Memory loss can the result of a number of factors, the most common of which is your age.  However, hormonal changes, diet, stress, and simply trying to do too many things at once can also mess with your memory.

There are a couple of organ systems in Chinese medicine that are related to memory.  The first (that I can remember) is your Heart.  The Chinese Heart is home to your consciousness, spirit, feelings, thoughts, and…yes, your memory.  Memory loss is one of the hallmark signs of a Heart disharmony.

Your Chinese Spleen is the organ closely related to digestion.  Good digestion helps something called clear Yang to rise upward allowing for mental clarity.  When your digestion is funky, you may experience fuzzy thinking and memory problems, along with digestive symptoms, such as heartburn, stomachaches, low blood sugar, gas, bloating, poor absorption of foods, and diarrhea or constipation.

The Kidney system is also a player in memory.  One of the important functions of your Chinese Kidney system is how well and healthfully you will age.  As you get older, your Kidney gets weaker as a matter of course, affecting everything from your hearing to the strength of your bones, and your mental function/memory.  Along with aging, your Kidney also controls things like growth, sexuality, and reproduction.  When women go through menopause, their Kidney system is affected, which is why memory seems to take an additional hit during this time.

So the question is:  Can Chinese medicine and acupuncture help with memory loss?  There is no simple yes or no, depending on the source of the problem.  However, in many instances, Chinese medicine can help.  For some people, memory problems are directly related to the amount of stress they’re experiencing, and in others, the memory issues began as part of menopause.  For older adults who are beginning to show the signs of senile dementia, it may be too late to reverse their memory loss.

According to Chinese medicine, there are some things that you can do to safeguard your memory.  This includes:

 -Simplify your life.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed, your brain is full.  At a certain point, you just can’t hold onto any more details, so you start to forget them.

-Jettison the stress.  Stressful situations cause you to be preoccupied, making it difficult for you to remember anything except details about what’s stressing you out.  Do whatever it takes, whether it’s steps to resolve the stressful situation, or a Yoga class, meditation, taking up a hobby, or carving out quiet time to yourself.

-Eat good food.  It sounds simple, but it’s not always so easy when you’re running from meeting to meeting or getting your kids from one activity to another.  Sometimes the only solution seems to be something quick—and not so good for you.  Take the time to plan what you’ll eat, and bring it with you if necessary.  Good food is whole food, unprocessed, whole grains, lots of vegetables, and a little protein, with very small amounts of red meat, if any.  Ditch the sugar, as it messes with your blood sugar levels and can be a direct contributor to fuzzy thinking.  Remember the Twinkie defense?

-Digest that good food you’ve eaten.  Take the time to sit down and eat.  Chew your food and sit up straight.  In addition, cooked foods tend to be easier to digest, and ice cold foods and drinks bring your digestion to a halt.

-Protect your Chinese Kidney.  How?  Well, slow down, for one.  Overwork can be a direct cause of illness and depletion in Chinese medicine.  Also, excessive partying, while fun, weakens your Kidney system and sends you into your senior years in less than optimal health.

In addition to Chinese medicine, Western doctors and scientists are looking for ways to protect memory as we age.  They have been conducting research on memory and the various factors that may help slow memory loss.  Among them:

-Get moving.  Data from a study that began in the 1930’s shows that moderate exercise (as little as two times a week!) can lower your chances of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

-If you’re a smoker, quit now.  While you can’t completely undo the damage in terms of degeneration to your brain, the sooner you quit the better.

-Drink green tea.  Results from a 2006 study indicate that as little as a cup or two a day of green tea, which is packed full of antioxidants, can cut your risk of cognitive problems by 50 percent.

-Make lists.  Memory lapses can be the by-product of simply trying to do too many things at once.  At a certain point, your brain just can’t hold any more details.  Make lists of the things you want to do or remember to get rid of some of that brain clutter.

-Play mind games.  Crossword puzzles, soduku, trivia quizzes, or even learning a new skill or language can keep your brain exercised and can slow memory loss.

The good news here is that small changes can be enough to yield big results as long as you keep them up.  A few cups of green tea, acupuncture to relieve stress, exercising a couple days a week, and moderate changes in your diet can be enough to lower your risk of age related memory problems.

Here is a list, in no particular order, compiled from what we’ve learned from our patients, Chinese medicine, the scientific community, and some just plain common sense:

1)  Eat for good digestion. In Chinese medicine, your digestion is every bit as important as what you’re eating.  You can eat the healthiest foods on the planet, but if you don’t digest them well, you might as well be doing the drive through at Burger Doodle.  Slow down, chew your food, and avoid the rich and greasy chow.  Choose more cooked vegetables than raw, and go easy on the frozen foods and drinks.

