Female patient was 36 years of age, due with her second child in two days. She has come in on a Thursday, on the recommendation of a friend who came in a few months earlier for the same reason (in the earlier case, the friend started labor the same night of acupuncture treatment and gave birth the next day, although she was medically induced as well). The baby was already in a head-down position. Treatment was performed involving areas on the patient's legs and feet, back, and shoulders. I advised that, based on my pulse reading, she would not go into labor the same day, "but maybe tomorrow".
What happened, in the patient's words: "My water started slowly leaking on Thursday evening after I saw you. Contractions began on Friday a little after 5 pm and baby girl was born at 8:45 pm Friday evening! Labor was so very fast that we didn't even make it to the hospital. She was born at home and delivered by a Grady Hospital EMT! We are all happy and healthy and loving this special time with our baby girl! So, whatever you did worked! Thank you so much."
]]>One drawback of acupressure mats is that the thousands of prongs contained are made of plastic; for acupuncture, we use metal needles. Part of the way acupuncture benefits you is that the electricity is conducted between the practitioner and the patient via the metal needle. Plastic is a poor conductor of electrical charge. Plus, there is not an engaged practitioner under the mat directing where the mat’s prongs access the body. Therefore, the effectiveness of the acupressure mat is limited from the start because of the plastic and because it contacts all sorts of areas on the body in a random way.
You have to use your body weight on the mat by lying down or standing on it. To prevent scratches, it is best not to move suddenly against the prongs on the mat. Do not allow the prongs against your bare skin because it can be uncomfortable. It is preferable to use a lightweight t-shirt or other fabric between your skin and the mat’s prongs.
Do not sleep on the acupressure mat all night. If you are lying on the mat in bed, remove it after 15-20 minutes or less.
Do not use the mat on the same day that you have an acupuncture treatment.
Do not use the mat on various body parts in one session. In my opinion, it would be too stimulating for your system if you use the mat on your torso and limbs at one time. Use the mat on your torso only, and in a separate session on another day, focus on your extremities. If you are using the mat with your neck, you can also use it with your back in one session. If you have a one-sided problem (i.e., right hip pain), use the mat to relax both right and left sides.
With these tips in mind, most people can use acupressure mats beneficially. You can use the mat, but remember that the effect is non-specific and does not take the place of a real acupuncture treatment. The mat is fine to use in a pinch.
]]>From an acupuncture perspective, it is easy to see at a glance that every one of the tapping areas is an acupuncture point, some of which are known to help patients deal with emotional distress. Briefly, here are some of the points as noted in the Emotional Freedom Technique (3) and their names in Traditional Chinese Medicine (4) and in Japanese (5).
Tapping Point | TCM Name | Japanese Name, Kanji character |
Karate Chop (KC) | SI3 | gokei, 後谿 |
Top of Head (TH) | GV20 | hyaku e,百会 |
Eyebrow (EB) | UB2 | sanchiku, 攢竹 |
Side of Eye (SE) | SJ23 | shichikukuu, 糸竹空 |
Under the Eye (UE) | ST2 | shihaku, 四白 |
Under the Nose (UN) | GV26 | suikou, 水溝 |
Chin (Ch) | CV24 | shoushou, 承漿 |
CollarBone (CB) | KD27 | yufu, 兪府 |
Under the Arm (UA) | SP20 | shuuei, 周栄 |
Virtually anyone in their first year of acupuncture school or beyond would immediately recognize these tapping areas as acupuncture points. When we treat these areas in an acupuncture session, we probably would not address all of them in one treatment, and it probably would not work well to get the patients to speak an affirmation while the points are being treated. But the principle of tapping is very similar to what goes on in an acupuncture session – letting go is central to getting past emotional issues and some forms of pain in a healthy way. During an acupuncture treatment, for instance, we would rarely, if ever, just treat points on the upper body because it could be detrimental to the system to activate points above the waist without including a counterbalancing treatment of lower body points. In fact, the points of the lower body would actually be very helpful in a situation like tapping so that the ki does not get ‘stuck’ above the waist. Ki always needs to circulate for the best overall effect on the emotions and on the body in general. When ki gets stuck in the upper body, it is very easy to get a headache as a side effect of the tapping event. In fact, I just practiced the tapping technique by following the instructions in one of the videos, and I began to get a dull headache. I know how to fix it, and that is by working on some points in my legs and feet. In fact, rubbing and lightly needling some points at the areas where my toes meet the rest of the foot on both feet lightened the headache within a few minutes. I think tapping can be a useful way to calm ourselves down in a stressful situation or to help release old emotional blocks and some forms of pain. These methods are convenient to use in between acupuncture treatments, where the issues can be resolved more deeply using needles and/or moxibustion. Just remember when you are tapping that you are actually stimulating acupuncture points in a way that was observed and described long before tapping was written about in an organized manner.
