In Chinese Medicine, the relationship between the Organs and the Sense Organs has always been a mystery to me, and an inspiration. I have learned that developmental disorders exhibited in kids, is a function of Kidney Energy. And have found that treating youngsters with autism, ADHD, and other developmental issues is best addressed from the external opening of the Kidney Meridian, the ear, and Auricular Therapy.
The same goes for the eyes, the external opening to the Liver Meridian. Years back I had a printer from Russia who was not able to pass his eye exam for his driver's license. It turns out he had been exposed to the nuclear fallout from the nearby Chernobyl reactor when it melted down. After his Liver Meridian was treated, through the controlling influence of the Lung Meridian, he easily passed the eye exam and got his driver's license.
Fast forward to this past week, and a Pain Clinic patient not responding to acupuncture for severe, deep pain at the base of her tongue. So bad that she could barely eat or talk. Yesterday she told me that her doctor had just found out she had "a hole in her heart". Hearing that, I remembered that the tongue is the opening to Heart Energy. And once more my therapeutic approach was tweaked in a way that could never be realized through the diagnostic filters of more conventional medicine. Now the challenge is to just find a way through, bringing together the many options opened up by that unique insight.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Saturday, March 26, 2016
The Sacred Turtle Swims Into a Cook County Hospital Pain Clinic
It was at the 200,000 member-strong World Federation of Acupuncture Societies Meeting in Houston 2 years ago Halloween that I first got a glimpse of the stunning power of Sacred Turtle Abdominal Acupuncture. They were one of 60 different presentations by Doctors from all over the world (next blog I'll talk about the Brazilian Doctor's research presentation on ear bleeding to reduce rheumatoid pain, I promise!).
Italian men can be quite dashing. These Italian Docs, with their thick Tuscan accents, dapper haircuts and stylish couture we're no different. What was different was the stunning videos of their 2 patients, one with severe cervicalgia, the other sporting a nastty, angry incision from a recent knee replacement. In a matter of minutes these two Doctors tag teamed their way to an amazing demonstration of how one needle twirled in the turtle's neck area on the belly of the neck pattient, and the lower right flipper on the knee patient's belly, to the crowded rooms amazement and disbelief, got both patients mobilized in a matter of minutes.
Fast forward to Chicago, this past Tuesday. A 265 lb. white male in his 50's limps in to the acupuncture clinic with his mother. His speech is thick, his left hand knurled and twisted. The by-product of right-sided head trauma, and a brain bleed a few years back. Sprawled back on the recliner in my office, he could barely raise his left leg, dorso-flex his left foot, raise his left arm, or open his tightly clenched left hand. To the amazement of the for of us, mom, son, my intern and I, foot, leg, arm and hand were working, with varying degrees of ability, rapidly following the placement and twirling of 2 needles each, placed in the upper and lower flippers of the turtle envisioned on his belly.
Italian men can be quite dashing. These Italian Docs, with their thick Tuscan accents, dapper haircuts and stylish couture we're no different. What was different was the stunning videos of their 2 patients, one with severe cervicalgia, the other sporting a nastty, angry incision from a recent knee replacement. In a matter of minutes these two Doctors tag teamed their way to an amazing demonstration of how one needle twirled in the turtle's neck area on the belly of the neck pattient, and the lower right flipper on the knee patient's belly, to the crowded rooms amazement and disbelief, got both patients mobilized in a matter of minutes.
Fast forward to Chicago, this past Tuesday. A 265 lb. white male in his 50's limps in to the acupuncture clinic with his mother. His speech is thick, his left hand knurled and twisted. The by-product of right-sided head trauma, and a brain bleed a few years back. Sprawled back on the recliner in my office, he could barely raise his left leg, dorso-flex his left foot, raise his left arm, or open his tightly clenched left hand. To the amazement of the for of us, mom, son, my intern and I, foot, leg, arm and hand were working, with varying degrees of ability, rapidly following the placement and twirling of 2 needles each, placed in the upper and lower flippers of the turtle envisioned on his belly.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Answer me this....
Recently I asked 100 patients 4 questions. In Spanish. And in English.
The questions involved their acupuncture experience in terms of Courtesy; Communication; Pain Reduction; and Continuity of care.
They could choose from 3 answers: a) Above Average; b) Average; c) Below Average. There was also a space below for additional comments regarding any areas of dissatisfaction. It was the first time in my 4 years at the hospital that I stepped out of the box of 100 patient visits a week to actually get a birds-eye view of patient satisfaction. And a valuable tool that I had left inside the door when I exited a 25 year career in advertising and P.R..