2)  Laugh. It feels good, it’s invigorating, and actually releases chemicals in your brain that are good for your health.

3)  Go outside. Get in touch with the nature around you.  This is the foundation of Chinese medicine, in which the natural world is reflected in your body.  Slow down in the winter, eat new green shoots in the spring, be especially active in the summer, and check out your locally harvested produce in the fall (well, all year round.)  Know also, that extreme weather conditions have the ability to make you sick, whether it’s a dry sore throat in the fall or heat exhaustion in the summer.

4)  Quit smoking. This is a no-brainer.  It may seem obvious, but if you’re a smoker, quitting now is the single most important step you can take to improve your health and increase your life span.

5)  Make sure you’re getting enough Vitamin D. Vitamin D may sound like the magic supplement du jour, but D boosts immunity, helps with depression, and offers a whole host of health benefits.  And most of us aren’t getting enough. You can get your serving of D through 15 minutes of direct sunlight, or by supplementing with Vitamin D3.  Those of us who live far from the equator may not be able to get adequate D from the sun year round.  So think about supplementing if you own and use long underwear more than a few times a year.

6)  Exercise. I can’t say this enough.  It’s the fountain of youth if there were such a thing.  Physical activity keeps your heart and lungs in shape, your muscles toned, your bones strong, your butt tight, and studies are indicating that it also may slow or reduce the progression of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

7)  Exercise your mind, too. Play word games, do puzzles, or learn a new language.  The adage “use it or lose it” also applies to your mind.

8)  Change the behaviors that are making you sick. You know that stress, junk food, and toxic relationships aren’t good for you.  If you want to feel good and live long, now’s the time to jettison those negatives in your life.

9)  Stand up straight! Poor posture can mess with your digestion and breathing, and can give you back and neck pain.  Stand and sit tall; your body will thank you.

10)  Get enough sleep. Your body rejuvenates, heals, and recharges while you sleep.  Go to bed with enough time to get seven to eight good hours.  Slow down before trying to sleep.  If you struggle with insomnia, get some help.  Ahem…acupuncture is pretty effective in treating sleep problems.

11)  Get regular health screenings. You can laugh all you want at your friends’ colonoscopy stories, but you had better be keeping up with your own.  Make sure you’re getting regular mammograms, Pap tests, blood pressure checks, mole screenings, etc. based on the guidelines for your age and risk factors.

12)  Calm down. The Chinese say that the emotions are the cause of 100 diseases. That means that staying angry at your obnoxious neighbor or stressing out about a nosy co-worker will only make you sick. Do whatever it takes to defuse and de-stress.

13)  Almost anything is okay—in moderation. According to Chinese medicine, a little sweetness may help your digestion, but eating a half of a cheesecake is a toxic food bomb.  In the same vein, the right amount of exercise is good for you, but too much can cause your body to break down.  Too much of anything over time can be damaging, so aim for variety.

14)  Garden. Whether it’s a stretch of your back yard or containers on your balcony, growing your own vegetables outside is beneficial on so many levels.  You’re getting the best kind of exercise, you’re connecting with nature, you’re growing your own organic food (if you lay off the pesticides), and you have the joy of going out your door to pick something you’ve grown yourself.

15)  Get in touch. Connect with your sense of purpose through journaling and self-exploration, connect with others in social situations, and connect with the divine through prayer and meditation.  In Chinese medicine, connection feeds your heart, which is the home to your soul.

16)  Eat for the long run. Eat breakfast, don’t skip meals, and get a little protein at each meal.  Try to get a variety of colorful foods into your diet each day, especially the darkly colored fruits and vegetables.  Strive for a diet made up of lots of veggies, some whole grains, a little protein, a little fruit, and small amounts of everything else (Okay, maybe not hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup, but mostly every thing else.)

17)  Just breathe. Breathing deeply opens up your lungs, oxygenates your brain for mental focus, and wards off fatigue and anxiety.  In Chinese medicine, your lungs are an important component in immunity, so strong and healthy lungs translate into a strong ability to fight off colds and flu.  Try taking a deep breath to the count of four, holding it for the count of seven, and releasing it to the count of eight.

18)  Just say no. The ability to prioritize your life and say no to some of those annoying and unimportant things you don’t want to do and don’t really have to do is incredibly freeing.  It helps decrease that stressful feeling of being overwhelmed, which can be exhausting and depleting.

19)  Cultivate compassion. By being kind to others, you’re being kind to yourself.  Kindness is embodied by generosity and service to others.  Compassion and kindness dissolve anger, annoyance, and competition—all feelings which diminish both the quality and length of your life.

