Hey It Is Getting Worse not Better. But You Said….

Don’t you just hate it when things don’t go the way you planned?  I know I do, however I also know that that the best laid plans…
A while back I had a patient who came to me for help in resolving a rash that seemed to get worse with each passing day.  This is a rash that she had had before and was thought to have been a reaction to taking antibiotics.  She was given acupuncture and herbs as well as a strict diet, from which she did not veer.  With some time and patience she got better and the rash completely cleared up.
Recently she is back with the same rash.  She had not been on any antibiotics and was puzzled as to why this rash was reappearing.  We went over her diet and lifestyle and I made recommendations as to what she should and could be eating and what she should not.  Well when she ate the new foods she had more outbreaks and became very upset.  She thought that the foods she was eating that were new to her were making matters worse and how could that be.  Hadn’t I told her that they were OK?
Allow to digress here for a minute or so.  In addition to speaking with her about her diet, I spoke with her about her lifestyle and pointed out to her that she has a lot of stress and no outlet.  She is also very busy, what with her family and running her household, helping with homework and you can imagine the rest.  She ignored this and tried to look past it, blaming everything on her diet.  It took a few tries but I finally made some headway and she began to understand (not totally though) that her main issue was stress and not her diet (although that needed help as well).
I patiently explained that her rash was due to the built up stress creating heat inside and looking for a way out.  The fact that it was getting worse before getting better was the acupuncture and herbs pushing out all the heat that she has inside.  She is still in denial that stress and pent up emotions could be causing all this and until the heat is fully vented and she stops making more she would continue having the rash.
I recommended that she dedicate time for herself everyday where she could relax and unwind. I told her “make it apart of her day just like sleeping, eating and breathing.”  This is something she must do.  Her initial reaction was to laugh.  “How could I do that?” she asked me.  I told her she had to find a way.
Time alone will tell what she will do and how she will incorporate this new diet and behavior into her life.  But to prevent future outbreaks and to regain balance in her life it is something she must do.
Simeon Pollock, Licensed Acupuncturist has his office in downtown Silver Spring, MD, nearby to Washington, DC.  The office is conveniently located a few blocks from the Metro’s Red Line Silver Spring Station and has ample parking in lots nearby.  Call 301-495-0303 for an appointment today.

New E-Book Available For FREE!

I recently put out an E-Book together with another acupuncturist named Kevin Doherty.  We wrote this book to explain acupuncture and Chinese medicine in terms everyone can understand.

Acupuncture can seem so foreign and strange, so mysterious.  Well in our E-Book “How To Thrive in The Modern World: A Layman’s Guide to Chinese Medicine” we break down all those barriers.

I invite you to visit my website www.wholisticfamily.com and download your FREE copy TODAY!

Enjoy!

Fall is Here. Ain’t it Great!

If you’re like me you are enjoying the beginnings of fall.  What with a nip in the air and the leaves just starting to blush, it is just glorious outside.  Go ahead and open your windows and let the sun shine in, let the clear air clear out your house.  I am sure you can sense the change in the energy.  For one I can’t look at the left over peaches and nectarines any more.  Bring on those beautiful plums (so many colors) and crisp apples and pears – YUM!
It is time to relish autumn and its bounty from pumpkins to mums to the color of the changing leaves.  Can’t you just see the fireplace ablaze warming your home while the winds blow?
However some of us also see fall allergies and the oncoming cold and flu season and wonder what type of year it will be for that.  Well I would like to invite to finally Do Something About It!  But what can I do you ask?
Well there are preventative actions we can take as well as reactive actions.  For those of you suffering from Autumn allergies there are treatments that are very effective in either eliminating the effects all together or in lessening the effects.  All of this is done without making you sleepy (well maybe just a little, the acupuncture treatments have been known to relax a person and many people have taken naps while the needles were in).  Treatments can also be designed to help prevent colds and flus while strengthening your defenses.
Don’t you want to take out some time for yourself during the week, isn’t life hectic and stressful?  This just lowers you immune system and makes you more susceptible to getting sick.  It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again but expecting different results.  Come on, try something different and help yourself feel better.  It all starts with a simple phone call to make your appointment – (301) 495-0303.

Wholistic Family Healthcare is located in Downtown Silver Spring MD, near to Washington DC, and only blocks from the Metro’s Red Line Silver Spring Station.

Would You like an Inexpensive Way to Lose Weight, Free-up Your Hips and Have Fun?

