Jeepney Press Acupuncture

Acupuncture Health Points

By Marnie Chan

Acupuncture has always been the last resort for most people in most cases when it comes to people's health, never the go-to priority. In North America, acupuncture is often used when western medicine has failed.

Many can be cited as benefits of acupuncture. Fans of the practice claim it has eliminated chronic pain like nagging back pain, helped them get pregnant & helped for a less laborious delivery, calmed their troubled minds and soothed depressed moods, and got rid of long time illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, and a long laundry list of diseases.

A childhood friend was medically diagnosed with vasculitis - an inflammation of blood vessels. Skin discoloration [purpura/petechiae], which first started on his legs, have already spread all over his upper torso including his arms. He was prescribed steroids among other pharmaceutical drugs. But nothing worked for him. He was always having difficult breathing. Severe episodes of whole body itching pestered him days and nights. He was sleepless [of course, one of the hallmark adverse effects of steroids is insomnia]. And the skin discoloration was already enveloping most of his body. Then, in an apparent act of desperation, he called and resorted to acupuncture.

Through the use of needles [no, they are not the same needles you get your flu shot from—these are much finer, about the width of a single strand of hair], acupuncture stimulates the balance and ow of Qi [pronounced chee]. Qi, when either deficient, excessive, or obstructed results in illness. Acupuncture strives to balance [homeostasis] this energy by treating both the root cause as well as the symptoms. For instance, acupuncture stimulates the release of hormones like endorphins to encourage the body's natural healing process to ward off pain.

Oh, and my childhood friend you ask? It took four sessions of acupuncture - each lasting about 30 minutes - to completely resolve his health concern. In fact, when he came back for his second session alone, the skin discoloration has signi cantly diminished. All signs and symptoms pointing to vasculitis have vanished after his fourth session. [And this is a note worthy side e ect. It was never intended, but it happened anyway-- he sheepishly claimed that his sessions also cured his erectile dysfunction which he tried to hide under the rug.]

Marnie Chan / Jeepney Press