(1),(2) www.tapping.com
(3) http://www.emofree.com/eft-tutorial/tapping-basics/how-to-do-eft.html
(4) Peter Deadman and Mazin Al-Khafaji with Kevin Baker, “A Manual of Acupuncture”, 1998.
(5) The Society of Traditional Japanese Medicine, “Traditional Japanese Acupuncture: Fundamentals of Meridian Therapy”, 2003.
The decision to remove body parts in an effort to prevent cancer must be something that at-risk individuals must make for themselves. Information about potential cancer risk must be taken into account by the affected patients and their families, and thus, the final decision should be left to the individuals without anyone else weighing in on it unless asked personally. Watching a beloved mother struggle with cancer and the effects of treatment must have been devastating for these ladies and for any other daughter or son in the same situation, and in their minds, they are doing the best they can to live long lives. When Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former U.S. Senator and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, realized that she had ignored signs of cancer because she was too busy to get checked when she first noticed a breast lump, she regretted not acting sooner. She talked about this in her book, “Resilience”. Mrs. Edwards later lost her battle to breast cancer at age 61, leaving behind a young adult daughter and two grade school-aged children. Certainly Angelina Jolie and Kelly Osbourne are doing what they can to avoid such regrets and hardships for the families they would be leaving behind as a result of an early cancer death, and prophylactic (preventative) surgery is the route they both chose.
In Chinese medicine, there is a tradition of surgery in some cases, but as a rule, organs were not surgically removed from live subjects. There was not a major emphasis on anatomy in the early years of theoretical development in Chinese medicine. Rather, the idea of the body as a whole organism rather than as a collection of parts was a core belief supporting the way of thinking and following through in medical care in the past and now. Epigenetics tells us that BRCA gene inheritance is not a death sentence in and of itself; lifestyle choices have a great influence on whether or not a person eventually develops cancer.
If you are considering having any of part of your body removed to prevent future cancer, please find out all that you can about the particular procedure in advance, including risks and long term side effects. I would also advise you to get acupuncture to enhance your health regardless of the path you choose. There can be a culture of fear around the human body when you do not know it well, or when you do not trust the wisdom that runs every bodily process without your conscious control. You could become afraid that your body will let you down without warning, and then you could try to control the situation by taking drastic actions. The best you can do everyday is to bring in the concept of prevention even earlier down the line than surgery. Give your body the food, rest, exercise, hydration, and care that make it thrive. In addition, get a couple of different expert opinions both within the Western medical community and outside of it. Your acupuncturist should have an interesting perspective. Do not make this kind of a decision from a rushed, panicked mindset. Give yourself some time. Trust your instinct and your ability to make the right decision for you.
]]>First of all, acupuncture needles are much thinner than any needle you would normally encounter at a Western medical office. Have you seen or heard of the butterfly needle that is used for greater comfort when blood is drawn at the doctor’s office? That ‘small’ needle would be horrifyingly thick for most acupuncture applications at 21-25 gauge. Needles that are made to transport a liquid substance (medicine or blood) into or out of the body must be made with a hole through the length of it. Because acupuncturists do not draw blood or administer injections during the normal course of treatment, we can use needles that are solid. If a needle is solid, it can be made as thin as possible because it does not have to be sturdy enough to allow fluids to flow through it. In contrast to the butterfly needle, my standard needle thickness is 42 gauge, but I use needles that range in size from 44 gauge (thinnest) to 28 gauge (thickest). In the case of needle thickness sizing, the bigger the gauge number, the thinner the needle. Most of the needles I use are so thin that they have to be kept straight through the use of a needle tube to allow them to be pushed. Otherwise, the needles would just collapse against the skin like a piece of thread. The concept of needle should be either expanded or thrown out altogether when it comes to comparing the ones used in Western medical procedures versus the type used for acupuncture. They are both sterile for each patient and made from metal but other than that, these two types of needles do not have much in common with each other.
