We live in a beautiful part of the world, the Pacific Northwest. We endure plenty of rain here, and we’re okay with it because it is what makes this part of the country so green and lush. However, these dark wet months also serve as the perfect environment for another kind of growth: mold. Exposure to mold can cause many types of health problems, and although most people present with mild symptoms, some of our patients have suffered major health issues as a result. Some common symptoms of short term mold exposure can include:

- Sneezing
- Itching Skin
- Redness and skin irritation
- Itchy or watery eyes
- Headache

More advanced symptoms of mold exposure can result for people who are in a contaminated area off and on for an extended period of time. Symptoms are reported to have become more severe and longer lasting directly in proportion to the length of exposure time. Some symptoms can include:

- Constant headaches
- Nose bleeds
- Feelings of constant fatigue
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Skin rashes
- Sudden asthma attacks or breathing disorders
- Ear infections and pain
- Chronic sinus infections
- Chronic bronchitis
- Pain in the joints and muscles

We treat many patients who suffer from allergies, and because we live in the Northwest, mold is an allergen that we often need to address. Eliminating the source of mold from your living environment is the most important thing to reducing symptoms. Acupuncture will also help alleviate symptoms and strengthen your immune system. To read about other possible symptoms of mold exposure, click here. For common questions about mold, check out the Center for Disease Control’s fact sheet on mold.

People are very familiar with using acupuncture as adults, but many people don’t realize how beneficial acupuncture can be for their kids. Acupuncture can treat a multitude of conditions for children (more on conditions treated here), and kids can start getting treatment as young as a couple weeks old. Because children are considered to be very yang (active, dynamic, energetic), they respond very quickly to treatment methods, and often recover faster than adults.

Needles can be a part of the treatment….but they don’t have to be. Most often, kids enjoy the idea of using tiny needles to help heal their body. They get excited about learning how acupuncture works and how to take control of their own health. We also have many other tools we use in practice that effectively treat pediatric conditions. Acupressure is great for kids, and pressing on specific acupuncture points is a technique we often teach parents to use at home. Pediatric massage or qigong can be used as well, and helps treat children who are especially sensitive to stimulus and their environments. In some cases, we use a line of pediatric herbal formulas, and they add enormous benefit to the treatment plan.

No two treatments look the same when treating children. It is always about meeting the child where they’re at that day, and we all know that when it comes to kids, you don’t always know what you’re going to get.  We can treat kids on the treatment table, in a chair, on the floor, or in their parent’s lap. Books or toys provide great distractions, and we often make a game out how we are treating that day.

For children, just like adults, you can use acupuncture and Western medicine together, in fact they are very complimentary. We often use acupuncture in combination with other conventional treatments, each method reinforcing the other. For example, we will treat a child for an ear infection or upper respiratory tract infection in conjunction with the child taking antibiotics. Kids see faster healing times, and parents see happier children.

If you have questions about how acupuncture can help your kids, call us anytime. We understand how important health care is for your little ones!

It’s almost a new year, and after a season of holiday eating and drinking, there is no better time to start thinking about getting back to feeling healthy and energized. We all know about the dozens of types of cleanses out there, and it seems like everyday we are hearing about a new trend in “detoxing” for your health. Before you start drinking nothing but lemon juice and cayenne pepper, it is important to determine the purpose of why you are doing a cleanse (detoxification, identifying food allergies, etc.). It is very helpful to talk to a practitioner who can help guide you through the process of choosing the right cleanse for you, as well as pick an appropriate time in your life to follow through with the program you choose. Our patients often say they feel amazing as they are doing a cleanse, but it takes preparation and some self-discipline to get your best results.

The biggest reason for doing a cleanse is detoxification. Toxicity can occur from external or internal sources. External toxicity can result from environmental exposures, and internal toxicity is a result of production of metabolic wastes from the body’s biochemical processes, as well as from long-term emotional stress or trauma.

So what are the benefits of doing a cleanse?

• Clearer skin, reduced acne and rashes
• Improved energy, mental function and concentration
• Reduced pain, including headaches, arthritis, joint and muscle pain
• Weight loss
• Reduced inflammation
• Better quality sleep
• Improved digestion, with reduction of heartburn, gas, bloating or nausea

It is common for our patients to complete a cleanse program, and feel so good that they use what they learned from the experience to start making positive changes to their diet and lifestyle. It really is a great way to get you feeling like the best version of yourself!

