How to Optimize Your Blood Pressure

Dr. Li Zheng will be holding a free lecture to explain why digestion is so important for a healthy nervous system and strong immune function. She will teach you how to use acupressure to reduce acid reflux and indigestion. She will also use clinical cases to explain why indigestion can be linked with neuropathy, anxiety, panic attacks and even arthritis. When your digestion system functions well, your muscles and tendons are stronger, your blood vessels are healthier, your joints can get sufficient blood flow, and the degeneration of your joints will slow down.

Wednesday, March. 29, 2017

6pm - 7 pm

at Delray Public Library

100 West Atlantic Ave

Delray Beach, FL 33445

Using Organic Foods & Acupuncture to Combat Inflammation

Dr. Li Zheng will be holding a free lecture about how organic whole foods, herbal tea, and acupuncture can help us balance the nervous system to reduce the stress and inflammation. In this lecture, she will use recent scientific research to explain how green juice (blended vegetables comprised predominantly of leafy greens) can help the body balance its immune function and produce more anti-inflammatory chemicals such as cortisol, serotonin, progesterone and other relaxing hormones. She will also use clinical cases to demonstrate how a powerful combination of green juice, herbal tea, organic food and acupuncture can help people rejuvenate damaged tissues caused by wear and tear.

DATE AND TIME

Sun, December 11, 2016

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST

LOCATION
4th Generation, Organic Market and Café
9200 Glades Rd
Boca Raton, Florida 33434

Natural Ways to Reduce Stress and Balance Hormones

Dr. Li Zheng will be holding a free seminar about how acupuncture, meditation, acupressure, and herbal tea can help the body produce more happy hormones such as endorphins, serotonin and dopamine to reduce pain and stress.  She will use recent scientific research to explain how acupuncture can help the body strengthen its adrenal gland function and balance its immune function so that the body can produce more anti-inflammatory chemicals such as cortisol, progesterone, GABA, and other relaxing hormones.  She will also show you how to combine acupressure points and meditation to calm down the nervous system in order to achieve optimal health.

This event is free but space is limited so register today here.

Weight Loss & Acupuncture

Whether you are cutting calories for health reasons or to fit into a special dress, many patients at my clinics, Boston Chinese Acupuncture and Boca Raton Acupuncture Clinic, ask if acupuncture can help them lose weight on top of resolving their other medical conditions.  Over the years, I have developed 4 complimentary tools to help my patients lose weight and keep it off: weight loss acupuncture, ear needles, Chinese herbs, and nutritional advice.

Although researchers are still figuring out the specific mechanisms of acupuncture, ear needles, and Chinese herbs on weight loss, some preliminary results suggest that these treatments can increase metabolism and decrease your cravings for sweets. One study published in 2014 by a group of Chinese scientists found that electrical acupuncture can induce weight loss in rats potentially by increasing their level of norepinephrine, which helps you feel more energized. When people feel energized rather than lethargic, they tend not only to exercise more but also to eat less junk food.

Electrical acupuncture on the belly area

Furthermore, electrical acupuncture can increase muscle tone and tighten sagging skin.  Thus, after you have lost weight, your body will be firmer rather than having droopy, stretched out skin.  Increased muscle tone can also help your body burn the calories you consume more effectively, rather than converting the energy rapidly into fat to be stored.

In order to speed up the weight loss process and save you time and money, we sometimes combine traditional full body acupuncture with ear needles.  These tiny, intradermal needles are taped to the acupuncture points on your ear that reduce appetite and cravings.  Because they are left on continuously for several days until they fall out, ear needles can help amplify and lengthen the effect of acupuncture treatments.  They can also be used alone if time and money are an issue, although the effect will be slower than combining acupuncture with ear needles.



Of course, no magical treatment will work if your diet is not healthy.  Sometimes, we are not aware that some of our dietary habits can result in weight gain.  I help patients understand the effects of their dietary choices on their health and help them formulate plans to follow to ensure that the weight stays off after all their hard work.

