Resolving Insomnia

Sleep has such a powerful effect on our daily life- it is imperative for our cognitive functioning, essential for our healing process, and critical for our emotional well being. When we sleep well, we are energized and grateful, but when sleep is elusive, a struggle to obtain, or disrupted for various reasons, we begin to recognize how vital it is to our wellness, and how difficult insomnia is to cope with.

Acupuncture is gaining recognition as an effective alternative to prescription sleep medications. Insomnia is a complaint commonly seen by Acupuncturists, as it effects and is intertwined with so many other conditions. We all want a natural, restful, restorative night's sleep, without the groggy hangover from pharmaceuticals or over the counter drugs. Acupuncture provides relief on a deeper level, treating the cause of the insomnia at the source, and dealing with each person's unique presentation of symptoms.

Insomnia is not a black and white issue, it's a term that encompasses various problems including: difficulty to fall asleep, restless sleep, waking during the night, waking up early in the morning, and dream disturbed sleep.

In Chinese Medicine, treating insomnia usually involves nourishing the Heart, and helping to calm the Shen, (the spirit of the Heart) so that it can rest, and be rejuvenated. However, each individual has their own unique presentation, which may also involve imbalance with other organs or meridians, and this is all taken into account when planning an appropriate treatment to alleviate the root cause of the insomnia. Following is an explanation of some types of insomnia identified by Chinese Medicine, and the typical patterns of symptoms that they involve.

Heart and Spleen Deficiency: involves difficulty falling asleep, fatigue, poor memory, palpitations, poor appetite, anxiety, and pale complexion.

Heart and Kidney Disharmony: characterized by waking frequently in the night, difficulty getting back to sleep, night sweats, palpitations, dizziness, poor memory, tinnitus, backache, dry mouth and throat.

Heart and Gallbladder Qi Deficiency: often affects timid individuals and involves waking up with fright and difficulty falling asleep again, lots of dreams, light sleep, palpitations, breathlessness and fatigue.

Liver Fire: more common in people with a lot of emotional stress, and can be characterized by nightmares, irritability, thirst, headaches, red eyes, and bitter taste in the mouth.

Phlegm Fire Disturbing the Mind: identified in people with restless sleep and lots of tossing and turning. There may also be dizziness, a feeling of oppression in the chest, nausea and poor appetite. Dietary changes can be very beneficial for this type of insomnia.

If you have noticed a pattern of waking up at the same time each night, it may be helpful for you to know that in Chinese Medicine, each of the 12 organ/meridian systems has an associated two hour time period during the 24 hour day. If you consistently wake during a certain time period, it could be helpful for your Acupuncturist to know, to better understand potential causes for your insomnia. This information, along with your symptoms, feeling the pulse, and observing the tongue, helps to determine a therapeutic treatment plan.

More and more people are seeking out Acupuncture for insomnia. Whether you've tried medications and don't like the side effects, are worried about dependence, or just don't feel like you are getting quality sleep when it is induced by a medication, Acupuncture is a therapeutic alternative that nourishes the body, mind, and spirit on a core level. Many people find that Acupuncture helps them feel calm and relaxed, which naturally allows them to fall asleep peacefully and wake feeling refreshed.

Sleep induced by a prescription is better than no sleep at all, but many people are left feeling groggy and hungover, and not as refreshed as they would feel from natural sleep. By treating your insomnia at the source, Acupuncture encourages your body's own natural sleep cycle to take over, and re-establish a peaceful rhythm of restorative sleep once again, so that you can greet each new day feeling rejuvenated and refreshed.

Self Care for Allergies and Sinusitis

In the recent months our clinic has seen a spike in the number of patients suffering from seasonal allergies. Symptoms include sneezing, itchy eyes and nose, excessive mucus, sinus congestion, headache, fatigue and wheezing or coughing. The unlucky few may develop a sinus infection. Why are so many people suffering from allergies and what can be done about it? My hope is that this article will provide you with valuable information to help you reduce your suffering!

