I say healthy because I do firmly believe that as a practitioner I must ALWAYS put the needs of my patients first, that is before my desire to help, and I do on occasion send prospective patients to seek western medical help either in addition to acupuncture intervention or because in my opinion it just isn’t the right treatment for them at this particular time.
I posted this video because this medic is also like me, a scientific sceptic, but as this is a TV programme that has had some money thrown at it he is able to use modern technology to prove how it works for pain relief. There is still much research that needs to be done.. this is a good start.
So if you are suffering with either chronic or acute pain … take 9 minutes and have a look at this video and give me a call. 676333065/971468435

Arrugas, tratamientos faciales y acupuntura cosmética.

despues

Antes

Hace unos cuatro años hubo noticias en la prensa sobre las últimas técnicas en la acupuntura de rejuvenecimiento facial. Soy una mujer de cierta edad, pensé, esto es interesante, ya que mis líneas de expresión se fueron acentuando con el paso del tiempo, y desde luego, no soy contraria a la auto acupuntura. Así que me decidí a aprender más y me inscribí en un curso sobre este interesante tema. ¿qué aprendí?, bueno, no hay mucho más de lo que ya sabía, pero el hombre que me vendió el curso es un vendedor fantástico.

En realidad, en este tiempo, Acu-Nova renació y comenzó a añadir la acupuntura facial a mi lista de tratamientos, para ser honestos, muy pocas personas parecían interesadas, siendo mi opinión que es una parte a la cual deberían haber dedicado más tiempo en el curso de formación. Pero el objetivo de mi acupuntura es resolver los males y problemas de las personas con mis conocimientos. ¿Quién soy yo?, una profesional de la salud que le encanta cuidar del bienestar de las personas, preferentemente con tratamientos preventivos,y también cuando ya hay que realizar un tratamiento, por que la dolencia ya esta muy avanzada. Por lo tanto, se convirtió en un proyecto que estaba en un segundo plano.
Hace dos semanas estuve en el almuerzo LACE, (asociación de mujeres emprendedoras), un grupo de encantadoras damas residentes en Baleares, y di una charla sobre la acupuntura, sustituyendo en la demostración las agujas por pequeños parches con semillas. Al final del almuerzo, me preguntaron varias cuestiones sobre su utilidad en la acupuntura cosmética. La respuesta es rotunda, sí, tiene mucha utilidad, sí, funciona y es un tratamiento que yo realizo.

Exposición de motivos:

La acupuntura estética no es realmente diferente a cualquier otro tipo de acupuntura. Si vienes a visitarme, voy a pasar la primera media hora realizandote preguntas sobre tu estilo de vida, dieta, hábitos de sueño, tu estado emocional, tu historial médico, incluso tus hábitos de evacuación intestinal, hidratación, en general, el funcionamiento de su cuerpo, etc. Lo que necesito saber es cómo su cuerpo está funcionando y si hay algún desequilibrio detectable. Voy a echar un vistazo a su lengua y tomarle el pulso para comprobar como esta la energía de tu cuerpo, finalmente, un reconocimiento facial, para observar la entidad y cantidad de arrugas y marcas faciales.
La acupuntura funciona mediante la creación de equilibrios en el sistema de energía del cuerpo. Si no hay equilibrio, el cuerpo enferma. Un gran ejemplo de esto es la depresión, cuando los neurotransmisores en el cerebro están fuera de control nos convertimos en clínicamente personas deprimidas, en este estado, no se pueden ver las cosas buenas de la vida.

La acupuntura ayuda a restablecer el equilibrio. Cuando nuestro cuerpo está enfermo se nota en la cara, si no se está durmiendo bien, estamos cansados. Si nuestro sistema digestivo no está funcionando bien, nos sentimos hinchados, con malestar. El problema es la falta de descanso y la hinchazón a menudo se convierta en lo normal, cuando esto no es así, y ni siquiera se dan cuenta de que algo anda mal.

Así que lo primero que la gente suele notar con acupuntura cosmética es que en realidad se sienten mejor en general, y los resultados faciales, son generalmente reconocidos por los que nos rodean, la gente pregunta, ¿qué has hecho?, se te ve mucho mejor. La piel comienza a adquirir un aspecto más saludable, que por supuesto aumenta tu autoestima y te hace sentir más feliz.
Entonces, se reequilibria tu piel, se trata las líneas de expresión y las arrugas, utilizando pequeñas agujas en el contorno de la zona a tratar. Cuando se inserta una aguja de acupuntura, el cuerpo reacciona mediante el envío de las células rojas de la sangre y nutrientes críticos a la zona, esencialmente estimulan una respuesta inmune local. Una vez que se retira la aguja, el cuerpo rápidamente se da cuenta de que en realidad no es objeto de ataques y cancela la respuesta inmune. Mientras tanto, estas áreas de la cara donde se colocaron las agujas han recibido un nuevo suministro de sangre y nutrientes. Esto estimula la producción de colágeno, la proteína responsable de la estanqueidad y la vitalidad en la piel.
Después de unas semanas te darás cuenta que las líneas se difuminan haciéndose menos profundas y la piel tiene un aspecto más brillante, menos apagado, sin hinchazones, más saludable y bonito.
Si a usted le interesa una cita, tengo una oferta especial de 8 sesiones por sólo 250 €, Llámame 676333065.