We are always talking to our patients about balance. Balance within our work/home lives, balance in our diets, and balance with our health. It is key to living a happy and healthy life and is a belief that is deeply rooted in Chinese Medicine theory and the practice of acupuncture.

Everyone is familiar with the idea of yin and yang, but what does it really mean, and how does it apply to this idea of balance? It is a concept that began 8000 years ago, formulated by Fu Hsi, a legendary sage who lived along the Yellow River of China. He used two symbols, a broken line and an unbroken line to represent yin and yang. Since then, we have all become familiar with the Taoist symbol of the circle, one side black with a white dot in the center, the other white with a black dot in the center.

Yin and yang shows us that seemingly opposing forces are bound together and interdependent, interconnected and complementary. One gives rise to the other, and one can only exist with the other. When one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality. Beneath it all, yin and yang is the idea that the only constant in the universe is change. Nothing remains the same; no disease, no condition, no emotion, no treatment or diagnosis.

While yin would be dark, passive, downward, cold, contracting, and weak, yang would be bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, and strong. Yin represents that which endures, nourishes and supports growth, as well as the female. It refers to the calm rather than activity. Yang is considered to be creative and generating; developing and expanding, and represents the male.

Yin and yang exist in everything, in every object, concept or state of being. Yin and yang are not static concepts, but are constantly influencing each other. There is always some element of yin within yang and vice versa. You can see this in the picture, the dot of yin within yang and the dot of yang with yin.

In Chinese medicine, yin and yang refer to energies and functions of organs and body mechanisms. Your optimal health is created by the right balance of yin and yang. When one aspect of our health or our lives becomes lopsided, like when we work too many hours, we are too stressed out, or we eat too much of one thing, there is potential to develop symptoms of disease. Acupuncture works to restore this proper balance, thereby bringing you back to the healthy state your body strives for.

Do you or someone you love need to quit smoking?

We have a specific protocol and plan for you! We have helped many patients kick the habit at Acupuncture Northwest. Most people have tried other treatments without success, but are able to be successful with acupuncture. It is really amazing to help someone get something they have always wanted, to be a nonsmoker, to not be dependent on cigarettes, to have their lungs feel clean and clear and healthy. Patients describe it as a new lease on life. Our protocol is simple and painless, and we have many other tools to help equip you during situations when cravings are high. We ask patients to make three consecutive appointments after an initial appointment to build a solid foundation towards recovery. Now is the time to make the decision to quit, you have nothing to lose and we are here to help you!

Pregnancy is a time of incredible physical and emotional change, a time when it’s even more important to support your health and well-being. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help you handle the unique challenges of pregnancy, allowing you and your baby to experience optimal health. We have a lot of experience, both professional and personal, to help guide you through this unique experience whether it’s your first or third pregnancy. It’s common during pregnancy to have unanticipated symptoms, challenges and aliments. Many pregnant women prefer not to take medication if they don’t have to. Acupuncture is a great way to address your health when you are pregnant in a safe and non-invasive way.

A good way to look at how acupuncture can help with many of the issues that naturally come along with pregnancy is by trimester:

1st trimester: Sets the foundation for a healthy pregnancy. Helps relieve morning sickness, vomiting, fatigue, constipation, acid reflux, low back pain and hormonal headaches. Morning sickness responds so well to acupuncture and Chinese herbs, and we can even show patients acupressure points that they can use to help treat themselves.

2nd trimester: Helps alleviate common complaints like constipation, heartburn, edema, stress, hemorrhoids, emotional balance, insomnia, high blood sugar, and elevated blood pressure. The second trimester is supposedly the easy third of pregnancy. Clinically we see a lot of women with headaches as well as injuries to the low back.

3rd trimester: Prepares the body for labor and delivery. Alleviates back pain, sciatica, pubic pain and hip joint pain. Chinese medicine treats breech position babies with moxabustion. We also see a lot of women for induction around 39-40 weeks. Acupuncture is not going to force your body into labor, but it will encourage your uterus to contract and your cervix to dilate. It is an effective way to get your body’s natural processes to kick in!