First let’s define allergy. Allergies are defined as: “a hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system. Allergic reactions occur to normally harmless environmental substances known as allergens; these reactions are acquired, predictable and rapid.” Conventional medicine treats allergies with medication and injections. Chinese medicine has a different approach. The goal is to reduce the reactivity of the body by lowering physical and emotional irritation and regulating and strengthening digestion and the immune system. Ideally, acupuncture treatments will begin before the seasonal allergies start. This can be difficult since the seasons of the Northwest vary greatly from year to year. In addition to receiving regular acupuncture to reduce irritation and balance digestion/immunity, the following techniques and guidelines are recommended:

1. Environmental Health
2. Dietary Therapy
3. Herbal Supplements

Environmental Health The EPA says that 60 % of Americans live in areas where breathing is a risk to one’s health. Air and environmental pollution are significant contributors to the rise of allergies. Remember that all of our energy comes from the air we breathe and the food we eat! Therefore the quality of air and food are extremely important. The nose and sinuses serve as the body’s primary air filter and protector of the lungs. Particulates of dust/ sand/soot /smoke, as well as bacteria/viruses/mold/chemicals clog and irritate the mucus lining in our nose and sinuses. Severe and persistent swelling blocks our sinuses leading to chronic congestion and infection. The following steps will help prevent and reverse this outcome.

1. Breathe clean air. Make sure you replace your furnace filter every 3 months. Use a humidifier if you have electric heat in your home. Fill your home with plants. Spider plants, aloe vera, philodendron and chrysanthemums all function as very effective air filters.
2. Irrigate. Use a neti pot to clean your sinuses. For people with chronic sinusitis this procedure should be done at least once a day, preferably in the evenings or after a steam.
3. Nurture your respiratory system by breathing steam. Put a large pot of boiling water on the stove and add a couple drops of Eucalyptus Oil, then cover your head with a towel and breathe in. Or visit one the local day spas (Olympus, Hot House, Banya 5) and melt in their Eucalyptus stream saunas!
4. Shower at the end of the day during allergy season. That way you are washing out accumulated allergens that may be trapped in your hair before going to bed.
5. Exercise regularly. If you are exhausted from your allergies, start slowly with two 30-minute aerobic workouts per week. This might just be walking the treadmill. Build up slowly to 3-5 workouts per week. If you have a sinus infection, no aerobic exercise, only moderate walking.
6. Increase your water intake!

Dietary Therapy During allergy season it is important to avoid foods that slow and impair digestion. Strong digestion helps us to have adequate and steady energy, blood production, and smooth circulation. When digestive function is impaired the balance of absorption/elimination is altered and toxins accumulate, creating a hyper-reactive body. Slowed digestion also leads to accumulation of phlegm which contributes to congestion and fatigue.

Dietary recommendations: Foods that are warming and neutral in nature. Foods that are cold extinguish “digestive fire” and contribute to mucus build up. Sorry, no smoothies and ice cream!

Consume more pungent vegetables and spices: onion, leek, ginger, cinnamon, fennel, garlic, and nutmeg.

Avoid: In general avoid excessive raw vegetables (remember, warm instead of cold—steam them), fruits (mainly citrus). No alcohol or dairy. Milk can increase and thicken mucus and is often the cause of food allergy. Sugar (including alcohol) weakens the immune system and is the primary fuel for bacterial infections and candida.

For those of you that want to be more aggressive, I recommend a product called MediClear by Thorne. Mediclear is a supplement containing proteins, vitamins, minerals and specialized nutrients and botanicals. It is intended to be taken daily as part of a 3 week cleansing program to cleanse, detoxify and strengthen the body. The 3 week program also requires eliminating certain foods, alcohol, and caffeine. If you are interested we can order the supplement at the clinic and a booklet outlining the food guidelines and menus is included. This is an easy, safe, affordable and effective way to “reset” your body.