Feedback is not something that should be relegated to bats. To keep them from crashing into objects in their path. Our questions asked of those we serve can add trajectory and velocity to our flight as well. And make our navigation more precise and unerring.
This experiment reminded me of a training I did in Constructive Living Therapy with it's founder David Reynolds about the same time I began my Acupuncture Study. He requested that we ask 3 questions regarding our key relationships:
What have I received from you?
What have I given you?
How have I harmed you?
I dare you.
The questions involved their acupuncture experience in terms of Courtesy; Communication; Pain Reduction; and Continuity of care.
They could choose from 3 answers: a) Above Average; b) Average; c) Below Average. There was also a space below for additional comments regarding any areas of dissatisfaction. It was the first time in my 4 years at the hospital that I stepped out of the box of 100 patient visits a week to actually get a birds-eye view of patient satisfaction. And a valuable tool that I had left inside the door when I exited a 25 year career in advertising and P.R..
Feedback is not something that should be relegated to bats. To keep them from crashing into objects in their path. Our questions asked of those we serve can add trajectory and velocity to our flight as well. And make our navigation more precise and unerring.
This experiment reminded me of a training I did in Constructive Living Therapy with it's founder David Reynolds about the same time I began my Acupuncture Study. He requested that we ask 3 questions regarding our key relationships:
What have I received from you?
What have I given you?
How have I harmed you?
I dare you.
Friday, February 5, 2016
And how does this work.....exactly.
It's the "exactly" that throws me. Every time. It happened again yesterday. From an attending. He had finished writing up a recent case of mine for presentation at an upcoming Anesthesia Conference. This was a 22 year old Hispanic girl with a small calibre through-and-through gsw entering at the left scapula and coming out through the left upper chest wall, barely missing her heart, but severely affecting her brachial plexis. She had come in for a nerve block, but had no driver to take her home. The attending asked if I could do anything for her, and I gave my standard answer. Sure.
I was introduced to her by the attending. She was crying. Her PCP had told her she had a 2% chance of regaining any use of her arm. 5 minutes later, with needles in Gall Bladder 34 and Stomach 38 on the opposite leg, hooked up to e-stim, she was raising, lowering, and rotating her arm. And opening and closing her fingers. I recorded a video of it on my cell phone, with her permission. I didn't want either of us to forget. Lift-off Houston.
Over the next 10 weeks I would see her once or twice a week, with less and less regularity. At that point she was working part-time as a hostess at a restaurant downtown. And able to drive with 2 hands on the steering wheel and flip the turn signal with her left hand to get there. She didn't really need me. She had "flown the coop". But there was the ever-lingering question. Curious minds want to know. How does it work?
My answer to the resident was standard. How does heating a point on the ouside corner of a mother's little toe (Bladder 67) cause her breach baby to flip head down? Not knowing doesn't seem to effect the outcome. Trained monkeys could do it. Happy New Year!
I was introduced to her by the attending. She was crying. Her PCP had told her she had a 2% chance of regaining any use of her arm. 5 minutes later, with needles in Gall Bladder 34 and Stomach 38 on the opposite leg, hooked up to e-stim, she was raising, lowering, and rotating her arm. And opening and closing her fingers. I recorded a video of it on my cell phone, with her permission. I didn't want either of us to forget. Lift-off Houston.
Over the next 10 weeks I would see her once or twice a week, with less and less regularity. At that point she was working part-time as a hostess at a restaurant downtown. And able to drive with 2 hands on the steering wheel and flip the turn signal with her left hand to get there. She didn't really need me. She had "flown the coop". But there was the ever-lingering question. Curious minds want to know. How does it work?
My answer to the resident was standard. How does heating a point on the ouside corner of a mother's little toe (Bladder 67) cause her breach baby to flip head down? Not knowing doesn't seem to effect the outcome. Trained monkeys could do it. Happy New Year!
Friday, January 29, 2016
"Who ever touches them last is it!"
She came to the clinic for acupuncture for her stubborn back pain, on a scale of 8 out 10. Her tongue was pale, with a bright red tip, and thin white coat. While taking her pulses I noticed a small bruise over the heart pulse position on her left wrist. The pulse was knotted, intermittently intermittent. I asked her about the bruise. She said she went to ER a few days earlier, with chest pain, and, because they couldn't do an inguinal angiogram, they retried from her left wrist.
In the process she had an allergic reaction to the dye. And her blood pressure dropped to 70/25.
Hearing this I had our nurse take the patient's blood pressure. It was 96/66. She also mentioned that her cardiologist had put her on a new prescription, and had given her his cell phone number to call him at the first sign of trouble. At that point I walked across the hall and asked our Attending Pain Physician if he would consult with her, and possibly tweak her pain meds, since I was not comfortable doing acupuncture. I told him, based on a classmate of mine who found a heart patient dead on his table, following a potty break, I told him I was guided by the rule, "who ever touches the patient last, before a major health breakdown, is it."