20)  Cook and eat with joy. It has been said that how you approach food mirrors how you approach life.  Do you approach eating and life with joyfulness or do you worry about every little thing you do and eat?  Lovingly prepare your meals, sit down, and share them with people you love—as often as possible.

21)  Listen to your body. Your body is infinitely wise.  It knows what it needs, how to heal, and how to signal you when it’s in trouble.  Listen to those little signs; headaches at work, an upset stomach when you’ve eaten poorly, an achy lower back, or fatigue.

22)  Indulge in your passion. This is simple.  Figure out what you like to do and figure out how to do it more often.

23)  Go green. The cosmetics you put on your body and the products you use to clean your home have the ability to either enhance or harm your health.  Become savvy about what’s in your shampoos, lotions, bathroom cleaners, etc., and if the ingredients are sketchy, find cleaner, greener alternatives.

24)  Live in the moment. We spend most of our time rehashing the past or fixated on some future event.  The reality is that the only moment that’s real is right now.  Impatience means that we’re anxious to move onto the next thing—the next moment; however that next thing is a moment like this one.  Slow down and enjoy right now.

My brush with butt pain happened about three days into a week long kayaking trip in the middle of nowhere.  I woke up one morning and tried to walk down to the beach to wash my face, but my leg, or more accurately, my butt wouldn’t cooperate.  I could walk, but just barely, because a nagging pain on the right side of my low back and butt was causing my leg to fold up like a card table.

I managed to get through the kayaking trip—surprisingly; I was able to paddle without much pain, but once I got out of my kayak, I was pretty well hobbled.  It wasn’t until a week or two later that I learned that I had something called Piriformis syndrome. 

Since then, I have made it my business to know as much as possible about sciatic nerve pain.  If you suffer from this kind of pain, here are some things you should know:

1. Not all pain that begins in your butt and radiates down your leg is sciatica.  True sciatica is due pressure on your sciatic nerve from compressed lumbar disks, trauma, or degeneration in your lower back.
2. Piriformis syndrome often feels just like sciatica, but the cause is from a spasm in the Piriformis muscle.  Your Piriformis is a core stabilizing muscle that runs deep from your sacrum (at the base of your spine) to your hip (the bone on the outside top of your thigh.)  Your sciatic nerve runs under, and for some people, through the Piriformis muscle.  When your Piriformis is injured, it can compress the sciatic nerve where it passes through the pelvis.  Beyond pain deep in your butt, Piriformis syndrome usually causes pain that radiates down the back or side of your leg, and can travel through your knee and into your foot.  The pain can be achy and dull, sharp, nagging, and even cause numbness and tingling.
3. It can be tough to tell the difference between true sciatica and Piriformis syndrome, because the symptoms tend to mimic each other, but there are a few clues.  With sciatica, you will usually have pain radiating all the way into your lower leg and foot, but with Piriformis syndrome, the pain often radiates only as far as your knee.  Areas of complete numbness along the pathway of the nerve indicate sciatica.  Also, Piriformis syndrome is associated with some very tender trigger points in your butt.  For a definitive diagnosis, your doc will need to rule in or out disk problems as the source of your pain.
4. Overuse is a common cause of Piriformis syndrome, and it can be a common injury that sidelines athletes.  Prolonged sitting and trauma can also aggravate the Piriformis muscle, causing it to swell or go into spasms, which causes the sciatic nerve to be pinched. 
5. I have found in my acupuncture practice that Piriformis syndrome is frequently caused by cold.  It seems to be more prevalent in the winter or after a patient has been outdoors in the cold.  I believe that my kayaking debacle was caused by sitting in a cold, wet kayak for hours on end.  (No pun intended.)
6. In my experience, Piriformis syndrome is far more common than true sciatica.  The good news is that I find that my patients with Piriformis syndrome respond far more quickly to treatment than those with sciatica.
7. Treatment for butt pain in Chinese medicine would include acupuncture, heat, body work, stretching, and at home care. Acupuncture speeds healing by promoting circulation to the area of injury.  In addition, research has documented that acupuncture works by increasing the release of pain-relieving chemicals in the brain.
8. I have found that electro acupuncture, in which the inserted needles are hooked up to a small machine that painlessly contracts or “vibrates” the muscle is especially effective in relieving pain and speeds up the healing process.  Electro acupuncture works by relaxing the muscles that are tight or in spasm.
9. Western treatments for butt pain may include rest, physical therapy, injections of local anesthetics or steroids, and prescription medications for pain or to relax the muscles.  For difficult or chronic cases, your doctor may recommend surgery.
10. At home treatments include heating the painful area, rolling on a tennis ball to release trigger points (points that are especially tender), and gentle stretching.  A simple stretch for the Piriformis muscle:  Sit in a chair with both feet on the floor.  To stretch the right side, place your right ankle across the top of your left knee.  Then gently lean forward until you feel the stretch in your butt. Repeat on the other side by reversing the action.