Today is June 19^th 2008 and it is the fiftieth anniversary of the hula hoop. Did you know that? Well it is! An American icon that of late has gone un-remembered.

In my office, in Silver Spring, MD, I often recommend to my patients who have hip and lower back issues that they take up hula hooping. Why? - you may ask.

Hula hooping is a fun, low impact sport. It gets all of the muscles in the low back and hip moving. These are muscles that don’t move much in most of us, as we are sedentary and do a lot of work at a computer or behind a desk.

Did you know that hula hooping is a great exercise that works all of the core muscles?

And according to Mayo Clinic physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist Edward Laskowski, M.D., “Weighted hula hoops, available at most sporting goods stores, are bigger and heavier than traditional hula hoops. You can use weighted hula hoops as one component of an overall fitness program or simply as a fun way to burn calories. In general, the bigger you are, the bigger the hoop should be. The weight of the hoop is up to you. Lighter hoops require more energy to keep them going. Heavier hoops are easier to keep going, which may lead to a longer workout. You may want to avoid using weighted hula hoops if you have a history of back problems.”

In an article that appeared in The Telegraph – an English Newspaper in 1993 - it reported “In recent trials carried out by Conrad Earnest, an exercise physiologist at the Cooper Institute for Human Performance and Nutrition Research in Dallas, it was shown that vigorous waist-circling with the Heavy Hoop for eight minutes burns as many calories - about 110 - as running an eight-minute mile. Even less strenuous hooping uses a similar amount of energy (85 calories) as you would expend on a slow 12-minute jog.”

That is pretty darn good for having fun. It is also a way to de-stress and do something with your children. One of my patients who is a grandmother and started hula hooping at my direction did so in front of her grandchildren one day. They had such a blast, she said watching her hula hoop.

I urge you to call my office and make an appointment. Let us help you get more mobility into your lower back and hips. Let us help you get healthy while having fun and becoming more able to relax.

Wholistic Family Healthcare is conveniently located near the Silver Spring Metro station in downtown Silver Spring, close to Washington, DC.

What is Wholistic Medicine?

My practice name is Wholistic Family Healthcare and I practice acupuncture, massage therapy under the umbrella term of Traditional Chinese medicine. My clinic is located in Silver Spring, MD which is close by to Washington DC. To me Chinese medicine is a Wholistic Medicine (some would spell it Holistic Medicine) and what I mean by that is that we look at a person, not the parts that hurt or are sick.

Looking at the whole person and taking into account the various aspects that make up a person is the hallmark of Chinese medicine and what wholistic medicine should be about. Here is what I mean when I say “take into account the various aspects that make up a person.” I will explain by recounting a recent patient’s success.

About two months ago a female came in complaining of having recently being diagnosed with high blood pressure. She was very upset by this because she had never had this issue before and her doctor scared her to the core and prescribed a few medications to control her blood pressure.

After having her fill out the intake forms and performing a detailed interview, which included asking about her diet, her lifestyle, her family life, her work life, what she does for fun, any illnesses, her emotional well being to name a few, I came to the conclusion that her high blood pressure was due to the onset of menopause – that’s right – menopause (a detailed explanation can be the subject of another post if there is sufficient interest).

After treating her for a little over two months with acupuncture, Chinese herbs and having the patient take her own blood pressure and chart it, she went to her doctor for a follow-up exam. The nurse got a reading of 142/78 and the doctor’s own reading was lower. The doctor was so flustered she could not even get her mouth to tell my patient the reading. According to my patient the doctor refused to chart her reading. The doctor remarked to her that her medications must be working. My patient told her that she was only taking one of the medications (I need to put in a disclaimer at this point. I am not a physician and so at no point do I ever advise a patient to take or to discontinue taking a medication prescribed by a physician) and that she was getting acupuncture. My patient reports that she then told her doctor that her acupuncturist told her that her high blood pressure was due to menopause. Her doctor responded by saying “I knew that”. My patient was just flabbergasted and exclaimed “So why didn’t you tell me that?” The doctor just did not respond.

Watch her testimonial below.

The point is that her doctor looked only at her high blood pressure and did not look at her holistically. I looked at the whole of her and saw something the doctor did not. I treated her (the person) and by treating her I treated her high blood pressure. That is Wholistic Medicine.

Do You Have a Spring in Your Step?

Well by now you should have noticed that Spring has arrived here in the Washington, DC area. The Cherry Blossoms are on the trees, the grass is growing and the temperatures are growing warmer. To me the sun seems brighter and warmer and this gives me a spring in my step. I love the Spring season.