To learn more about weight loss acupuncture in Boca Raton, FL, visit our website at http://bocaacupuncture.org.  For service in Boston, MA, please visit http://bostonchineseacupuncture.org.

Free Stress Reduction Seminar

If you are someone with work and family commitments, chances are, there are times when the weight  of your responsibilities feel too much to bear.  For example, in the precious two hours I have between waking up in the morning and work, I have to cook breakfast, get the kids and the husband ready, and finish writing my patients' charts all the while making myself presentable to the world.  I think that every working woman with children has probably, at one point or another, sat in the car and cried, completely overwhelmed by stress.



After struggling myself for years, I have finally been able to conquer my own stress and anxiety through incremental changes in three areas of my life: diet, exercise, and meditation.

By making changes like switching out coffee for herbal tea or receiving regular acupuncture from my husband and friends, I have been able to figure out how to run my business, parent my children, and feel fantastic while doing so.

Although there are still times when I wish I had extra help around the clinic or that the floors at home would sweep themselves, I am able to face these problems with a calmness that would've been unimaginable 5 years ago.

On May 15, 2016, I will be partnering with Greenlands Health & Wellness in Delray Beach, FL to give a talk called Stress Reduction through Herbal Teas and Acupuncture.  The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited so please reserve your spot today at our Eventbrite page!

If you are in Delray Beach, I hope to see you there!

Stress Reduction through Herbal Teas & Acupuncture
May 15, 2016, 2 - 4 pm

Greenlands Health & Wellness

2000 N Federal Hwy

Delray Beach, FL 33483

http://bocaacupuncture.org/event/stress-reduction-herbal-teas-acupuncture/

Sudden Death

The amazing privilege I've had as an acupuncturist working in Needham, MA for the past 10 years is the ability to follow my patients through long periods of their lives, through happy times such as the birth of a child and sad ones such as the passing of a parent.

As you can probably imagine, after practicing for so many years, I accumulated a lot of medical records and written charts.  With my husband, Changhong Zhou, joining the practice, we've had to make more room, shredding and discarding those records we are no longer legally obligated to retain.

Flipping through each chart to determine which ones we could shred, I could not help thinking that some of the people who had filled out these papers had already passed: patients with terminal cancer, patients already in their 90s when I saw them 10 years ago.  Some family members inform me through email, other deaths I hear about through word of mouth, but most of the time, it is impossible to know who, out of the thousands of people I had the chance to treat, still exists in this world.

To a certain extent, death is expected when someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and in those cases, their loved ones have a little bit of time to prepare to say goodbye.  But what if the death is sudden?  Like a heart attack on the way to work or a freak car accident?

I am reminded of a former colleague and friend from my time as a doctor in Beijing.  About 10 years my senior, she was a kind and generous mentor who was well liked in our hospital.  I would even visit her on the few chances I've had to return to China after emigrating to the US.

Earlier this year, I was shocked to find out that she had passed away suddenly while trying to rise from her bed one morning before work.  For someone in her earlier 60s, she had been quite young-looking and fit.  To think that her heart would stop working so suddenly felt like nearly an impossible scenario.

In my latest video, I speculate on the possible reasons for my colleague's sudden death.  Perhaps the sore, scratchy throat she had pretty consistently for the last 30 years was indicative of underlying, low-level inflammation that made her more susceptible to sudden heart failure?

We will never be able to know for sure, but I think it serves as a valuable lesson for prioritizing the condition of our own body.  It is easy in the hectic pace of our lives to let the small problems slide for a later time.  This story serves as a reminder that no matter how busy we become, it is important to take care of ourselves and our bodies first.

For more videos and information about healthy living, check out my website, Boca Raton Acupuncture Clinic.

Welcome Dr. Changhong Zhou!

This announcement comes a little late but I am very happy to announce that my husband and business partner will be joining Boston Chinese Acupuncture and Boca Raton Acupuncture Clinic as an acupuncturist and herbalist this year!  The two of us met at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and nearly 3 decades later, we are still practicing Chinese medicine together.

