The practice of gratitude is important for everyone but especially for those of us going through a struggle—from infertility, to chronic pain to relationship difficulties—gratitude is the one thing we can control.  So many of us have a hard time dealing with the lack of control in life and truth be told, there are so few things that anyone can truly control.  But to be grateful helps the mind shift from negative to neutral; from overwhelm to presence.  To be grateful is not to minimize the experience or to turn “bad” things into “good”.  (Gratitude is NOT blind positivity) Rather, gratitude is an acknowledgment of things that we often take for granted—eyes that allow us to see, legs that allow us to run, fresh air in our lungs, music we love, people we love, the gift of waking up in the morning and so on.  To be grateful for such things despite our struggle transforms our perspective into a more tenable reality.  Gratitude is the “yin” to hardship’s “yang” and as Taoist theory has explained for thousands of years, life is balance!

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Believe it or not, Chinese medical theory has explored infectious disease for thousands of years.  In fact, one of its classical texts, The Shang Han Lun, describes the foundational principals of how the body acquires various infections, or “wind invasions” as they are known in the literature.  The principals and theories described are still used effectively in clinical practice today!

In Chinese medical theory, flus and viruses are invasions by external pathogens.  These pathogens are described in terms of environment; instead of getting a step infections, it can be an invasion of heat, cold, wind or dampness.  Once these invasions enter the body, it goes into the following “levels”:

1. Tai Yang: This is the most superficial layer. This is the early stages of illness and are the easiest to treat.  Symptoms include sneezing, runny nose and sore throat.
2. Yang Ming: The “middle” layer. This is when a pathogen triggers a strong immune response and can cause “heat” symptoms such as fever and fatigue.  The body’s natural immunity is more activated here than in the Tai Yang.
3. Shao Yang: This is known as “half in, half out”. This happens once a virus has been lingering for a while.  Symptoms tend to come and go sporadically.  The idea is that the invasion was never fully expelled and now is lodged between the superficial and deeper (organ) layers.

This concept provides various treatment strategies for each level.  The moral of the story is to come seek treatment AS SOON as the first stages of illness begin.  Being mindful of your body is important to identify when things start to become out of balance and to address it immediately!

The post Chinese Medicine and Infectious Disease appeared first on Michigan Associates of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine.

Wow.  These days, life is hectic and filled with fear, anxiety and grief for so many of us.  Just as we were coming back to life from the pandemic, the world seems to have exploded and we find ourselves connected to the news and reading heartbreaking stories nonstop.  This practice has a detrimental effect on our nervous systems.  Each person manages stress and grief in different ways and it can manifest as insomnia, headaches, irritability, depression and withdrawal.  First, we want to send love and peace to you and those you love.  Next, let acupuncture be a part of your self preservation.

In Chinese medical theory, there is no separation between the body and spirit and therefore relaxing the body is equally tied to relaxing the heart.  Acupuncture has a strong effect on the nervous system and can help in this process of relaxation.  Ear acupuncture is used for this goal, specifically the NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association) protocol.  In addition to traditional acupuncture, the NADA protocol has a strong effect on the nervous system and really helps to calm the body.  Per the NADA website, the protocol has been proven to: “increase calmness and lead to better sleep, reduce agitation, provide relief from stress and emotional trauma and promotes a discovery of inner quiet and strength”.  Its easy to feel helpless and lost in the chaos but acupuncture can be a great anchor and help you through a difficult time.

The post Acupuncture For Difficult Times appeared first on Michigan Associates of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine.

As the days are shorter and fall is winding down, most Michiganders are physically and emotionally preparing for winter.  Boosting the immune system is important during this time of the year, especially in the wake of Covid, flu and RSV.  While diet, exercise and good rest is always an important piece of this puzzle, Chinese Herbal Medicine can also be used to help support immunity. There are several well known Chinese herbs that are used in cooking and can be found at the local grocery store.  These include garlic, ginger, cinnamon, scallion, cardamon and miso.  Cooking with these herbs on a regular basis can help boost immunity and even treat the early stages of colds and viruses.