As for my own butt injury, once I was out of the wilderness, I enlisted the help of an acupuncturist to relieve my pain.  I was lucky; it took about a week before I stopped limping, and a few more before I was completely pain-free.  Combined with some daily stretching and strengthening exercises from a physical therapist, I haven’t had a recurrence.  My butt’s just fine, thank you.

Do you have certain articles of clothing in your closet that seem to shrink every winter?  They fit when you wore them the previous summer, but after a long winter, does every pair of shorts you own betray you by not getting past your hips?

It’s hard to admit that you may have had a hand in this, and your clothes may not actually be shrinking over the winter. It may be hard to own up to the fact that you’ve eaten a few too many acorns over the winter.  And, rather than buy a whole new wardrobe, you may need to drop a few pounds. 

While losing a few pounds may sound simple on paper, we all know it’s not easy. Most of us have tried to lose weight at one time or another—some of us actually are successful; some struggle with weight on a daily basis; and some have just given up.  Through personal experience and by working with many patients who have figured out how to lose or maintain their weight successfully, here are our best weight loss tips: 

1. Eat breakfast.  Get up in time to have a breakfast that includes whole grains and a little protein; it’s the best way to get through the morning without hunger pangs, sugar cravings, and low blood sugar.
2. Plan ahead.  You know you’re going to come home from work hungry.  It’s a given that you’ll eat lunch tomorrow.  It’s not that difficult to plan for those meals and have something healthy on hand.  Stock your refrigerator and pantry with healthy foods that you like.  You can also make meals ahead of time and freeze them in meal-sized portions.
3. Watch what you’re drinking.  For some reason, many people think that if they drink it, the calories don’t count.  Think again.  Fruit juice, alcohol, pop, lattés, and chocolate milk all have the potential to derail your weight loss efforts.
4. Make small changes you can sustain.  While you may not be able to stick to a strict plan, you can cut out that pop you have every day with lunch.  And while you may be too busy to get to the gym, you can take the stairs to your office on the sixth floor. 
5. Think lifestyle, not diet.  A diet is something you undertake for a limited period of time.  When you reach your goal, you go off your diet.  (And weight inexplicably reappears).  However, if you think about making lifestyle changes, you will need to choose those that you can maintain for the rest of your life.  This tip goes hand in hand with the one above—make only those changes that feel doable long-term.
6. Quit snacking.  Or if you must snack, plan ahead and have healthy snacks on hand.
7. Pack your lunch.  If you buy your lunch each day, you are eating one meal out of three in which you have no control over the ingredients, caloric content, preparation, portion size, or freshness. Think about it.
8. Get your emotions under control.  Strong emotions, especially stress, cause an imbalance in a number of hormones in your body, including cortisol and insulin.  These changes mess with how you metabolize food, cause you to gain weight around the middle, and cause cravings for those fat-laden sugar bombs that you always regret eating.
9. Get moving.  Exercise is key to losing weight.  It burns calories, relieves stress, helps you sleep better at night, and dampens your appetite.  Bonus tip:  Build muscle by lifting weights.  Muscles burn more calories than fat.
10. Eat for good digestion.  You may be eating the healthiest diet in the world, but if your digestion is funky, you might as well be ordering your meals at the McDonald’s drive through. If you have heartburn, gas, rumbling, bloating, constipation, loose stools, stomachaches, or nausea, your digestion could definitely be better. In Chinese medicine, poor digestion is one of the most common contributors to weight gain. The first step to better digestion is to slow down and chew your food.  The second is to prepare your foods in a way that they will be better digested.  Generally cooked foods, in the form of soups, stews, stir fries, and fruit compotes take less energy  and are easier to digest than cold or raw foods.
11. Eat foods that are locally grown and in season.  First of all, they taste better than something that’s been on a truck for the past week.  Second, according to Chinese medicine, foods should be eaten during the season in which they are grown.  For example, during the spring, your diet should be full of rich green shoots and baby lettuce.  In contrast, during late summer and early fall, you should be eating the yellow and orange veggies, like carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, and corn.  Trust me on this—it’s better for you.
12. East mostly vegetables and fruits with whole grains, a little protein, and small amounts of everything else.  This is the ideal diet according to Chinese medicine.
13. There are really no bad foods unless you eat them all the time.  We tend to label foods as heroes and villains, and sometimes try cut out entire food groups we perceive as unhealthy.  However, we need fat in our diet; we need carbohydrates; and we need protein.  So, while you may want to beat yourself up over that doughnut you had at yesterday’s staff meeting, in reality, once in a while won’t kill you, so get past it.
14. Exception to the above tip:  Grease-laden fast foods.
15. Set attainable goals. If you have a lot of weight to lose, it can feel overwhelming to set a goal to lose it all at once.  However, if you set a goal to lose ten pounds, and once that’s done, then lose ten more, you’re less likely to give up, and more likely to feel successful with each goal you reach.
16. Don’t go to a party hungry. Ditto for the grocery store and out with friends.  In every situation, your hunger will derail all your good intentions, especially when combined with cocktails.
17. Eat foods that haven’t been processed to death.  There are a couple of tipping points here.  If you look at the label on the package and it lists more than ten ingredients, put it back on the shelf.  Also, if the food is unrecognizable as to what it once was, put it back. 
18. Try something new.  Check out some new recipes, try a food you’ve never eaten, rethink your meal menus, and try a new grocery store or farmer’s market. It will bring you new motivation to eat more healthfully.
19. There is no magic bullet or miracle food.  There are lots of good, healthy foods, but there is no one single food that you can eat every day that will peel off the pounds, give you boundless energy, immortality, and keep you disease-free.  For those things (except the immortality), you need an assortment of foods, with their variety of nutrients.
20. Eat as many differently colored foods each day as possible.  This is especially true for darkly colored foods. The colors in natural foods represent their inherent nutrients. Think red peppers, tomatoes, cherries, grapes, blueberries, dark leafy greens, yellow squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, black beans, sea vegetables, eggplant, white mushrooms, turnips, and brown rice.  You can’t go wrong.