Another reason to mentally relax about needles is that many licensed acupuncturists have a wide variety of practical and effective tools and techniques other than needles to use for treatment. Sometimes we do not even use needles in a treatment at all; is this surprising? We can use herbs externally or in medicinal form. We can use massage and implements other than needles to bring about a positive change in the body. Acupuncture is a big category of holistic health care. Talk to your acupuncturist about your concerns. I always take such concerns seriously as a licensed acupuncturist. My usual method involves distracting the fearful patient so that if I am using needles, the patient cannot even tell when I have taken a needle out of the sterile wrapper and started using it. In most cases, the patient will not even realize that points have been needled. This practice is meant to place the patient at ease. Because most of my needling style is light anyway, it is not difficult to help the patient relax while not bring a great deal of attention to the techniques being used. By the time you know what’s been happening, the treatment is over already. Give it a try; you will see for yourself. I could not make a claim like this if I was unable to back it up. Try it.
]]>
I will receive acupuncture and some form of bodywork (massage, etc.) every week or every two weeks.
I will exercise for 45-60 minutes a day, five days per week. My main activities will be cardio and resistance training, and I will strive to sweat during each workout.
I will eat meals prepared at home six days a week when I am at home. When I am traveling, I will choose the healthiest options possible. This means that I will avoid processed foods, processed foods, and food additives whenever I can.
I will check my current body mass index (BMI) for my height and weight. If I am overweight or obese according to the BMI measurement, I will determine how much weight I need to lose to return to a healthy BMI range. I will give myself time to lose the weight at a reasonable pace of one to two pounds per week. I will set a date every week to weigh myself and assess how I am doing. During the weekly check-ins, I will make changes if necessary.
The next twelve months offer you a chance to make some changes in terms of health and in all other areas of your life as well. Here is what I am doing: for the new year, I am receiving acupuncture on a weekly basis. I am reducing food portion sizes by 1/3. I am limiting my consumption of sweets (I only eat the healthy ones anyway, of course! But still.) to two times per week. I am doing cardio and weight training for 45-60 minutes a day, four or five days per week. This is a change from my habit over the last 18 months of walking outside for 60 minutes, six to seven days per week. Even though I am in a healthy BMI range at the moment, I can increase my willpower around food and exercise. My experiment with walking for exercise taught me that walking is not active enough for me to maintain my ideal weight, although it works for some people. These changes will make a difference in my health in the new year. I will check in on Mondays, my day off, to see how I am doing and make necessary adjustments. Let’s see where we are at the end of the month, the quarter, the summer, and the year. Happy New Year and good luck!
]]>1) Don’t go crazy with the food, and 2) Keep exercising. Certainly you are welcome to try all of the appealing dishes you encounter if you want, but just have a little of each one for the taste, not to fill up. As you know, some of the seasonal holiday food is not particularly health-promoting. The culprits are various sweets, fatty foods, and alcohol when its consumption gets out of hand. If you don’t eat holiday food like this everyday (and hopefully you do not), consuming a temporary diet high in these foods can cause some noticeable digestive symptoms like indigestion and bloating. The holiday season is the time that many people can pick up weight if they are not careful; the food combined with less activity as a result of operating off of the normal schedule can make weight gain more probable. Don't let it happen to you. Be one of those people who doesn’t have to make a new year’s resolution to get healthy or, more specifically, to get back in the gym on a well-intentioned, but often short-lived, exercise kick. Continue (or start!) to include exercise as part of your normal schedule before, during, and after the holidays.