Herbs/Vitamins

We carry a variety of Chinese herbs at the clinic. Consult with your acupuncturist for the appropriate formula. The following vitamins/minerals are recommended daily:

• Multivitamin
• 1000-2000 mg of Vitamin C
• 100 mg Selenium
• 500 mg Magnesium Citrate
• 100 mg Vitamin B6

The following doses are taken from Robert S. Ivker's book, Sinus Survival: The Holistic Medical Treatment for Sinusitis, Allergies, and Colds. You might want to read this book too!

I really hope this helps—see you on the other side!

Bipolar Disorder and Acupuncture

Have you been diagnosed with bipolar disorder or believe you know someone who might have it? Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that effects millions of people and Acupuncture is being researched and studied as a complimentary treatment for it. Here's some information to help you understand how Acupuncture treatment can be beneficial.

Bipolar disorder (also referred to as manic-depressive disorder) is marked by periods of manic or high energy with euphoria and racing thoughts, alternating with periods of depression, apathy, and down moods. Symptoms can range from mild to severe depending on how bad or frequent the mood swings are during a cycle of mania and depression.

Most people with bipolar disorder often have relatives with bipolar disorder. They often have depression before the age of 25, and repeated periods of depression with oversleeping and overeating that doesn’t respond well to antidepressants.

How Can Acupuncture Help Bipolar Disorder?

Acupuncture is a holistic form of medicine. It is not only focused on the body, but is also focused on finding balance for the mind and finding equilibrium for the mood and emotions. People who have bipolar disorder are shifting from one extreme to the other, and the goal is to restore balance.

An Acupuncturist will assess a patient to determine what points would best correct the imbalance, relieve the symptoms at the source, and be balanced on a deep core level. Inserting needles at specific points helps to open blocked meridians and restore balanced energy flow. Many people fear that the needles could be very painful, but the needles are as tiny as a hair, and in most cases there is only a slight discomfort felt. The needles are then manipulated to have the desired therapeutic affect.

If you think that you or someone you know has bipolar disorder, it is important to see and get treated by a doctor or primary care physician, but also consider Acupuncture as an effective adjunct therapy.

Following is an excerpt from an interview with musician Kristin Hersh, about her experience with Acupuncture for Bipolar Disorder, originally published on AcuTake Health.

Kristin Hersh is the founder, lead singer and guitarist for the popular 1980s rock band Throwing Muses. She also is the author of Rat Girl, a memoir released last year that chronicles the early stages of Hersh’s 20-year battle with bipolar disorder. After two decades of trying everything from lithium to vitamins to exercise to just succumbing to her symptoms, Hersh had nearly given up on hopes of becoming well. Then she found acupuncture.

There is a lot of debate over how acupuncture actually works. Based on your experience, what is your interpretation of how acupuncture works for bipolar?

The way your soul is oriented to your body, it wants to be balanced; it wants to heal. But there are so many influences affecting us physically that it can’t always orient itself to the right position. It felt to me as though acupuncture reoriented me to the point where my soul knew exactly where it needed to be in my body. When I don’t get acupuncture, I am not orientated in my body, and my body isn’t functioning the way it should. We are emotional, psychological and intellectual beings, and all of these systems in me have orientated themselves since getting acupuncture. I haven’t yet experienced any symptoms that couldn’t be alleviated by coming back into balance that way.

Acupuncture is a systemic treatment rather than a symptomatic treatment. I trust this approach much more than the band-aid that medications provide. Bipolar is a host of conditions with a different array of symptoms depending on the person. I don’t experience this imbalance the way every other bipolar individual does. It is imperative to treat the disease at its deepest level. I didn’t want to live my life treating symptoms. I was diagnosed with bipolar about 25 years ago. That’s a long time to be trying to solve a problem and not succeeding. To have every symptom work itself out—to become unnecessary, is how it felt—makes me think that acupuncture works by treating the condition at its deepest level.