Miso soup is a version of a common Chinese herbal formula (Cong Chi Tang) that can be used in early stages of a cold.  (when just starting to feel a little more tired, a little more congested and a tickle in the throat.)  The classic formula is made up of just 2 herbs—fermented soybean and scallion.  These two herbs are used to expel the pathogen from the body and support the body’s defense (immune) qi.  In practical use, make sure to add a plentiful amount of fresh scallions!  The spicy flavor helps to “expel wind pathogens” (which translates to the virus, in Chinese medical terms).  See below for a classic Miso Soup recipe.

Cinnamon twigs are also an important Chinese herb to use during cold and flu season.  Use it daily in your coffee or tea and increase the dose once any mild cold symptoms begin.  Enjoy!

If you are looking for a medicinal formula, Chinese herbs are most commonly prescribed by an acupuncturist in the form of tinctures, tea pills, capsules or granules. These formulas are made up of a combination of herbs and are the most effective means of strengthening immunity to lessen the severity and duration of any infection. These herbs are dispensed at our clinic and are often utilized during the fall and winter seasons for prevention and reduction.

BASIC MISO SOUP 

1/2 cup wakame or kombu, cooked and cut into small pieces.

2-3 tablespoons miso

1 1/2 cups chopped vegetables (see options below)

4 cups water (soup stock or seaweed/soak in water)

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Sauté vegetables along with seaweed. Add water and bring to a scald.  Reduce heat to low and simmer covered 15  minutes.  Cream miso in a little broth, return to soup. Bring soup back to scald and remove from heat. Garnish. Serves 4-6.

Vegetables:  Daikon, leek, onion, burdock root, eggplant, mushrooms, turnips, carrot, cabbage, potatoes, spinach, lotus root, sweet potatoes, bean sprouts, wild vegetables, chrysanthemum, tofu, wheat gluten, and seaweeds.

Basic Miso Soup recipe courtesy of Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford

The post Using Chinese Herbs during Cold and Flu Season appeared first on Michigan Associates of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine.

Are you feeling out of Balance? 

Feeling run down and as if you are getting a cold?

Have a stiff neck, sore low back or tight muscles?

Suffer from allergies that are acting up?

Under stress, feeling anxious or having a difficult time relaxing?

If you answered yes to any of these questions (or have other symptoms of concern) – and are thinking about going to an Urgent Care – reconsider! Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine can help!

Acupuncture and TCM is an effective and swift way to restore and quickly recover from immediate health care issues that regularly present themselves. This natural medicine promotes and strengthens the body’s ability to heal – naturally and within a short period of time.

How does this work? Acupuncture influences our bodies own healing potential through balancing our life force energy (Qi). When our qi energy is off balance, we may feel tired or run down or even irritable and short fused. We may have acute symptoms such as chills, body aches and digestive distress or chronic health issues that have gotten worse.

Call us today!

Come in for an  Acupuncture session or two to support your body getting back on track and headed in the right direction. Acupuncture strengthens and helps the body recover quickly and effectively, without masking symptoms!

Like and Urgent Care – We have clinic hours 7 days a week and 4 evenings a week. Our team of Acupuncturists work together and you can feel comfortable seeing any one of us to get the coordinated care you need!

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This exercise increases blood flow to the pelvic organs, including the uterus and ovaries.  This exercise can be done alone or with a partner.

1. Locate the femoral artery – which is located just beneath the crease in the groin area, between the thigh and the lower abdomen.  It is where the outer area of the pubic bone meets the crease in the upper thigh.  This artery has branches to the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries.
2. When you find the femoral artery, you will feel a strong pulsing sensation beneath your fingertips.
3. Apply pressure to the artery.
4. Count to 30 seconds when you do this and release your hold on the artery.
5. Repeat this three times on each side of your leg.
6. This is performed only after the completion of the menstrual cycle until ovulation (or transfer), not in the 2nd half of your cycle.

This exercise should not be performed if you are or might be pregnant.  In addition, if you are at risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, circulatory problems or have a history of stroke or detached retina, do not perform this exercise.