3) Dress properly. Here in Atlanta, the weather can be both unseasonably warm and cold. Temperatures, wind, and precipitation can feel extreme, and the weather can change relatively quickly over the course of a day at times. Atlanta is a city of transplanted individuals, and I see far too may people who hail from warm climates like southern India, the Caribbean or Pacific Islands (Hawaii, the Philippines) who have not developed a habit of wearing proper shoes for the cooler weather in winter here. I know they are used to wearing light shoes without socks year-round, but I always ask them to please put on some socks and heavier shoes in the winter. Actually, when I go to Japan in the hottest and most humid days of summertime, I notice that many Japanese people wear socks and shoes in the summer, too. Tokyo’s weather is similar to Atlanta’s weather. I am a native of the Southeastern US, so I was also a habitual wearer sandals all the time in summer. But when I tried the sock and shoe routine that I observed in Japan, my feet and body did not feel hot nor sweaty as a result; I felt comfortable even in the heat. You don’t necessarily need to go that far, but please cover your feet and lower legs in the winter months. This is good for your overall health. Also, I encourage you to wear your winter clothes at this time of the year. Even on warm days, remember that the atmosphere (bare trees, few flowers, etc.) confirms that we are living in fall and winter, and thus you should not be dressing as if it is summer. Even if you wear a lighter weight fabric, for instance, still wear a long sleeve and long pants with socks and shoes, and always take a jacket or a sweater with you wherever you go. Please, no flip flops outside in between the official start of fall on Sept. 21 and late May, no matter how warm it feels out there. Dressing for the season is more important in the cold months than in the hot ones. If you have long hair, don’t get it cut short all of a sudden. The sudden loss of that much hair could be shocking to your system in cold weather. Your hair helps regulate your sensation of temperature, and when it is gone all of a sudden, adjusting to the new style in winter can be challenging. Make such adjustments in the warm seasons.
4) Notice how you’re feeling. For some people, the holidays can bring up painful emotions and memories. Maybe you will have to spend some time in the company of someone whose input you could do without. Just do your best. You might have to try to carve out time for yourself within the visit. Try to do so without being anti-social. Stay in the present moment and find something to like about the circumstances. Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT for short, can be a good, quick method to use when you are getting frustrated or angry in your situation, or if you just have something bothering you that you know you need to face. You can Google ‘EFT’ and find a demonstration of the technique that you shows you how to copy the moves. The EFT areas for tapping are all acupuncture points, and tapping them through EFT is a way you can stimulate them at home and get a nice result. Don’t worry if you are not sure of the exact location or pressure to use while tapping. Just try the technique and see if you feel some uplift regarding an uncomfortable emotional state.
5) Come in for acupuncture treatment to help strengthen your ability to deal with the holiday stressors. There is no need to handle it all by yourself. We can get your circulation balanced again by working on those tight or uncomfortable areas, and we can also help your system relax so you can get through these potentially challenging times with lightness and ease.
The holidays always seem to bring some stress, but there are things that you can do today and everyday that will help the season to be more fun and relaxed despite the frenzied pace. Enjoy!
]]>It was helpful to hear that my far more experienced teachers in another cultural paradigm deal with many of the same issues that I see here in the States, specifically here in Atlanta in my own little clinic. I had a couple of recent experiences with patients who tried to command me to do their bidding, and finally, I said no. Ironically in both cases, these were people who have complained to me about their bosses looking over their shoulders too much and micromanaging their work! Here are some reasons why patients who want to direct the treatment are going about things in a problematic way:
1) The acupuncturist is here to help the patient in the best way that the acupuncturist sees fit to do so. Sure, it is very helpful and necessary in some cases for the patient to say where something hurts and to describe his or her symptoms. But that is where the patient's initial contribution needs to end. I, for one, have an ongoing intention to continue improving as a practitioner, but I also have experience and training now that informs what I decide to do. I have thought about a plan for treatment to get us to the goal of both: a) lessening or relieving the symptom, and b) treating the root cause of the problem so that the symptomatic treatment has the best chance of holding. This means that no, I don't want you to bring me a list of points that some other acupuncturist did for you that worked for some problem under different circumstances. That was then, this is now, and I am not a technician. On the contrary, you should be skeptical of an acupuncturist who would seek to do someone else's point prescription, or just put needles where someone wants them to, in an indiscriminate manner, without evaluating the patient for themselves. Those are red flags. Acupuncturists who are engaged in the medicine will prefer and insist on doing their own treatments from top to bottom, and it should not be otherwise.
2) It may seem like the acupuncturist is focusing on areas other than the problem area or painful area, but there is a method to that. I explain to the patient that we need to treat the root of the problem as well as its manifestation. I want the pain/discomfort/insomnia, etc. to go away as badly as the patient does, but what good does it do for me to just treat the symptom if it comes back in an hour? I am always thinking about how to make the problem go away and stay away. This is sometimes accomplished in a one-hour treatment, but often, it takes more treatments to accomplish such goals. It seems to be better to come back on another day rather than to do a long treatment on one day.