After I triaged her to the Pain Physician, I later asked him how things went. He reported that during the consult she mentioned that while she was in ER her heart stopped and they had to give her a shot to restart her heart. Bad odds. High risk. Not a good acupuncture candidate.
In the process she had an allergic reaction to the dye. And her blood pressure dropped to 70/25.
Hearing this I had our nurse take the patient's blood pressure. It was 96/66. She also mentioned that her cardiologist had put her on a new prescription, and had given her his cell phone number to call him at the first sign of trouble. At that point I walked across the hall and asked our Attending Pain Physician if he would consult with her, and possibly tweak her pain meds, since I was not comfortable doing acupuncture. I told him, based on a classmate of mine who found a heart patient dead on his table, following a potty break, I told him I was guided by the rule, "who ever touches the patient last, before a major health breakdown, is it."
After I triaged her to the Pain Physician, I later asked him how things went. He reported that during the consult she mentioned that while she was in ER her heart stopped and they had to give her a shot to restart her heart. Bad odds. High risk. Not a good acupuncture candidate.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Acting Like A Cripple (cont'd)
The second time back the Champ brought his daughter, his biggest fan, and cheerleader. She watched as I threaded needles through the Zhu back and hip points on his scalp again. This time we did one leg standing, then the other. Then one legged semi squats. This time he had a family witness. No backsliding. Someone who knows who he is when he forgets.
The hospital where he was hurt wants to make nice. Do another surgery. He wants nothing to do with it. He's gone on facebook, and the surgeons are getting concerned, running a little scared. Sooner or later, as he continues to improve, he will get pressed up under the horns of a dilemma. Get better, and miss Payday for Malpractice, or back-off the breakthroughs of recovery, and finesse the difference in payback for pain and suffering. (the way not to get impaled on the horns of a dilemma is to grab one of them fiercely ).
He has had a lot of that (suffering). Stuck in a wheel chair having food spooned into his mouth, in-between sucking down Narco. That's when I turned him on to Tolle's The Power of Now. And asked him how good he could stand it.?
The hospital where he was hurt wants to make nice. Do another surgery. He wants nothing to do with it. He's gone on facebook, and the surgeons are getting concerned, running a little scared. Sooner or later, as he continues to improve, he will get pressed up under the horns of a dilemma. Get better, and miss Payday for Malpractice, or back-off the breakthroughs of recovery, and finesse the difference in payback for pain and suffering. (the way not to get impaled on the horns of a dilemma is to grab one of them fiercely ).
He has had a lot of that (suffering). Stuck in a wheel chair having food spooned into his mouth, in-between sucking down Narco. That's when I turned him on to Tolle's The Power of Now. And asked him how good he could stand it.?
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Secondary Gain Can Cripple
He staggered into the pain clinic barely able to walk. Out-patient back surgery had turned into a nightmare of extended in-patient recovery (sort of). When I called his name, and slowly walked with him to my office, he grabbed my arm and said "I wanna be a champ. Can this make me a champ?"
He comes from the barrio, and has that Rocky Balboa toughness. So I took a chance, and said yes. (This is what the panel of Docs at the VA, assembled for my vetting there, sternly warned me to never do. Never mention possible postitive outcomes. CYA?) But that is another hospital, another saga.
Back to Rocky. Within minutes of my placing needles in the Dr. Zhu scalp points for his back and left leg, he was walking up and down the corridor without his walker, and more importantly, sitting and standing from his chair without holding on to the arms. I finished with a ASP darts in his left ear, and whispered into it, "Stop acting like a cripple!"
Of course I can't be this bold with everyone who comes to the Pain Clinic. But the opportunity, when one meets a Lion, is to play like a Lion. And the art is to distinguish them from the antelope.
He comes from the barrio, and has that Rocky Balboa toughness. So I took a chance, and said yes. (This is what the panel of Docs at the VA, assembled for my vetting there, sternly warned me to never do. Never mention possible postitive outcomes. CYA?) But that is another hospital, another saga.
Back to Rocky. Within minutes of my placing needles in the Dr. Zhu scalp points for his back and left leg, he was walking up and down the corridor without his walker, and more importantly, sitting and standing from his chair without holding on to the arms. I finished with a ASP darts in his left ear, and whispered into it, "Stop acting like a cripple!"
Of course I can't be this bold with everyone who comes to the Pain Clinic. But the opportunity, when one meets a Lion, is to play like a Lion. And the art is to distinguish them from the antelope.
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