Three new interns start at Stroger

Mary Thurmer, Misty Blomquist and Erica Perez joined Greer and I in treating 34 pain patients today. We have moved to scheduling 1st time patients for 1/2 hr. initial intake to establish the Pattern of Imbalance, with an automatic 1/2 hour, 6th visit review and re-evaluation. Another Dr. took advantage of our services for recalcitrant neck pain, which responded quickly from 4 to 0. Of our 7 new patients, one presented with blood sugar over 300,and terrible leg pain from dia etic neuropathy. Both lowered dramatically following Girdle Meridian Therapy. We are ramping up patient instruction in Qi Gong and Korean Hand Therapy as Carry Out Therapy to speed patient recovery.

No Pain Is Safe

Five of our 25 pain patients were new this week at Stroger Hospital's Acupuncture Pain Clinic. One had chronic migraines. One was a young woman 20 weeks pregnant with back pain so bad she needed a walker to steady her weak and throbbing right leg. 3 press tacks on her right ear shut down the pain immediately. The migraine will have to see the benefit of 6 needles between the toes and hot, mustard powder foot baths. Our Russian testicular and prostate pain patient skipped out with no pain after dermal needles were placed on the auricular prostate point, along with electro-stim on the Foot Shaoyin Meridian. And finally, a woman with stage 4 bone cancer, and excruciating rib pain that wrapped half around her body brought her friend and herself to tears from the total relief 4 dermal needles placed on auricular shenmen, liver, and rib points on the left ear provided. In time we will document changes to the autonomic nervous system with Heart Rate Variability monitoring before and after treatment for hard data in addition to patient feedback. We have doubled our NUHS interns from 2 to 4.

Carry-out Acucare comes to Cook

Our delivery menu of acu-therapies at Cook County's Stroger Hospital Pain Clinic is expanding. It started primarily with the use of needling body points,and where appropriate, adding electro-stimulation to key points. The next evolution was the employment of the Ear, Scalp and Hand micro-systems either on a stand-alone or auxiliary basis. This addition appeared to both accelerate the treatment's analgesic effect and in some cases reduce treatment time. There is another advantage, in that some of these Micro-system somatotopes can, with instruction, be self-stimulated by the patient, lengthening their salubrious effect. This expands the role of the acupuncturist even more in the area of teacher, as well as "treater". Moving even more progressively in this direction, modalities such as Medical Qigong and Sotai Corrective Exercises can be taught, complete with take-home handouts, to both enlist the patient in their participation in self-healing, as well as expanding both the scope and effect of natural therapeutics. Common herbal supplements can be added to the follow-on instructions. Such is the case with an acute prostatitis case where one point on the Liver Meridian mediated the pain to zero, and the proven over-the-counter herbal remedy combination of Saw Palmetto,Stinging Nettle, Pygium and Zinc was recommended. Evidence such as pain, urine flow, ease of urination and completeness of emptying will monitor effectiveness. With this shift in focus, with time spent having the patient employ carry-out therapies between shorter duration, in-clinic therapies, better outcomes are anticipated in terms of both rapidity and resolution of recoveries.

Carving an elephant

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a famous artist who would carve elephants out of boulders. He would take his helpers down to the river, and walk along the shore, looking for boulders that would have elephants contained in them. He would then have his helpers drag them back to his studio, where he would work with his hammer and chisel. He explain that he was knocking "not elephant" off the boulder, to reveal the elephant. We do the same with the art of acupuncture.

Last Thursday a patient presented in acute pain. She was hyperventilating and screaming my name. She was having difficulty breathing, and near passing out. I attempted Lu 7, CV 22, and several ear points. She got worse. We got a wheel chair and transported her to ER. The first of the several hundred patients treated in the last several weeks with varying degrees of success, some extraordinary. It is good for our humility. We are facilitators. No more. And we are defined as much by our failures as our successes.

Exploring Microsystem Efficacy in treatment of pain

"Form follows Function"
With the doubling of intakes at the Cook County Hospital Pain Clinic last week,the use of more acupuncture modalities was explored, with the motive of discovering the advantages that the specific microsystemws of scalp and auricular acupuncture might have over macrosystem acupoints.

AURICULAR Acupuncture
3 patients were selected for minimally invasive auricular tberapy today who were 1st time patients, needle-phobic, or had eaten no breakfast. Pain reduction was comparable to or greater than macrosystem points.

Scalp Acupuncture
2 new patients with acute pain, who were open to tbe stronger stimulation and often more rapid pain reduction and function restoration afforded by scalp acupuncture, as well as 2 existing patient who had limited respnse to previous macrosystem point stimulation, received scalp acupuncture, with significant pain reduction, and in some cases, remarkable improvement in movement ability.