To read the entire article about Kristin’s return to health through Acupuncture,

click here: A Musician’s Return from Bipolar

A Woman’s Cycle: Balancing Hormones with Acupuncture

A woman’s menstrual cycle is a complex and beautiful thing, but something that many of us could stand to know more about. Choosing to learn more about our body’s wisdom and natural cycle helps us to understand it more completely, and thus feel more empowered to make choices that help us feel balanced and in the flow. As an Acupuncturist, I meet many women seeking more ways to find balance and health. There are plenty of natural choices you can make on a daily basis to ensure you continue to feel vibrant, joyful, and healthy, no matter what time of the month it may be. Chinese Medicine looks closely at the various phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle to understand the inter-connected nature of yin/yang, and how acupuncture and Chinese herbs can encourage the healthy transformation of Yin/Yang occurring with each cycle. This article is a guide as to how Chinese Medicine views the menstrual cycle, and how Acupuncture can balance a woman’s Qi/Energy, Blood, Yin, and Yang, can help her find her natural rhythm once again.

From day’s 1-14, a woman is in the Yin half of her cycle, leading up to ovulation, the fertile time. Day 1 is the first day of menstruation, and approximately Day 1-5 or 1-7 of this Yin phase is when a woman has a healthy menstrual blood flow to shed the uterine lining that is no longer needed, because no egg has been fertilized. The start of a woman’s menstruation is often associated with the new moon.

Of course, not every woman has an exact 28 day cycle, our cycle’s vary depending on many different factors, but I speak in terms of the menstrual cycle in four parts of seven days each, for the sake of this article. The following image is helpful for understanding the process I’m talking about.

Week two begins the proliferation phase, when the lining of her uterus builds up once again to create a welcoming space for a potentially fertilized egg. This phase is considered very Yin, because it involves the uterus filling up with blood and being nourished by these fluids.

The Yin phase is an excellent time to nourish Yin and Blood through Acupuncture so that they are full and abundant and ovulation can occur. Additionally, one can observe the estrogenic hormones during this Yin phase, and recognize the correlation between estrogenic-phase hormones and Yin/Blood phase. Estrogen levels must be reached for ovulation to occur, and Acupuncture accomplishes this by treating Yin and Blood.

Right around day 14 marks the fullest part of Yin phase, when the uterus is nourished and protected; this time coincides with a woman’s ovulation, her fertile time. Ovulation is the time when Yin transforms into Yang, as demonstrated by the mature egg being released from its follicle. The egg travels down the fallopian tubes to the uterus where it has the potential to implant in the uterus and be fertilized. Chinese Medicine views this time as dominated by the movement of Qi and blood, and Acupuncture treatment focuses on encouraging this natural movement occurring in the woman.

Now we have entered phase 2 of the cycle: the Yang phase, which is dominated by progestogenic hormones. Progesterone helps warm and dry the fluid in the uterus to make the most welcoming place to facilitate an embryo’s development. A woman’s basal body temperature is slightly higher, which makes sense, since Yang is associated with warmth, sun, light, and dryness, as opposed to Yin’s cool, moist, dark, nature. Yang must be strong for the uterus to be warm and welcoming to the embryo, and to encourage its healthy development.

This phase now represents the fullness of Yang, and is often associated with a Full Moon. If the egg is not fertilized, we witness yet another transformation of Yang back into Yin, as the uterine lining begins to shed again, and another healthy menstrual flow begins.

Chinese medicine looks at this cycle in terms of Yin and Yang, Qi and Blood, to encourage a balanced transformation of all of them throughout this healthy process. As an Acupuncturist also look at each woman’s individual constitution which contributes to create her own unique cycle. I seek to understand her unique presentation and tak it into account with each Acupuncture treatment, in order to achieve balance in body, mind, and spirit. Utilized in this way, Acupuncture can help to balance a woman’s cycle, relieve PMS symptoms, and help increase fertility, as well as improve overall health and well being.