The One’s that got away.

I would like to tell you that all of my Patients get better… 100% of them! But that would definitely not be true… I would say that about 85-90% do though, It may take some time or it may happen really quickly … Ultimately though there are still that small proportion who I just cannot help. So what do I do?

 For the last 30 or so years I have worked as a health care professional, firstly as a nurse in many different fields from ITU to Nurse Practitioner in the community to a Nurse consultant…. and lots of other posts in between, and indeed in between I took many different courses in many different fields of western medicine. Medicine in all its forms facinates me… or should I say the ability that our body’s have to heal still amazes me to this day. I studied acupuncture from 1990 -1994 and later on trained in massage and counseling.

 I am very lucky to have had wide and varied experience in healthcare and i greatly value everything i have learned.

 One of the problems I encounter as a practitioner of alternative medicine is the fact that i work alone… there is no team of competent people around that i can easily refer to. Sometimes Acupuncture just does not work for everyone. This doesn’t mean that there is no help out there… it just means that i maybe need to combine my treatment with another form of therapy or i need to let go and refer them on to another practitioner, be that western or alternative medicine. (So if there are any practitioners out there reading this please, please get in touch… working together we can help so many more people on so many different levels)

 As an example, this actually happened to me in my clinic this week…

 Case number one is an 89 year old lady… lets call her Margie

 Margie came to me as a referral from another lovely older patient of mine who was suffering with back pain (whom I had helped) So Margie was expecting amazing things.

Margie suffers with extensive Osteo Arthritis, and is in a great deal of pain. Margie is a wonderfully intelligent and articulate woman whose musculoskeletal system just refuses to work.. she has constant pain in her hips, shoulders, neck, knees and lower back, she feels constantly dizzy (symptom of the OA in her neck), she is frustrated, depressed, sad and lonely (she lost her beloved husband a few short years ago) I really, really wanted to help Make Margie’s quality of life better, I wanted to see her smile. I tried everything and i mean everything even down to using another practitioner i know of’s patches that you are supposed to use on acupuncture points… but every week i went to see Margie nothing was working after 7 sessions I was feeling disheartened and suggested that maybe this isn’t the best form of treatment for her. We sat down and talked about what other options may be available… Even to the point of looking at the drug regime her doctor had prescribed…. She had stopped taking all of her prescribed painkillers as she was afraid they would harm her…. So she was living with an incredible amount of pain. I suggested she rethink her prescription, I explained how chronic pain works and how she can use a combination of anti inflammatories, combined with a slightly different acting pain killer combined with some other natural herbal painkillers to try and get her pain level under control. She had also been prescribed some antidepressants that she was also not keen on trying for fear of the side effects, so we spent some time chatting about this and offering her at least enough information to make a more informed descion. I suggested that she may try St.Johns wort(Hypericum) if she is still not happy with prescription drugs. We spend some time talking about visulisation and how she could learn some techniques to help lessen her pain. We talked about how to help her enjoy her life as it had become (she used to love to read for example, and now cannot because of her poor eyesight) solution – Talking books.. she had no idea they exsisted. We have arranged for her daughter to take her to an easily accesible beach twice a week so she can float in the sea wondeful for easing the joints.
Finally I said goodbye to Margie…. but in the knowledge that I had left her with a few solutions.

Case number two: A younger person suffering with very severe depression, Acupuncture works wonderfully for depression I use it often and very successfully.  This case was different, after I had taken my history I knew that he needed far more than i could offer.. I suggested to him that maybe a psychiatrist and psychologist was more appropriate… as there were some serious suicidal thoughts. I did treat him a couple of times as i thought some professional support was better than nothing .. In the meantime i made a referral to a psychologist and encouraged them to enquire about psychiatric services. The outcome… The patient now has a new psychiatrist and an appointment set up with a psychologist… I have stopped acupuncture for the time being.

This has been an interesting post for me to write, It can be uncomfortable to talk about the “one’s that got away” But they exist and as a caring professional I like to think that before I say goodbye I ensure that i have left a grounding for positive help behind me.

Even I like proof….

 

 I know acupuncture works, I see the results everyday, I claim the results a 100 times a day on assorted social media… In fact, I could be known as Annie the Acupuncture bore!!! I terrify people at parties when I sometimes whip a needle out and say look this really doesn’t hurt, I have even been known to stick a needle in someone complaining of a headache in a quiet corner of a bar ( you know who you are) and seen amazing results.

