Acupuncture and Nutrition Clinic – Houston

America the Beautiful Documentary–Free Viewing Now Available

This documentary, which evaluates the pursuit of beauty and a perfect body, by film maker, Darryl Roberts, is available for free viewing on Hulu. [I double-checked and confirmed it’s free].

If you are not a member of Hulu, you’ll need to sign-up–but it’s free registration.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/198883/america-the-beautiful

I’m frequently suprised at the waxing and waning of symptomology that comes into my clinic. What I’m referring to is the number of patients that come in around the same time with the same complaint. Just in the past week I have had three patients come in with complaints of vertigo and dizziness. The ages of  the patients are between 29 and 79 and the causes of onset very different, but the symptoms are very similar.

In one case, the patient has been to numerous doctors and given medications which have not helped over six months. In another case, the patient was diagnosed with digestive problems due to the nausea, then determined it is inner ear related from shingles. The third case was diagnosed with having a virus in the ear.

Vertigo is a very unsettled and disturbing feeling of  whirling or a reeling dizziness; a feeling that you are about to fall. With the complaint of vertigo comes other symptoms like hearing problems, ringing in the ear(s), headaches or heavy head and flowery vision, like the eyes can’t focus.

In Chinese medicine, vertigo is frequently related to the liver and gallbladder channels. Accompanying symptoms will determine the Chinese medicine diagnosis. Vertigo is the Western diagnosis. In TCM (Chinese medicine), this could translate into damp heat in the liver channel, liver Qi stagnation with blood deficiency, or liver yang rising, just to name a few potential reasons. So, it is not cookie cutter medicine. In TCM we not only treat the symptoms, but the root cause which once treated also addresses the symptoms. It’s a beautiful way to treat the cause and symptom and balance the body at the same time.

In the first case of the 79 year old woman, she reports that the intensity of her vertigo has come down 50% after 4 treatments in one and half weeks. Her energy is up and she is able to move around better with less dizziness. The second case of a 30 year old man reports that the dizziness, heavy head, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite and energy have all improved after 3 treatments in one week. I am now focusing on treating the flowery vision and the difficulty he has on focusing his eyes. Both of these patients reported feeling improvement on the table during their first treatment. This is very important as vertigo is so unsettling that improvement gives one hope again.

The third patient has only been in for the first treatment, so I will keep you posted. Feel free to share in the comments your experiences with vertigo and/or acupuncture.

OK. As promised, here’s the follow up report of the patients described above. The older women reports that her vertigo is almost all gone. She is able to get off the table without getting dizzy and we are now focusing the treatments on her hip pain. The young man with shingles reports he is continuing to get better and the last patient who I had only treated once has reported he is much better and not in need of further treatments.

Over the past few months I have seen a significant number of patients with sciatica pain that radiates down either the back of the leg or the side of the leg. I have a pretty good success rate treating sciatica, either with or without accompanying low back pain. However, I can also usually tell within a few treatments whether acupuncture will solve the problem or manage the pain sufficiently. Quite frankly, people come to me to avoid back surgery and a common question is whether or not I think they will need surgery.  The type of acupuncture I do allows me pretty quickly to tell whether or not they need to go back to the neurologist for a re-evaluation.

If there is pain relief on the table and when walking out of the office, the chances are pretty good that acupuncture will work for them. If there is still pain at the next visit, but the intensity, duration, frequency or location of pain is less, then we are on the right track. The patient is usually already more energetic and hopeful due to better sleep and movement with less pain. However, if the pain returns to its original level with no change within 4-6 treatments, it usually means there is a ruptured disk or equivalent. Surgery will more than likely be required.  For those who are not surgical candidates, acupuncture might help reduce the pain to a more manageable level over an extended period of time.

Just this past week I had a man come in who has suffered with sciatica pain down the back of his leg for a few months. A friend suggested he try acupuncture. After the first treatment I was pretty sure he needed to see a medical doctor although the xrays he had were inconclusive. Because his pain was so intense with little relief after the treatment, I referred him to an orthopedic doctor and a neurologist and suggested he go to the one who could see him first. He called a few days later saying he indeed needed surgery for a ruptured disk.

The good news is that most of the patients who come in get relief.  One of my favorite sciatica stories is of a woman who had been plagued by leg pain down the side of her leg for twelve (12) years. She had stopped traveling, was unable to play with her grandchildren and was in chronic pain. After 5-6 treatments, her pain was significantly reduced and within a few months she was pain free. She has since traveled abroad and within the U.S., plays with her grandchildren and has a full life of movement without pain. She still comes in for maintenance treatment every few months. She has been virtually pain free for 4 years.

Check out this great video where I apply a stress-relieving acupuncture treatment to radio host Marc McCoy. Live on the radio! I also explain acupuncture, why it works so well on stress and the purpose of each needle applied. Enjoy!