How did my interest in Acupuncture started and a trip to a museum

My fascination with Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture

I looove Acupuncture and since the month of October is Acupuncture awareness month, I want to chat about Acupuncture and all nice things.

How did I get myself into this profession called Acupuncture?
It is funny but some people will meet me for their first appointment and say either "Ooohhh, you are not Chinese", or say "You are a girl!" So this still makes me believe that there is a misconception on Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and I would like to clear it right at the start.

Since I was little I had always wanted to do something in the medical field. When I was in the then standard 9, I spent some time with a general practitioner to get an insight into what "every day" was like. I have a bit of ADD and find it boring that every second person with a cold received the same medication. In fact, I am grateful for that experience I had. The GP was in Bloemfontein. I was supposed to spend a week with him, but after 3 days I phoned my dad and said: "Please, please come and fetch me earlier!!!"

I then decided to spend time with a homoeopath after my experience with the GP. What fascinated me was how the homoeopath could pick up on imbalances in the body and every person was treated uniquely and differently. At that time, there were no courses on acupuncture in South Africa, or I would have “sampled” that too.

After my 6 years studying Homoeopathy, a course on Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine became available. And I was ready to be “first in the queue". What I love about this medicine is that you can understand where the patient is in terms of their physical as well as their emotional aspects.

As a side note - in my ebook I explain how the 5 Elements impact our lives every day and how we can make that work for us.

Furthermore, if the person did not get appropriate treatment, we learnt where they would end up. My bit of ADD has served me well, as I am always searching for the quickest most effective method of natural treatment to help patients get better quickly and maintain excellent health.

I visited the Chinese Medicine museum in Shanghai last year. It was fantastic. Just the greatest :) I wrote about this in a previous post. There are supercool photos. You can access it at my blog: http://askdrdebbie.com/2016/10/30/3000-year-old-experience/

Why are more medical doctors not referring patients for acupuncture treatments?

The next few paragraphs are my personal view and the purpose of this is to create more clarity. The feedback that I have received is for real - practitioners have said this!!

Statement 1.
"Do not see your acupuncturist as you will get an infection"
Ok, so if you have ever visited my rooms, you would have noticed the yellow bins - which is kinda out of the decor of the room. The reason that bin is there is that all medical waste including the acupuncture needles are discarded there. A company which specialises in disposing of the waste safely collects these once they are full.

You might have also noticed before insertion of the needle I use an alcohol swab to disinfect the area.

And thirdly all needles are brand spanking new and only used once!!

So there is no chance of getting an infection with something that is used so carefully - referred to as sterile technique.

Statement Two
"There is not enough research."
In 2017 - yes this year, The Acupuncture Evidence Project was conducted. This shows that of the 122 conditions identified, strong evidence supported the effectiveness of acupuncture for 8 conditions, moderate evidence supported the use of acupuncture for a further 38 conditions. Now don't let me even get started on how the medical profession only consider double blind controlled studies as research. They do not take into account 4000 years of clinical experience. Off my soap box for now about this one.

Read more on this project: http://www.acupuncture.org.au/Portals/0/Evidence%20study/Acupuncture%20Evidence_plain%20English%20Web%20version_17_Feb.pdf?ver=2017-02-22-171448-550

Statement 3
"We don't understand how it works,so it can't work"
I am very happy to say I don't know all the ins and outs about how my phone works, but I know it does work. From clinical experience I am comfortable to say acupuncture works for most conditions. Some conditions need extra herbs and supplements, or a change in attitude.

Also, did you know the following? Just google How does general anaesthesia work and you will see the following:
"It's not clear exactly how it works, but it's known that all anaesthetics interrupt the passage of signals along the nerves. This means that any stimulation to the body doesn't get processed or recognised by the brain." http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Anaesthetic-general/Pages/Definition.aspx . I would love for my patients who are anaesthetists to enlighten me if you now have clearer knowledge about exactly how it works.

So, research has progressed, and there are some thoughts on how acupuncture works. Here is a 5 minute video: https://youtu.be/e7548S1UisE

Ok this is all for this newsletter - I think there is a lot of information to digest.

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Have a great and healthy day
Dr Debbie

Online appointment bookings are available :https://drdebbiesmith1.cliniko.com/bookings