To me Spring brings with it the hopefulness of the future, it tells me that after the darkness of winter brighter days are ahead. In Chinese medicine Spring represents the Yin transforming into Yang – more and brighter energy. This requires us to begin transforming as well.

How do I do that one may ask. Well let’s look to Chinese medicine to guide us. As we know all things are made up of yin and yang aspects. In other words everything has a flip side – coins, day/night, positive/negative, up/down, good/evil. Without one the other would not exist and so we need both for balance and existence.

A person has yin and yang aspects as well – for example the front of the body is yin and the back is yang. The inside of a person is yin and the outside is yang. Our energies both yin and yang react to the seasons and as the seasons become more yang, so it attracts our own yang. Our yang is becoming stronger and our yin is becoming weaker. The opposite is true as autumn begins and leads into winter. We need to recognize this and begin our own transformation.

In fall and winter one tends to want hot beverages, heartier food, and to stay indoors and hunker down. In spring and summer one tends to want cooler beverages, lighter fare and to get outside more and soak up the sunshine. This is in line with Chinese medicine and its holistic approach.

We should also be starting to think of ways to lighten our minds and spirits (even as the IRS tries to get in on the act and tries to lighten our wallets). I believe that activity can be great in moving us towards this goal – for instance many of us like to garden. This activity is very, pardon the pun, grounding. It connects us to simpler things and times, to the earth and its ability to renew and regenerate. Walking or bike riding, outdoor activities that speed up our hearts, causing us to breathe deeper and inhale the spring air and energies within. Cleaning and fixing up the exterior of our homes tends to lend us a feeling of clearing out and lightening the load so to speak. All these activities help nourish our yang energies and prepare us for the coming days.

In future posts I will write about changing our diets from winter fare to spring and summer fare. It is through this holistic, mind/body approach that I like to guide my patients. It is this Wholistic view, looking at the whole person that is the hallmark of my practice.  My clinic is located in Silver Spring, MD which is close by to Washington DC.

Wishing you an enlightening Spring and a bright future.

Fatigue? Don’t Allow It To Get You Down!

Recently I have been seeing patients complaining of feeling tired all the time, not being able to focus on tasks and having a hard time getting up in the morning.

Perhaps something is in the air lately; I don’t know the reason for this spate.
I do know that they don’t all suffer from fatigue for the same reasons. [Read more]

Stress in Your Workplace?

In an article published in the Business section of the Washington Post on February 19, 2008, author Vickie Elmer discussed the effects of stress in the workplace.

In her article, Ms. Elmer that if you are “angry and overloaded because your hours keep growing as the staff gradually shrinks, don’t expect much help from management.” [Read more]

In Vetro Fertilization Aided by Acupuncture

In the February 8, 2008 issue of the British Medical Journal a meta-analysis (a study that combines and analyzes data from many studies) of seven studies that involved 1,366 women who were undergoing in vitro fertilization, showed that acupuncture improved the chances of becoming pregnant by 65% when compared to women who underwent sham acupuncture.

The authors of the study do say that “It is important to note, however, that the odds ratio significantly overestimates the rate ratio in this context, in which the event (pregnancy) is relatively frequent. In absolute terms, the number needed to treat was 10, suggesting that 10 patients would need to be treated with acupuncture to bring about one additional clinical pregnancy.”

They addressed safety issues as well saying : “Safety and costs are other considerations. Two large prospective surveys of practitioners show that serious adverse events after acupuncture are rare. Among women in labour and women at various stages of pregnancy, systematic reviews and randomised trials have shown acupuncture to be safe, although limited sample sizes preclude definitive conclusions. The effects of acupuncture in early pregnancy on complications later in pregnancy and on perinatal and infant outcomes have also been investigated in one trial, and no safety concerns were detected.

You can read the complete study by clicking here.

Chinese Nutrition vs. Western Nutrition

Just last night I was discussing the topic of nutrition with a patient. This is a subject that comes up repeatedly during treatment sessions. It comes up because I ask about it at the first appointment and then again at subsequent appointments. Why, you may be thinking, does he ask about a person’s diet? The answer is because Chinese medicine demands that a practitioner evaluate all aspects of a person and one of the main influencing factors in a person’s life is the food that they eat. Chinese nutrition is vastly different from Western nutrition in many ways. In Western nutrition one size fits all (see the food pyramid below) - if your “healthy.” Try and define that! You will need to drop your pre-conceptions and open your mind in order to read further. [Read more]

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