After the baby has arrived, acupuncture is also very effective in dealing with issues like postpartum depression, mastitis, insufficient lactation, postoperative healing, postpartum discharge, and hemorrhoids. It can help regain your strength after labor and delivery, rebalance you emotionally and address many other concerns that come with redefining your life as being a mother and having a new born.

Acupuncture is amazing. In our culture, it is best known for relieving pain. We treat patients every day for all kinds of pain. Though pain relief is just a small part of what acupuncture can do, it is very effective; and not at just reducing pain, but eliminating it altogether. Even patients with chronic pain find relief under our care. But how does it work?

Chinese medicine theorizes that pain, distress, or disease is caused by either a blockage or an imbalance of Qi. Conditions that can cause this include trauma, stress, emotions, diet, and general lifestyle. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs restore the proper flow of Qi, returning the body to its natural state of balance allowing the body to heal itself quickly and completely. Acupuncture points lie on meridians that run throughout the body. These points are what access and effect different physiological functions in the body. Treatment is based on symptoms and the causes of those symptoms.

People often ask how Western medicine would describe how acupuncture treats pain. There are five main theories posed by the Western medical community:

The “Augmentation” Theory: Acupuncture raises levels of triglycerides, specific hormones, prostaglandins, white blood counts, gamma globulins, opsonins, and overall anti-body levels. This is why acupuncture can treat disorders relating to immune deficiencies. Example: Pain that is a result of emotional stress, hormone imbalance or autoimmune diseases is easily treated with acupuncture.

The “Endorphin” Theory: Acupuncture stimulates the secretions of endorphins in the body (specifically enkephalins). Endorphins are our body’s natural pain killers. They are 1000 times stronger than morphine.  This is how acupuncture can provide immediate pain reduction. Example: Tan style acupuncture, using imaging, provide pain relief within seconds of the needle being placed.

The “Neurotransmitter” Theory: Certain neurotransmitter levels (such as serotonin and noradrenaline) are affected by acupuncture. This is why acupuncture is so successful with depression and mood disorders. This is also the reason people feel so amazing after a treatment.  Example: Weight loss treatments consider low serotonin levels that may be causing sugar cravings.

The “Circulatory” Theory: Acupuncture has the effect of constricting or dilating blood vessels. This may be caused by the body’s release of vasodilaters (such as histamine), in response to acupuncture.  Example: using acupuncture to treat edema and chronic injuries by releasing a fresh supply of RBCs and WBCs to areas of scar tissue build up and blockage.

The “Gate Control” Theory: Highly researched among western scientists.  According to this theory, pain signals must pass through a number of high-traffic “gates” as they move from the area of injury upward through the spinal cord into the brain. Like a road or highway, these nerves can handle only a limited number of nerve signals at one time. Acupuncture generates competing stimulus and interrupts the neurotransmission of the pain signals, preventing them from reaching the brain. The result: we never “experience the pain”. Example: the use of acupuncture anesthesia.

Each of these theories examines acupuncture from a different perspective, and help to illustrate why acupuncture is effective at treating many different types of pain, whether acute or chronic.

At Acupuncture Northwest we see a lot of fertility patients.  Is it because research shows that the use of acupuncture and herbal therapy is effective in treating fertility conditions? Is it because more people than ever before are having a hard time conceiving? Or because people are starting their families later in life? Whatever the reason, acupuncture is becoming a well known treatment  modality used for all types of conditions related to fertility.

Acupuncture is amazing. As you have heard us say so many times before, Traditional Chinese Medicine focuses on a person’s unique constitutional pattern, and that specific pattern is what dictates treatment. It is no different for fertility patients. We figure out your individual diagnosis, then apply treatment to help return your body to a balanced state. Some of the most common diagnoses in Chinese medicine for infertiltiy include: Blood stagnation, Kidney deficiency, Blood deficiency, Yin deficiency, Spleen qi deficiency, and Liver overacting on Spleen.  In terms of western medical diagnoses, there are several that are common for fertility patients, including uterine fibroids, poor egg quality, ovarian cysts, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, tubal blockage, endometriosis, annovulation, thin uterine lining and unexplained fertility.

