Case Reports

Headaches.
Lot of people have headaches. Clinically, many come from neck issues. One patient got lot of improvement after 1 treatment. Came back one month later I asked what brings her back, apparently, the treatment worked really well. Sit straight, don't overuse the computer or electronic devices, I think those are good advice.

Acute joint swelling. Not a fun thing. Makes you limp. Joint becomes all swollen and makes surrouding areas swollen too. Red, painful, burning. Typical acute symptoms. Recently have treated a few folks with acute joint pain. 2 was acute gout, one was acute joint inflammation from spraining ankle. All of them were able to resume normal walking after 1 or 2 visits. I was quite surprised, because used to treat this with herbs more. Turns out acupunture works even better, just as long as you are not a needle phobia person. In acupuncture theory basically, an area gets jammed, we put needles around it to siphon out the inflammation.

Frozen shoulder. This is a more complex issue, because it is not due to gout or injury. 100% of cases do not even know how it happened. It just happened one day, according to all patients. In TCM, many things coelesce at the joint, namely, internal and external environental factors. Takes longer to treat and requires herbs mostly. Also complicated by over-use of the arm on the affected side, so lot of muscle and tendon issues involved too. But with patience most patients recover to a good degree. Patience is of the essence here.

Allergic reaction to drugs. To avoid controversy I will not state what the drug is or what it was for or how it was administered. But these do happen. It is a real thing I see in clinic. One developed a rash and the other developed a cough. One was more recent the other lasted for months. In TCM, we see it as toxin build-up leading to heat. Depending on where the toxin and heat resides the symptoms are different. Acupuncture and herbs aim to clear it away. Both cases were successfully resolved.

Anxiety. Not suprised by the amount of anxiety in these times. Will not go into detail but the gist is, anxiety is half mind and half body, both of which mutually affect each other. Clinically not reasonable to expect complete recovery from this unless great effort is placed by the patient on self-education and spiritual elevation. But acupuncture and herbs are a great support through the phase.

Diverticulosis. Due to various factors the descending colon ends up developing a pouch, which sometimes become inflammed. But when it's not inflammed, the irregular contour of the colon causes gas to get trapped more easily. People end up having bloating in the lower abdomen that affects defecation. When pressure builds up the backlog affects the upper GI tract and people end up having stomach symptoms too. Symptoms are typical but things are more complex than this. They now know the gut isn't just a hollow tube to pass food through. There is now consensus that the gut is the 2nd nervous system and the repository of the immune system and bacterial flora. The gut also receives massive amounts of blood in order to work. You can imagine the entire gut as a second country within the greater country of the human being. People have gut issues all the time and it's not really that easy to treat. It can be quite complex. I have certain patients which take a while to treat and some that respond quite fast. Too many factors at play. Typically gut issues respond very well to acupuncture, because the needles can be placed directly over the belly to effect the gut. Frequently once the needles are placed the gut starts moving and you hear sounds. Initially there might be gas but after acupuncture the gas gets released. One of my recent patients with diverticulosis had a lot of gas and pain and after 4 visits of acupuncture was quite well with the release of pressure. 

Fatty Liver. One thing can be said about fatty liver. The body is full of sludge. Specifically the blood is full of sludge. In TCM we call this blood stasis and phlegm. We won't go into why it ends up like this because that's a second topic but when the liver gets fatty enough it starts to choke because the fatty deposits starts to choke the blood supply and waste starts to build up in the liver. Then the liver enzymes start to elevate signalling it's overworking to help itself. Unfortunately when people get diagnosed like this the medical doctor doesn't do much. There is no pill for this. I have heard people that were able to reverse this through exercise but when you don't have the time for this what do you do. TCM and acupuncture can help. Through acupuncture and herbs we open up the circulation to free up the flow to the liver and clean out the junk that is inside. Not saying the fatty liver will be gone but at least able to clean out the toxins building up. One patient recently I treated him for 3 months and his liver enzymes went back to normal.