I KNOW ACUPUNCTURE WORKS….. but I have a very scientific and cynical part of me that likes to see hard solid proof, I especially like graphs and machines, and I really, really like good, solid, well documented, double blind research trials.
Last night whilst trolling the internet for acupuncture type stuff… when I should probably have been having a drink and a chat with friends in a local bar… I found the video that I posted yesterday…. I was absolutely WOWED! A BBC documentary that looks at acupuncture from every angle. And finally proof…..
Using modern state of the art technology ( a really powerful MRI scanner) a few open minded scientists, a BBC presenter and an acupuncturist with one needle… I finally had my proof. You see what they did was scan the brain ..first in a rested state…. then using very shallow needling and scanned again…. then they did true acupuncture to achieve da qi (da qi is a sensation that feels a little like a deep bruise or sometimes a tingly shock) when we needle someone this is the sensation we look for that tells us we have reached the point where the good stuff gets done.
The results were amazing….. they were actually able to see and chart the effect that acupuncture had on the brain.
Maybe now the mystery of acupuncture is no longer a mystery but we are one small step ahead in understanding how this ancient therapy actually works…
Take a look at the video if you have time….it is an hour long though and I know this may be amazing for someone like me who is passionate about needles and not so very interesting for others….. but if you are suffering with pain and have been searching for an answer that excludes pills and potions I think this may give you the confidence to come and see me and give it a try.  I even have a special offer at the moment, call me for more information 676333065/971468435

Screaming babies, colic and Granny Annie with her needles!

The last two weeks have been pretty crazy…. I have been learning to be a granny, My daughter has been learning to be a mum and Maya is learning to be a baby...

Very interesting to watch and feel the familiar anxieties that come with having a new born,  for all concerned.
Amongst it all I had a call from a patient of mine whom I had given acupuncture to throughout her pregnancy, who now has a lovely 9 week old bouncing baby boy. “He is suffering with colic” she says “is there anything you can do with acupuncture” ?
So what is colic…. Colic is an attack of crying and what appears to be abdominal pain in early infancy. Colic is a common condition and is estimated to affect at least 20% of babies during their first few months. As a parent is is extremely distressing to see your new born gorgeousness in what appears to be absolute agony and distress. With symptoms such as:

• Baby cries intensely and furiously, and there is not much the parents can do to comfort him/her. The baby’s face will become red and flushed. With the crying starting suddenly for no apparent reason.
• fists may be clenched, tensed abdominal muscles, knees drawn up, and the back arched.
• sleep may be irregular and interrupted with episodes of crying.
• feeding may also be interrupted and irregular with episodes of intense crying. However, the amount the baby eats each day is not reduced.
• during episodes of intense crying the baby may pass wind.

This is all pretty scary, and of course you should discuss any of these worrying symptoms with your doctor. The doctor however will normally say “your baby is fine but has colic! Nothing to worry about it will pass”… so you feel reassured for a little while until the next episode when you have no idea how to calm your beautiful screaming bundle.
There are lots of things you can try such as:
Swaddling,
Sit your baby more upright when feeding.
Smaller more frequent feeds.
If you’re breast feeding try avoiding tea, coffee, spicy foods and alcohol.
If you are bottle feeding Make sure the holes in the bottle teats are the right size. If they are too small the baby is likely to swallow more air during each feed.
A warm bath, or gentle massage.
Or amazingly enough Acupuncture! I treated Eden for 3 consecutive days, each treatment takes about 10 minutes, We use only four points just below the knee and just above the ankle. The needles are placed and removed (not left in place) Eden smiled at me (lucky me) throughout the treatment and didn’t even flinch….
On the 4^th day I had a message from mum to say…. Eden is fine, no more colic and actually slept for 5 hours through the night.

Happy Baby, Happy parents and me…. well I am ecstatic

A week in my world and a Eureka moment!

So what happens in my work world on an average week…

This week I have treated: three cases of hip pain, two of back pain, one of neck pain, one of anxiety and stress, two with depression, two monthly top ups, two with migraine and one prior to embryo implantation (at 7 in the morning!) 
This is a fairly typical week and I am so lucky because I really love my work, In fact I was chatting to a friend this week and saying that sometimes it would be lovely to actually get a job and work for someone else… get paid every month and 4 weeks holiday a year and no stressing about marketing and social media…. so she said… “what would you get a job doing”? Which involved me smiling and saying “I love my job, I would be an acupuncturist”… and that is the thing, I love the diversity of my work, I enjoy every single patient that walks through my door, I love the eureka moments when the acupuncture kicks in and the pain (or problem) goes away and the patience pays off…. because acupuncture sometimes is about patience, it really isn’t the same as taking a pill, sometimes it takes a while to get the body back into balance but I have to say it rarely fails… at least 95% of my patients get better and walk back to the world with a smile.
My Eureka moment this week is a person I have seen for 7 weeks suffering with non specific hip pain….. we have worked very hard to 1. Find the reason for this pain using both western medicine and chinese diagnosis and 2. Make it STOP!
Last week he arrived saying “well it seems so much better”….. This week he arrived saying he has had NO pain … smiles all around…. sometimes the best part of my day is wishing my patients health and wellness and hoping I never have to see them again