Today, I took a phone call from a woman asking about the cost of acupuncture treatments. After giving her the information and asking her a few questions, there was a silence… and then I heard her crying.
I paused and asked if she was ok; she confessed that her husband had just been deployed to Iraq. She told me she was so stressed that she’d almost accidentally set her house on fire today! As she cried, she told me that she needed SOMETHING to calm her nerves. My heart ached for her; I told her to just come in and we’d work out the budget. I know acupuncture will help her, and it won’t be long before she feels better.
You know, after that patient called, I began to think about the bigger picture – life is so challenging in our world today! There are still a countless number of our soldiers being deployed around the world; many people have been laid off from jobs in the past year and have had problems finding something else; many small (and large!) business owners have been clutching to every penny, nervous that it’s close to the last. Wow; for a few moments I was overwhelmed by the thought of it!!
What about you? How are you doing?
All too often, when we’re in trouble, anxious, grieving, and/or depressed, we feel all too alone in the world, shut ourselves in, and everyone else out. Right now, there are so many of us dealing with tough situations – if you are one of the many, know that you are far from alone!
Acupuncture is a great treatment to help you to cope – not just emotionally, but physiologically, as well. When considering it from an Eastern medicine perspective, sadness deeply affects both the Lung and Heart pathways. The Lung pathway moves the Qi (pronounced chee), and the Heart meridian moves the Blood. Sadness induces Qi deficiency and dissolves Qi, which in turn eventually causes the Heart Qi to be deficient. When this is happening, an acupuncturist finds that the front wrist pulse of the patient is very weak on both wrists – the left wrist is related to the Heart, and the right wrist is related to the Lungs. After prolonged sadness, Qi deficiency and stagnation can happen, which will cause what practitioners call Heart Fire. When the Qi and blood are not flowing properly, depression can happen, causing the Heart Fire to manifest. This causes the patient to feel stressed, and can begin a domino effect – possibly causing heart palpatations, insomnia, and even high blood pressure. Acupuncture gets the blood flowing again, in turn alleviating the physical problems while also helping the patient to feel better.
So before you’re juggling a pile of medications that will only put a Band-Aid on the problem, try acupuncture! It will work on the actual physiological effects of the depression and help you better deal with your problems without causing you to walk around like a zombie… so you can continue to connect with others, which will better help you get through this rough period!