The post Femoral Artery Massage – a great tool for fertility appeared first on Michigan Associates of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qi energy is our life force and gives life to our body. Every organ has qi and oversees different body functions. At times, one or more organ systems get out of balance.  The Spleen qi, which oversees our digestion, gets weakened over time.  When our Spleen Qi is weakened, we will often see poor digestion and food assimilation.

The most common symptom of spleen qi deficiency is fatigue (especially after eating), In addition, spleen qi deficiency may manifest with loose stools or diarrhea, pale complexion, cold hands and feet, easy bruising, craving sweets, and low blood pressure.  As the spleen qi becomes weakened, fluid and food accumulate and turns into dampness – which, like a damp day, makes us feel heavy and sluggish. Once it accumulates, our digestive fire becomes impaired and further accumulation occurs. This becomes a vicious cycle with the spleen qi becoming too weak to transform and transport the dampness and the dampness keeps the spleen qi from recuperating its strength.

Foods to Avoid when our digestion is weakened. 

• Avoid cold, chilled foods and beverages – especially right out of the refrigerator. Serve water and other beverages without ice – at room temperature.
• Avoid an excess amount of raw vegetables – especially in the winter/cooler months. Raw vegetables, when eaten, should be served at room temperature. Steam all vegetables that you may normally serve raw.
• Avoid damp creating foods; including dairy products and ice cream.
• Avoid fruit juices which have a high sugar content.
• Avoid Refined Carbohydrates such as white flour products. These simple starches are converted to glucose after ingestion and turn into sugars in our body.
• Avoid junk food, caffeine, tobacco, sodas and sweeteners.

Foods to Nourish the Spleen Qi

• Vegetables such as winter squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, turnips, leeks, onion, scallions, parsnips, yam, cabbage and beets.
• Grains and legumes such as millet, corn, brown rice, garbanzo beans, peas, black beans, lentil, oats, quinoa, spelt, brown rice and amaranth.
• Organic, hormone and mercury free beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, fish, eggs.
• Soups and stews are wonderful additions to the diet.
• Goat milk products.
• Fruits such as cherry, raisins, date, figs and apples.
• Sweeteners: stevia, rice syrup, molasses, barley malt, and cinnamon.

General Eating Tips

• Eat foods that are light and easy to digest.
• Take digestive enzymes with hard to digest meals.
• Do not drink beverages with meals.
• Reduce worry – excessive worry damages the spleen qi.
• Avoid eating late at night, over or under eating.
• Smell your food before you begin eating & chew food well
• Eat at regular intervals & in a calm atmosphere
• Add lemon or lime juice to drinking water.

The post Preserving your Digestion with Traditional Chinese Medicine appeared first on Michigan Associates of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine.

Considering I get this question every single time I see a new patient, I wanted to write it down….

Explanation # 1 – in TCM Terms:

Through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture is all about balance.  The theory is that all the meridians in the body are balanced & healthy.  But in the real world, balance is always precarious.  During our intake we will get a sense of all the symptoms a patient is having and then will use our diagnostic tools of feeling the pulse and looking at the tongue.  All this is done to find out which internal organ & meridian is in EXCESS and which is DEFICIENT.  Then we go in along those meridians and balance them by moving the excess energy back to the deficient meridians.  A beautiful self regulating system.

Explanation #2 – in Western Medicine Terms:

There is another way though that I like to explain acupuncture that is a bit more concrete for the western medicine mindset in our culture.  Imagine when you get either a bug bite or a scrape.  Irritating at first but in a few days, it’s completely gone and you’re healed!  Like magic!  Well that’s the magic of the nervous system & the immune system working together.  It’s the body’s amazing capacity to heal itself.  Acupuncture uses this magic to signal to the brain to start the healing process.  During the acupuncture treatment we essentially create tiny sterile wounds.  The needles are clean and there’s no medication inside them.  So it’s just the smallest poke that tells the brain that something is there that shouldn’t be.  The brain’s response is to release neurochemicals like endorphins & serotonin to keep the body in homeostasis.  Then the immune system chemicals get released like antibodies, macrophages, and neutrophils.  Cells called fibroblasts work together to repair the tissues & collagen is called in to support in strength and durability of the healing skin.  Again, it’s a magical cascade of events that our body’s do naturally!  So acupuncture is simply initiating the body’s own innate capacity for healing.