3) Patients who can't seem to trust the judgment of their acupuncturist should probably ask themselves why. Why go to someone with training and experience, especially when the patient has no training nor skills as an acupuncturist, if the patient thinks that he or she has all of the answers? It is insulting and disrespectful, not to mention just plain dumb, to tell someone how to do their job, especially when the person doing the telling doesn't know what is going on. Even other acupuncturists don't generally do that when receiving treatments. Usually, the person who wants to control the treatment has some control issues elsewhere in life that may need to be investigated. It's probably part of the reason why the condition is occurring in their body in the first place.
Certainly, there is a back-and-forth dynamic involved between the acupuncturist and the patient. After all, the patient is paying and should get his or her needs addressed and receive something of value in exchange for their money. If a treatment didn't work as well as was hoped for before, your acupuncturist wants to find a way to make an appropriate change so that you, the patient, can get better. That's what both parties want. To be honest, I don't want to turn anyone away, really. But I would rather not see patients who behave in a way that puts me in a straitjacket or handcuffs while I am working. I will let those people go to make room for the patients who can truly receive and benefit. We will all be happier.
]]>
I've recently returned from Japan, my tenth foray into that wonderful country for the purposes of additional training and study. To be in such a stimulating setting, with generous teachers and supportive colleagues, is far more than what I could ever have asked for or expected when I decided to become an acupuncturist. It would have been unimaginable in 1998 for me to think I would ever understand anything from a 2,000 classical Chinese text, but here I am, learning to do it. The relevance of those old classics carries into the present day. Obviously, my teachers know this, and are willing to offer guidance to all of us students with a true interest and the willingness to apply ourselves to this art. They are always sticking to the basics and yet expanding from there, contributing to what we know at every turn. The education never ends, and for that and many other things, I am grateful.
This was my first time in Japan at this time of year (early autumn). The weather was transitioning, and so were patients' symptoms as I observed and helped out in my teachers' clinics. In Japan as well as here in Atlanta, now is a time that respiratory issues and skin problems come to the surface as the Fire element of summer moves into the deep background, making way way for the prominence of the Metal element of autumn. From my point of view, treatments should be done in a way that considers the effect that the changing environment has on each one of us, as we are all a part of nature. Thankfully, I am more clear about how to work this aspect in while I am treating headaches, fertility problems, anxiety, and whatever else I see on a daily basis in terms of the chief complaints of patients.
While I always enjoy my time in Japan, I feel that I belong here in the Southeast, at home. It is nice to have that place to go to and to keep in my heart as I continue my work here. Until the next trip, which I'll plan to take a short time from now, it is the season to hunker down and push the accelerator, as one of my teachers says, for learning and experience. I am so thankful; so lucky.
]]>This kind of case in interesting because it gives the patient and me some understanding about what went wrong and how we can help improve for the next time. For my part, maybe I was focusing too much on the quieter parts of the process, like influencing the lining thickness and egg quality through acupuncture, but next time I may focus more on strongly coursing the ki to promote efficient ovulation. Our intention and skillful utilization of experience and knowledge can help with such issues. This is actually good news because it helps the patient to have more hope about how things can be different in the future because she has a reasonable idea about what it didn’t work before. I, in turn, can execute the treatment in a more directed way and encourage the patient.
]]>The people who only come when they feel they need a tune-up are gaining some benefit but they are missing out on the deep rewards of having their ki mechanisms optimized on a regular basis. I admit that I am not always the best at telling my patients they should come in more frequently; I don’t want to add one more thing onto the full plates they already have of things to do. So I am telling you now directly -- my treatments will help you on some level whenever you come in but they don’t last forever. We can work together on rates (costs) per visit if that’s what’s holding you back from coming in more often. So consider it, and plan to get acupuncture more often than you have been getting it if you are not already coming in every week or at least every month. You will see even better results in areas that you weren’t paying attention to before. It’s like the effects of exercise -- when you are young, you may not notice the differences as much between those who exercise regularly and those who do not. But because we are all getting older, have a look at the people you know who work out compared to non-exercisers. The exercisers almost always have more energy, better weight control, and healthier statistics as measured by any standard. Why not exercise, at least sometimes, on a regular basis if you are able to do so? Similarly, why not get acupuncture regularly? Your excuses aren’t working! Please think it over.