Anxiety can be a tricky thing.  For some people it seems to come out of nowhere and creep up at unexpected moments.  For others, anxiety is predictable and associated with certain events, fears, or situations.  Things like driving on the highway, eating in restaurants, and spiders all have the potential to create anxiety. 

There are a number of causes of anxiety.  Traumatic events top the list.  People who have been exposed to trauma, violence, emotional duress, or threats of any kind know the source of their anxiety. This includes unrelenting stress and worry over a life event or situation that’s not easily resolved. 

Unfortunately, many people experience anxiety symptoms and don’t know why, which only makes the anxiety worse.  These are the people who think they’re going crazy because they seemingly have no reason to feel anxious.  However, it’s important to know that anxiety can be caused by physical problems, such as hormonal imbalances, digestive issues, heart problems, and drug side effects.

Anxiety can run in families.  I have found that many of my patients who suffer from anxiety have either a parent or a child who also struggles with anxiety, too.  This may be due to genetic makeup or how a particular family copes with stressful life events. Whether anxiety in families is due to nature or nurture, it’s not uncommon that family members will have similar triggers for their anxiety.

In Chinese medicine, there are three organ systems related to anxiety; the Heart, Spleen, and Kidneys.

The Chinese view anxiety as worry that has gotten out of control.  Each organ system is associated with an emotion, and worry is the emotion associated with the Chinese Spleen.  The Spleen is also your organ system of digestion.  It sifts and sorts what you’ve eaten, takes what is useful, turns it into nutrients to fuel your body, and gets rid of what is not needed.  While your Spleen primarily digests foods, it also plays a role in the sifting and sorting of ideas.  While the emotion associated with the Spleen is worry, it is essentially the same as not being able to sort through and let go of unnecessary ideas.  Worry is a kind of unhealthy rumination, and when it gets out of control, worry becomes anxiety and fear.

While your Spleen is the organ of digestion, your Heart is the Chinese organ of feelings.  We intuitively know that the Heart is an emotional organ.  We feel things with all our heart, have our heart broken, or thank someone from the bottom of our heart. Your Heart is home to the Shen, or your spirit, according to Chinese theory.  Its function is similar to that of your brain in Western biomedicine.  As such your Heart is the home to consciousness, memory, emotions, and thinking.  Whenever someone suffers from any kind of emotional upset or condition, such as anxiety, the Heart is always involved. 

Finally, the Chinese Kidney also plays a role in anxiety in a couple of ways.  First, the emotion related to the Kidney is fear, which is the underlying component of anxiety.  Secondly, the Kidney is the deepest and most nourishing of our organs.  It’s responsible for how well you age, your underlying body constitution, and is the source of all the fundamental substances in your body, such as Yin, Yang, and Essence.  Your Kidney is the organ system most damaged by stress and anxiety.  The Western condition of adrenal fatigue (from stress, anxiety, overwork, etc.) correlates to a severe Kidney depletion in Chinese medicine.

