Articles

Acupuncture For The Cancer Patient

In March of 2006, I attended an excellent weekend seminar at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC entitled Acupuncture for the Cancer Patient. They offer this seminar to licensed acupuncturists and other health care professionals twice a year. This seminar, sponsored by the Integrative Medicine Service, is so popular, I had been on a waiting list for a year.
The Integrative Medicine Service at Sloan-Kettering was established in 1999 and has grown exponentially. They offer many complementary therapies, including acupuncture and massage, on both an inpatient and outpatient basis. They conduct research studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture. And they offer their expertise to other health care facilities around the country on the best way to integrate this adjunctive care into the mainstream protocols.

Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture Methods and Applications

I often tell my patients that there are many styles of acupuncture and many theories of how to select the points for a treatment. A person could go to three different acupuncturists and potentially have three completely different treatments that all could very well be effective. As a practitioner, I want to have as many tools of the trade at my disposal as possible. Some techniques may be better suited for children or needle phobic patients. Some systems may be better suited to those who are physically unable to lie on a treatment table for any length of time. Sometimes, a patient just doesn’t respond to a particular approach and it is always nice to have a plan ‘B’.
Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture (WAA) is a relatively new branch of the acupuncture field. Dr. Xinshu Zhang brought the system into being in Shanghai, China in the 1970’s. It differs considerably from meridian style acupuncture in both theory and needle technique. The best English text on the subject that I am aware of is “Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture, Methods and Applications” written by He Hon Lao, MD. It is an excellent instructional and reference resource. Enough pictures and diagrams are provided of point location and needling considerations, so that with a little practice any acupuncture practitioner could become proficient in the technique.

Treating Pediatric Bed-Wetting with Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

Treating Pediatric Bed-Wetting with Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine
By Robert Helmer
A Book Review
Bed-Wetting, or Primary Nocturnal Enuresis (PNE), is a very common pediatric problem, though one that most families do not like to discuss openly. It is estimated that as many as 20% of five year-olds, 10% of six year-olds and even 1% of 15 year-olds experience an inability to control night time urination. While there may be a medical condition that is causing the problem, and every child should be tested to rule out such conditions, only 1-3% of enuresis cases have an organic cause that is identifiable by Western medical tests.

Treating Herpes Zoster (Shingles) with Bloodletting Therapy

During my training in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we were taught that acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas were often used in China to treat herpes zoster – more commonly known as shingles. But as luck would have it, I never encountered a case in the student clinic. Two weeks ago my 78 year-old diabetic mother complained of back pain that was excruciating during the night and subsided during the day. She did not remember straining her back. Then on the third day, she noticed a cluster of blisters on her right side. She called her doctor and was told that she had shingles and that there was very little that they could do for her other than prescribe a pain medication (which has been quite ineffective to treat her pain).
I immediately dragged out all of my notes from school and rummaged through all of my reference materials. I learned that my mother is in the age group with the highest incidence of shingles and with the greatest risk of developing postherpatic neuralgia – pain that may last years after the blisters have healed! Luckily, I found many protocols in TCM that can be very effective in reducing the severity and duration of the pain.

Acupuncture Treatment of Shingles

In China, acupuncture is recognized as the most effective of all therapies for the treatment of herpes zoster (shingles). Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) usually attributes shingles to a combination of excess and deficiency in the body. Therefore, shingles usually affects older patients whose constitutional energy is deficient or younger patients who are suffering from exhaustion. The more pronounced the weakness of the patient, the more likelihood of complications and the more prolonged the course of the disease is likely to be.
Shingles is explained in TCM by the presence of pathogenic damp, heat and wind in the body. TCM acupuncture treatment of shingles is based on pattern differentiation according to the pathogenic factor and the energy channels involved. If damp is predominant, the lesions are more likely to be in the lower part of the body with more fluid discharge from the blisters. If heat predominates, blisters show more heat and redness and the pain is more severe. If wind predominates, the lesions are more likely to be in the upper part of the body with greater itching sensation.

Treating Herpes Zoster with Moxibustion

Another TCM modality that is often used with good results in the treatment of herpes zoster (shingles) is moxibustion. Moxabustion is the burning of moxa over acupuncture points on the body to penetrate the muscles and activate blood circulation. The main ingredient in moxa is the herb Ai Ye, or wormwood leaf.
Moxa comes in many forms. A moxa stick looks like a cigar. The end is lit and the lit end is held approximately 1 inch from the skin surface. The stick can be moved in a circular motion or used in a pecking motion over the point for several minutes until the area is pink and pleasantly warm. Moxa sticks can be used over DU14, a point located below the C7 vertebra at the base of the neck, to boost the immune system. Moxa sticks can be used to warm the local area.

Treating Shingles With “Surround the Dragon” Acupuncture Technique

The pain associated with herpes zoster, or shingles, can be debilitating, especially in the elderly. The pain is a combination of burning, itching and stabbing and is especially severe at night. Most adults who develop herpes zoster have had chicken pox as a child. Herpes zoster is a reactivation of the same varicella-zoster virus that can lie dormant in the body after a bout of chicken pox. The virus often invades the ganglia of the spinal nerves and the blisters characteristically break out unilaterally along the dermatome associated with the affected spinal nerve(s). An outbreak of shingles often follows a time of emotional stress and can attack the body when the immune system is compromised.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Helps Male Infertility

In the past, when a couple has had difficulty conceiving, the assumption was that the problem was with the female partner. Not so anymore. Male infertility now accounts for 40% of infertility cases. The World Health Organization (WHO) assesses male fertility via a sperm analysis, which measures the volume, count, motility and morphology of the sperm sample.
The average male sperm count has dropped 45% over the last few generations. The cause of this drastic decline has been linked to the increased exposure to environmental pollutants. Other factors include alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and some prescription drugs. Cell phone usage has also been implicated in the decline and men hoping to impregnate their partners should avoid wearing cell phones on their belt.

Unexplained Facial Pain – A Testimonial

June – Herkimer, NY – February 2007
Four years ago I thought I had a toothache. I had dull pain in the upper right side of my face. I went to the dentist. No cavities, but an old root chip could be seen on the x-ray. He sent me to the oral surgeon. After more x-rays he found abnormal bone growth called exostosis. He shaved it down and removed the bone chip. It was the worst pain in my life!
One month later, back to the oral surgeon. I had a cat scan, thinking I may have had a sinus infection. No sinus infection. Back to the dentist. X-rays detect another root chip, so back to the oral surgeon. He disagrees and tells me I do not need surgery. On my own again, I ask my primary care office to give me a referral for a neurologist. He prescribes Tegritol and Neurontin. Both made me dizzy and sick.

Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine

Tongue diagnosis is an integral part of taking a medical history in Chinese medicine. Giavanni Macciocia, a renowned acupuncturist and herbalist from the United Kingdom, in my opinion, has compiled the most complete reference available to English speaking practitioners with his book “Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine”.His book was one of the first that I purchased as an acupuncture student and remains an invaluable reference in my practice today.
In Chinese medicine, disease is explained by an imbalance of yin and yang and heat and cold in the human body. Chinese medicine believes that chronic imbalances will have a definite impact on the color and shape of the tongue body and the color and thickness of the tongue coating.