]]>Back in the early 1990s, I had finished my undergraduate education in chemical engineering. The economy was very bad at that time, which was a factor in my decision to continue in school rather than putting in a big effort to find a corporate job. Another factor was that I really enjoyed being a student. I applied to some schools and got into several of them -- the University of Michigan, North Carolina State University, and the University of Washington. These were all PhD programs in chemical engineering that I'd gotten into. After visiting each school, I liked them all but decided to go to U of M due to the fact that my friends Ken and Robin were already grad students there in the same department, and I thought it might be helpful to know someone where I was going. Long story short, I had a strong dislike for my situation in Michigan. Having kept my options open, I got married to my college sweetheart Chris, who was from Seattle, and transferred to the University of Washington. That program was a better fit for me but still not a good one. About halfway through, after the time of my qualifying exam, I had a look at my bookcase at home and noticed that all of the books I read for my own amusement had something to do with alternative medicine and acupuncture. Then it dawned on me that I was in the wrong place and that I could never be happy and do my life's work as a chemical engineer. Fine time to realize that, I know, but I felt that I had to finish the degree. Well, once I realized what I really wanted to do, it was like pulling teeth everyday to go up to that school and finish that program. There were a few bright spots, but I was miserable. I had a chat with a random conference attendee, an older man, at a national meeting for the American Chemical Society in New Orleans circa 1995 or 1996 when I was presenting a poster with my advisor and another grad student. I shared with the man that I had considered quitting school to study something else, but he told me, "Look, you are Black and female. How many like you do you think have gone before you? You have to show that you can endure, no matter what you do after this. Do not quit until you have that degree in your hand. Don't quit. That endurance quality is something that finishing will show about you, and nothing can ever take that away." Although I haven't a clue today about who that man was, I remembered his words and thought of them often while I was going through it in that department. Finally, I finished. We moved to California, and I found a job as a post-doc just to give myself a chance to use the degree before starting yet another graduate school program in acupuncture; I was thinking that maybe there could be a way to study part-time while working for several years, so I'd have an income. That was not to be. The job was not a fit, and in the meantime, I attended an open house at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego. I was sold on acupuncture after that, and I started school in the evenings while still working. I would look forward to getting done with the work day so that I could get to class at night, and I loved class so much that I didn't even mind the long days. By the end of the school term, I'd decided to resign at my job and return to school full-time. It was a big step, but I never looked back. Soon after starting my next school term, I lost my 31-year-old husband due to suicide. Awful isn't the word. My parents told me it was fine if I just wanted to come home, but my new school community was just where I needed to be. Despite the hardships, I can say that I enjoyed school and healed a lot during that time.
Finishing my degree at acupuncture school was meaningful. Finally, I had some credentials to do something that was my dream. I found a job doing acupuncture in Atlanta, and I moved here. Sometime later, I bought an existing practice and started out on my own. Thankfully, I have been supported by the community here and have not had to even think of going back to engineering, which would be difficult to do anyway. After everything I went through during those years, the degree becomes irrelevant once a degree holder has been out of work in the field for only six months, I have heard. If that doesn't beat all . .
So we come to the present time. Even on my hardest days, I am honored to be doing this work. Thankfully, I have teachers who are willing to teach me and who have made a huge difference in my education and in my life. And may patients -- what can I say about them? I am so grateful. That about sums it up.
]]>
Most patients pay at the time of service. I can only think of two times in the past three years that people came to me with approvals, in writing, from their major health insurance companies, for coverage of acupuncture at this facility. In both cases, the insurance companies later refused to pay. Their final refusals took place after many months (not days or weeks -- months that I am waiting to get paid) of correspondence via phone calls, faxes, and mail. Ultimately, when this occurs, the bill is still outstanding and needs to be paid. This involves an uncomfortable conversation between the service provider (me) and the person who received the service, usually months before, but felt that they should not have to pay for it, because it was supposed to be covered. Tension ensues, and either the patient (usually reluctantly) pays the money or the case is turned over to a third-party collection agency. The collection agencies charge a large percentage of any amount they can recover, which makes it impossible for this facility to negotiate a settlement with the patient at a discount once it has gone that far. All things considered, it's a negative situation for everyone. Why is this so?