I LOVE this way of describing it because it’s our body’s own capacity to heal that allows acupuncture to work.  It’s nothing outside ourselves.  The magic comes from within!

The post How does acupuncture work!? appeared first on Michigan Associates of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine.

I want to preface this blog post with a disclaimer: I believe that Western medicine is the best in the world for diagnostics and emergency medical treatment. As a practitioner of Chinese medicine, we have our own diagnostic tools, but we don’t take x-rays, blood work, CT scans, and other measures that could prove life-saving. I often tell my patients that the best healthcare is a combination of Eastern and Western medicine. Western medicine usually works faster than herbal medicine, but can come with side effects. In emergency medicine, faster is going to be better. Chronic conditions and non-emergency acute health issues can be treated with TCM without the side effects of Western medications. There are always trade-offs in life!

With that said, I wanted to share a recent self-healing process. An unusual circumstance occurred for me this past month. I developed a tickle in my throat, which by itself is not that unusual. I’ve had to clear my throat of phlegm, mainly in the morning, most of my life. But this need to clear my throat was going on for three days.

The frequent throat clearing moved to a light cough, like my bronchioles were being tickled. I wasn’t sure what to make of it because I had no other symptoms. I tested negative for Covid three days in a row and I had no runny nose or congestion. I felt fine other than a light, dry cough.

A few days later, the cough became productive and I could see the color of phlegm getting darker. I thought to myself, “Well, this looks like it’s turning into an infection.” I decided to start on some strong antibiotic Chinese herbs to clear up what in TCM is considered heat in the lungs (or infection). I took those herbs for about four days and the color lightened until it became clear.

But the cough persisted with light-colored mucus. I then changed formulas to dry the damp in the lungs and promote the movement of Lung Qi downward (instead of upward which causes coughing). I took those herbs for about 5-6 days and the phlegm cleared up significantly. That left me with an occasional alternating dry and slightly wet cough that was more reactive to laughing or talking too much. At that point, I needed to change the formula to strengthen my lungs, direct Qi downward, and continue to dislodge and dry the residual phlegm.

The last symptom after everything else cleared up was losing my voice for a few days. Again, I took some herbs and rested my voice. I am now symptom-free two weeks after the initial onset of symptoms. The beauty of herbal treatment is its specificity – I was able to treat each specific symptom as it presented and update my herbal regimen as my symptoms changed, keeping me in tune with my body and leaving me free of side effects like drowsiness that sometimes come with more cure-all cold medicines.

The take-home message is that Chinese medicine can directly treat symptoms that, over time, can resolve internal medicine issues. But there are of course situations that would be best handled by seeing your primary care doctor. I was completely ready to see my primary care doctor if there was no improvement in color and amount of phlegm, or intensity and frequency of cough. I was seeing improvement in each of those issues, but acknowledge it likely took longer to resolve than it might have with antibiotics, an inhaler, or possibly steroids and an x-ray. For me personally, I prefer to use those measures in more severe circumstances.

We have wonderful formulas at our disposal to treat viruses and seasonal allergies. Acupuncture in combination with herbs can be even more effective. It’s always good to know you have options in life! Chinese medicine is not only effective for pain, but wonderful for non-emergency acute and/or chronic health issues as well.

The post When the healer needs to health thyself! appeared first on Michigan Associates of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, no matter what is being treated, always treats the symptoms.  As an acupuncturist, the diagnosis is of little importance when compared to a woman’s menstrual cycle, PMS and other hormonal symptoms.  In this manner, PCOS is NOT treated the same amongst each woman.  This allows the acupuncturist to formulate a specific treatment plan for each woman—including diet, supplements, acupuncture treatment and Chinese herbs.  Treating PCOS with Chinese medicine is like orchestrating a symphony—making sure the hormones work in concert and with the proper timing!  To this end, it must be understood that the treatment of PCOS is not a quick and easy road.  It takes time to regulate hormones, make dietary changes and re-adjust lifestyle practices.  The truth is that investing the time to regulate PCOS symptoms not only benefits fertility, it supports the health of the women for the rest of her life!

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