Chinese medicine and acupuncture can offer a number of strategies to help someone suffering from anxiety.  Your practitioner would work by first calming your Shen using acupuncture. This is an effective first line of defense, as research has documented the positive effects that acupuncture has on brain chemistry.   It has been found that acupuncture increases the secretion of endorphins in the brain, the feel good substance associated with pain relief and runner’s high. This effect accounts for the relaxing and calming sensation patients feel both during and after their treatments.

A  practitioner of Chinese medicine might also address your anxiety by nourishing your Spleen and restoring your Kidney health.  Beyond acupuncture, there are a number of safe and effective herbal formulas that can help calm anxiety. Your practitioner can prescribe the combination of herbs that is most appropriate to your individual needs.

Food therapy and lifestyle changes may also be part of your treatment for anxiety.  This may include at-home calming strategies, avoiding stimulants such as coffee or tea, dietary changes, and breathing techniques—all of which can be effective in relieving anxiety.

This is a good question.  It’s a fair question, and you deserve an answer.  Unfortunately any practitioner who gives you a definitive answer in terms of an actual number of treatments is not being entirely truthful; they’re guessing.  For the truth is that there is no correct answer—everyone heals at their own pace.

In addition, a good practitioner should never tell you on the phone how many treatments they even think it will take for you to feel better.  We don’t have a problem with an acupuncturist estimating, or even recommending a number of sessions as a course of treatment, but they have no business doing so until they’ve at least seen you in their office.

The issue here is that there are a number of variables in the healing equation, including the following:

-How long you’ve had the condition.  If your elbow has been bothering you for twenty years, you most likely will take longer than the person who tweaked their elbow last week.

-The nature of your complaint or illness.   Many conditions are quickly resolved with Chinese medicine, including stress, anxiety, digestive issues, PMS, and many types of pain.  On the other hand, deep-seated chronic illnesses, such as autoimmune conditions may take much longer.

-Your general health.  We have seen many young and healthy patients seemingly heal right before our eyes in a single treatment.  However, older patients, those in really poor health, and those on numerous medications tend to need more treatments.

-Your commitment to getting better.  What you do at home in between treatments can make a huge difference in how quickly you heal.  If you implement your practitioner’s suggestions regarding dietary therapy, heating/cooling an injury, herbal formulas, and lifestyle changes, you can speed up your recovery dramatically.

So what do we tell prospective patients when they ask how many treatments they will need?  Our best answer is that acupuncture is a therapy and while some people may heal very quickly—in a session or two, others will take longer.  We advise them to give acupuncture a fair try, say three or four treatments, to see how they’re improving.  At that point, we will have a better idea of how many treatments they will ultimately need to heal completely.

While a number of health condition may cause you to be dizzy, not all dizziness is the same.  The severity of symptoms can run the whole gamut from disabling to mildly annoying.  People who suffer from vestibular (inner ear) problems may describe their dizziness as the sensation of the whole room spinning, or vertigo, accompanied by severe balance problems.  However, someone who has low blood pressure may feel temporarily light headed when they stand up. To make things worse, dizziness may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, sweating, and even fainting.

According to the principles of Chinese medicine, dizziness is usually classified as some kind of wind.  Wind is a tricky pathogen, in that it tends to move around (making you dizzy).  It usually affects the upper part of your body, much like the wind outdside, and its effects are intermittant, just like strong gusts on a windy day.  In Chinese medicine, wind is frequently the diagnosis not only in cases of dizziness, but also with tremors, some headaches, numbness, high or low blood pressure, and even itchy skin conditions.

The root cause of wind is almost always a deficiency of some vital substance in your body, such as Qi, Blood, or Yin.  For example, anemia is considered a Blood deficiency in Chinese medicine and is a common cause of mild dizziness or light-headedness. Another example is a depletion of your body’s moistening and nourishing Yin, which can cause dizziness.  In this case, your body is like a farmer’s field that has dried out to the point where the smallest breeze will make the dust rise.

Whatever the root cause or depletion, Chinese medicine has a lot to offer to effectively treat dizziness.  The best known treatment is acupuncture, which involves the insertion of tiny needles into your body to stimulate healing.  Also effective for dizziness is scalp acupuncture, Like it sounds, scalp acupuncture entails needling acupuncture points on your scalp to affect brain function, and can be used for neurological conditions.  In many cases, Chinese herbal medicine—the use of a specific formula for a specific condition—can be effective, too. 

Some dietary and lifestyle changes that you may try to help your dizziness include:

-Skip the cocktails.  Alcohol is a neurotoxin, is dehydrating, and can aggravate your symptoms.

-Avoid hot, spicy foods, as the heat can actually make your dizziness worse.

-Avoid caffeine for the same reason.