1) The acupuncture office is not the client of the insurance agency, the patient is. That being the case, they have no obligation to appease me by settling the case at all, much less in a timely manner. It often takes months to come to any resolution. The insurance companies may work on behalf of their customer, the patient, but even then there is no real motivation on the part of the insurance company to pay, and from my perspective most of them will do anything to avoid paying.
2) If the patient will pay the acupuncture office upfront and take the provided superbill to their insurance company for reimbursement, they have a better chance of having the visit(s) covered and I get to stay blissfully out of it. The insurance companies in some cases will indicate a lack of awareness that the patient has already paid, and they will often contact me to try to negotiate an "expedited settlement", offering me maybe 50% of the fee to settle the bill 'quickly'. Nothing makes me more satistfied than to tell them that the patient has already paid their bill in the full amount charged and that the settlement offer does not apply. Ha! I have also been known to tell them that this is my income that they want me to negotiate on, and how would they like to have their paycheck negotiated down so they can get it faster? No answer.
3) After the patient has been asked to pay a bill that they thought was covered, there is tension around future acupuncture visits on both sides. I want to treat the person but I also want and deserve to be paid for my work. They may resent that they are being asked to pay for something they shouldn't have to pay for. I'm not rude or pushy by nature, but these situations can get testy.
Worker's Compensation and MedPay claims from auto insurance are ok. I do see payments from these cases so they are welcome. But to avoid any more of these situations with health insurance that, in reality, take up energy and time that could be used to treat people and learn more about this beautiful art af acupuncture that I am engaged in, I am not seeing anyone else who just wants to pay a copay, walk out the door, and have me file their insurance company for payment of the rest of the bill. This includes Medicare, which does not cover acupuncture. Even if your insurance agent comes with you and looks me in the eye and guarantees me that I will get my money right away. I have seen enough by now that I do not believe them. If acupuncture is said to be covered by your health insurance policy, please find somewhere else to go. It's not worth it to me.
]]>
"As is the case for reviewer iching555, I am a lucky student in Edward Obaidey's Tokyo clinic, going back and forth whenever possible between there and my own place in the United States. "A Long Road" is a universal, practical, relatable guide for any practitioner of acupuncture anywhere, not just the ones of us with a preference for so-called Japanese-style techniques. Writing in an often witty and lighthearted style, Ed sensei gets to the heart of the matter here by challenging all of us to consider and DO what's really important to shape ourselves as practitioners and to treat the patient to the best of our improving ability. He covers higher level needling and moxibustion methods that are not usually taught in acupuncture schools. Also, he includes relevant clinical experiences that reveal the spirit of traditional ways of training as an acupuncturist with a modern yet timeless twist. What a talent to be able to make the readers of this text feel that we are standing right next to him in the clinic as he deftly treats the patient and clears up our confusion at the same time, while inspiring yet more questions. Taking the easy way is not an option with this skillful teacher, and he shows the possibilities for us if only we would commit to diligent study and practice. Rarely will we have access to a guidebook from a native English speaker who has this level of commitment and consequent depth of knowledge about East Asian medicine. This offering is a real treasure; a new classic. Read it over and over, and apply what you learn. Why? For improved clinical results and for the benefit of self and others. Seriously, it's amazing."
The pursuit of mastery in this medicine is a lifelong journey. Some of the patients ask me questions like, "Don't you know everything already by now?" "The next time you're in Japan, why don't you just tell your teachers to teach you everything all at once so you don't have to keep going over there?" These questions make me smile, but they also let me know that even among people who get acupuncture in this country, sometimes it's not so clear what goes into becoming a worthy practitioner. The 3,000-4,000 hours of acupuncture school and school clinic plus the required continuing education hours to keep an active license are good starts, but they are just not enough. Having a teacher who is willing to aid in the development of an acupuncturist is a rare honor, but it should be something that we all aspire to have and maybe even become. Acupuncture is a powerful medicine, and even the worst treatments by sleepwalking practitioners will sometimes yield some improvement. But to become good, and consistently so, requires refinement of the person doing the work as well as an unshakeable grounding in the basics and applications. Learning in traditional ways is not an easy way to do things, but it's worth it.
]]>