We have patients at many different points in the fertility process, whether it be just starting to try to conceive, to having tried multiple IUIs, or preparing for IVF. No matter where you are in your journey of starting a family, acupuncture can assist in the process. We love working with fertility patients. There is nothing more gratifying than helping someone conceive and make the family they have always wanted.

We treat a great number of patients with migraine headaches. These headaches are debilitating and often keep people from being able to perform daily activities or even function at all. While we must be grateful for western allopathic medicine in diagnosing and treating many life-threatening conditions, we are often left with limited options for alleviating more chronic and less diagnosable (from a western perspective) conditions, such as chronic headaches. Whether the cause is stress, diet, hormones or changes in the weather the majority of cases are treated very successfully with acupuncture.

Your headache is specific to you. It can often be difficult to discover the individual causes and triggers that contribute to them, but we want to help you find your way. At each patient’s initial exam we take a long health history to access each individual’s constitutional needs. (Though as with any severe condition we recommend you see your primary care physician to rule out any life threatening conditions). Often, we find an imbalance of the liver meridian combined with gallbladder disharmony, from excess stress and overwork. Migraine pain can also be from muscle tension and strain in the neck and upper shoulders. We will often do trigger point therapy to the muscles of the neckand upper back to get the muscles to release, which takes the pressure off of the occiput. The muscles pulling on the occiput can cause referral pattern pain to the temples, eyes, and side of the head.

These are a few patterns we tend to see in our patients with migraines, as there are many other possible diagnoses. Our job is to figure you out. We recommend that our migraine patients come in a couple weeks in a row for treatment. After consistent treatments things slowly get better. After 1-3 treatments people are usually 20-50% better. After 6-8 times you should be closer to 60-80% better. If we are not seeing any improvement, we will help you figure out what your next steps should be on your quest for health, but the good news is most people do get better here! If you have any questions feel free to give us a call and one of our practitioners will get back to you.

Spring is here, and with the blooming of trees and flowers comes the presence of pollen and seasonal allergies. For allergy sufferers, spring can be a miserable time, and many people are turning to acupuncture for relief. Not only can acupuncture immediately relieve allergy symptoms, it can also help build up your immune system to prevent you from reacting as strongly to the allergens themselves. Acupuncture is effective at helping with nasal congestion, sneezing, scratchy throat, itchy and watery eyes, headaches and sinus pressure. We treat patients every day this time of year for the annoying allergy symptoms that keep them from enjoying the outdoors.

Tree pollens are the most prevalent pollens in the spring and many trees are heavy pollinators. Grass and weed pollens follow in late spring and summer. Year-round allergens include airborne mold spores, as well as other common allergens such as dust, dust mites, and animal dander. Exposure to allergens like these causes a release of a number of chemicals in the body, including histamine, which produce the allergy symptoms we collectively know as hay fever, more formally called allergic rhinitis.

Many western medical therapies rely on inhibiting the allergic response, usually with drugs (decongestants, antihistamines or steroids), avoidance of the allergen, and the use of air filters to decrease exposure. While these methods may help relieve your symptoms, we believe that addressing the causes of allergies, treating the whole person, and focusing on balancing the immune system leads to more long-term relief and health benefits in managing allergies.

In Chinese medicine, allergic rhinitis is seen as related to Wind noting that symptoms come and go rapidly, cause congestion, and make the person want to avoid windy situations. This Wind often coexists with a deficiency of the Protective or Wei Qi, similar to how we think of our first immune defenses against colds and respiratory infections. People with Wei Qi deficiency catch colds easily, and allergy symptoms may be particularly bad in the spring or fall, seasons that are generally windy.

There are often other underlying patterns that exist in combination with Wind, and are equally as important to treat for better long-term relief. Often people with chronic allergies show signs of Spleen or Kidney Deficiency as well as Lung signs according to Chinese medicine. We develop a plan using acupuncture and Chinese herbs to treat the person’s acute symptoms and provide relief, while addressing the underlying immune system imbalance which is thought to be at the root of the person’s allergies.

If you are an allergy sufferer, spring can be miserable. We know how exhausting it can be to battle allergy symptoms every day. We can help you feel better and start to actually enjoy the season!