- While you’re avoiding alcoholic drinks, be sure to drink enough water, especially in hot and dry climates or in dry indoor heating.

-Try mild physical activity to relieve your symptoms.

-When you’re dizzy, focus on a single fixed point.  This gives your brain more visual information to calm the dizziness and help you keep your balance.

-Get up slowly.  This is helpful for those of you with low blood pressure, as well as those who suffer from inner ear problems.  By rising slowly, you give your body and brain time to catch up with the change of position

-Review your medications.  Dizziness or light headedness can be a side effect of a wide variety of drugs.  Talk with your doctor or pharmacist to see if any of the meds you’re taking could be causing your dizziness.

-In all cases, see your doctor if your dizziness is accompanied by chest pain, rapid heart beat, numbness, or blurred vision.

One of the most common conditions that we see in the clinic is something called a Liver and Spleen disharmony. This just means that strong emotions are interfering with the digestive process. If you’ve ever had a huge emotional upset that has ruined your appetite or given you an upset stomach, you know what I’m talking about. A Liver and Spleen disharmony is similar, but it usually works in slow motion.

Your Chinese Liver is an organ system that oversees the smooth flow of everything in your body, including digestion, bowels, circulation, menses, and emotions. Stress, anger, or an emotional upheaval can cause the Liver system to stagnate. When this happens, one of the first things it affects is your Chinese Spleen, which is your organ of digestion.

In the clinic this pattern is a player in many, if not most, conditions affecting our patients. It can manifest in conditions such as Irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, depression, insomnia, PMS, fatigue, and even obesity, to name just a few.

So what exactly is happening when you are stressed out, upset or worried? Your stomach is a muscle, and when you’re in the emotional wringer, that stomach muscle contracts, making it difficult for you to digest much of anything.

Why you have this reaction goes back to the fight or flight response you experience when you’re stressed or feel threatened. Your body responds by shutting down those functions that aren’t necessary to run or fight, including digestion. The idea is that in ancient times, feeling threatened was a short-lived affair—only as long as it took to chase off or kill the wild animal lingering in front of your cave.

Today, however, many of us are in a constant state of fight or flight due to the unrelenting stress of our daily lives—whether it’s a cranky boss, a sick kid, a late mortgage payment, or having too much to do. Constant emotional upheaval doesn’t give your body time to recover its equilibrium, and your digestion stays on the back burner, unable to do its job effectively.

What can you do to get your digestion back on track and working efficiently? The most important thing to know is that it’s a two-step process: getting your stress and emotions under control, while you pamper your digestive tract. Acupuncture can be extremely effective for this kind of imbalance. In fact, many of our patients who have recovered from this kind of pattern never dreamt that they could ever feel good again. Two things you can do for yourself:

-Calm down and chill out. This may seem to be the most obvious, but is often the hardest thing to do. Find time during your day to relax; whether you take a yoga class, meditate, go fishing, or take a stroll in the woods. Without decompressing, your emotions and digestion will not have an opportunity to recover.

-Pamper your digestion. This means sitting down and actually eating a meal—not something on the run in between meetings or kids’ sporting events. This also means eating good food, fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains and a little protein. Cooking most of your food makes it easier to digest—raw foods take more digestive effort to break down. The same goes for very cold foods; when you drink or eat something frozen, it uses up a lot of your digestive energy. Chewing your food and enjoying the dining process will help you digest your meal more effectively.

Myth:  Acupuncture works only because of the placebo effect. Actually, there’s a lot more going on during acupuncture than just the placebo effect.  Scientific studies have documented the effects of acupuncture on brain chemistry.  When an acupuncture needle is inserted, it stimulates your peripheral nerves (those far from your brain), which sends impulses to your brain to release endorphins.  Endorphins are chemicals that act as your body’s natural pain relievers.  Those endorphins work much like the drugs morphine and codeine, but are completely natural and more effective in reducing pain.  Endorphins can also have the effect of producing euphoric feelings, modulating appetite, and releasing sex hormones.  In addition, at the site where the needle was inserted, researchers have found that white blood cell count increases up to 40%.

Many detractors of acupuncture say that the calm setting, empathetic practitioners, and relaxing nature of acupuncture cause patients to think they feel better after a treatment (like that’s a bad thing).  I would agree that these elements absolutely help someone who is sick, worried, and in pain, especially if you compare an acupuncture treatment to some of the painful, impersonal,  and invasive treatments associated with Western medicine.  However, the science is there as well – acupuncture works by causing physiologic changes in your body.

Myth:  Acupuncture is sketchy.  Isn’t it performed by aging hippies and tie dyed new agers?  Uh, you actually need to be licensed by your state’s Board of Medical Examiners to perform acupuncture.  Licensed acupuncturists complete a three year accredited master’s program, take a national exam, and are licensed by their state.  Chiropractors and physicians who perform acupuncture must also take some additional coursework in acupuncture in order to perform it on patients.  As for the aging hippie thing, if they’ve taken the coursework (which is grueling!), put in their time in the clinic, and passed the exams, you might find one or two practicing acupuncture.

Myth:  Poking needles in people is the only thing an acupuncturist does.  Actually, acupuncture is only one modality under the large umbrella of Chinese medicine.  Many acupuncturists are also nationally certified Chinese herbalists.  Beyond herbs and acupuncture, a practitioner may use food therapy, heat, cupping (a kind of suction), different kinds of bodywork, Qi Gong (like Tai Qi), and lifestyle changes to help the healing process.

Myth:  My doctor will think I’m crazy for trying acupuncture.  Currently, many large hospitals offer acupuncture to their patients.  Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have conducted research documenting the benefits of acupuncture for arthritis. Many doctors are strong supporters of using acupuncture as a complementary therapy for their patients. On a personal level, I have a number of doctors and other western health care providers who frequently refer patients to me.  I believe that many western doctors embrace acupuncture, especially when other treatments have failed.  Admittedly, there are certain medical conditions that should absolutely be treated through western medicine, but for many conditions, acupuncture is an appropriate treatment.  If your doctor gives you negative feedback about acupuncture, chances are that they’ve never even tried it.

Your hair is constantly falling out and regrowing, and most people lose an average of 50 to 100 hairs a day. However, if you’re noticing an increase in shedding or if your hair is noticeably thinning, you’re probably losing more.

Your hair grows in cycles during which it actively grows for about two to three years and then rests for a couple of months. During the growth phase, a hair generally grows about 1/2 inch per month. At the end of the resting phase, the strand of hair falls out and a new strand begins to grow. Noticeable thinning of your hair is due to an above average number of hairs resting at the same time.

In Chinese medicine, the Kidney organ system governs the hair on your head. The Kidney system is also responsible for body functions related to growth, fertility, menopause, and aging. As we get older, your Kidneys become weaker, and one way that weakness is reflected is through the health of your hair. Hair loss, gray hair, and unhealthy hair are all signs that your Kidneys could be a little stronger.

In addition, your Kidney system is one of the Chinese organs most deeply damaged by stress. The adrenal glands sit right on top of your Kidneys, and in Western medicine, adrenal fatigue is the direct result of unrelenting stress. Extreme levels of stress can cause your hair to prematurely go into its resting phase, causing hair loss and thinning.

Beyond stress, there are other reasons that your hair may be falling out. Among them:

Poor diet. Remember the season of Survivor (Australia) when Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s hair fell out by the handful? The contestants didn’t have anything to eat, and Elizabeth’s hair began to fall out as a result of poor nutrition. Extremely low calorie diets or a diet low in protein can cause your hair to fall out.

Hormones. Many women complain that once they went through menopause their hair became much thinner. The decrease in estrogen after menopause can be another culprit in hair loss. In addition, an imbalance in your thyroid hormones can raise the levels of a chemical called DHT, which causes your hair to fall out faster than normal.

Low iron. Iron deficiency is a common cause of hair loss. Low levels of iron decreases the level of red blood cells necessary for healthy hair follicles. Also, it’s possible to have low iron stores (ferritin), but not be anemic.

Medications. Some antidepressants, diuretics, and certainly chemotherapy can cause hair loss.

Health conditions. Scalp infections, frequently fungal in nature, can cause your hair to drop. In addition, diseases such as diabetes and lupus can be associated with hair loss.

Hair treatments. This one may seem like a no-brainer, but how you treat your hair can have a direct impact on the health of your mane. Harsh chemicals, tight braids or pigtails, and brushing too vigorously can damage your hair and scalp and cause your hair to fall out.

So what can you do if your hair is falling out? Make sure your diet is sufficient in protein and iron, to nourish your body and hair. Don’t supplement with iron unless you’re sure your levels are low. Check with your doctor if you think low iron or hormone imbalances might be to blame. Also ask your doctor about adjusting the dosage or changing your prescription if hair loss is a side effect of any medication you’re taking. If stress is the problem, work on coping using Yoga, meditation, visualization, acupuncture, and any other relaxation techniques that work for you.

A practitioner of Chinese medicine would deal with your hair loss by strengthening your Kidney system through acupuncture and the use of herbs. A common herbal formula for hair loss and premature graying is called Seven Treasure Formula for Beautiful Whiskers, which nourishes the Kidney and benefits the hair.