Dr. Zhou lecturing on acupuncture in China

Dr. Zhou graduated summa cum laude from Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and earned his masters of medicine from the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, specializing in infectious diseases. In the US, he attained his PhD in virology from the Medical College of Ohio and has worked for over a decade in vaccine development in both private sector companies and at Harvard Medical School.

Although Dr. Zhou and I have similar philosophies on Chinese medicine, our practice styles are quite different. Since I have practiced for a longer period of time in the US, my acupuncture style has become more tailored for American patients.  Dr. Zhou, on the other hand, has retained a more traditional style, using longer needles and deeper points, which is especially powerful for suffers of intense, chronic pain.

Because of our differences in style, Dr. Zhou complements and strengthens the variety and breadth of ailments we are able to treat at Boston Chinese Acupuncture and Boca Raton Acupuncture Clinic.  For example, Dr. Zhou specializes in chronic pain management, post-surgical recovery and disorders affecting the elderly.  Furthermore, with decades of experience in pharmaceutical research, Dr. Zhou is well-suited to treat patients taking many types of medications and ensuring that the acupuncture and Chinese herbs complement their other, Western medical treatment regimes.

Dr. Changhong Zhou 

With his ample schooling and apprenticeships in Chinese medicine, Dr. Zhou is especially gifted in the realm of Chinese herbs.  His skill with Chinese herbal formulas, in fact, has made him a minor celebrity in his home province of Henan, China, where villagers come from hundreds of miles for a chance to see him.  Chinese herbal formulas are especially beneficial for people with chronic ailments such as allergies or autoimmune diseases.  Because the herbs can be safely and affordably taken on a daily basis, they can speed up the reduction of symptoms than using acupuncture alone.  Dr. Zhou's experience with Chinese herbs allows him to safely prescribe formulas even for patients with liver and kidney damage.

Inquires about working with Dr. Zhou can be made by emailing changhongacupuncture@gmail.com or by visiting our websites at www.bostonchineseacupuncture.com or bocaacupuncture.org.

Pain Management Retreat Next Month!

For the millions of Americans living with chronic pain, treatment options can feel very limited. Long-term use of painkillers may cause irreparable side effects like liver and kidney damage. Surgeries can alleviate certain kinds of pain, but the trauma and resulting scar tissue may result in pain of other types.If you are ready to reduce your pain once and for all, the Pain Management Retreat hosted by my colleague Jing Fan and I may be a great event for you!

This 2-day event in Boca Raton, FL will provide not only acupuncture and Chinese massage sessions to instantly relieve your pain, but also teach you techniques you can use at home on your own time to prevent pain before it flares up. For example, Dr. Fan will teach a class on Yijin Jing, a form of Chinese qigong that promotes flexibility and balance by strengthening the muscles and tendons.  Once you learn the basic exercises from Dr. Fan, you will be able to practice at home and build up the strength and flexibility you need to stop pain before it happens. 

The retreat will be packed with events including: 

• acupuncture treatment
• Chinese massage
• herb sampling
• nutrition lecture
• qigong class
• tai chi class

Dr. Fan and I come from very different but complementary backgrounds in medicine. I trained and completed my apprenticeship in traditional Chinese medicine from a holistic point of view while Dr. Fan is an orthopedic surgeon, specializing in osteoarthritis and soft tissue injuries. Though we differ in our mechanistic approach towards treating joint and muscle pain, I was surprised to find that we agree on many of the fundamentals. For example, we both believe that except in very specific cases, electing to do joint surgery often causes more harm than good. Watch a snippet of our conversation about back surgery below!

If you are interested in this one-of-a-kind retreat, visit the official website at bocaacupuncture.org.  For more information about the effects of acupuncture on different kinds of pain, please visit www.bostonchineseacupuncture.com

We are offering a special 10% discount if you register before December 25, 2015 so sign up today!

More testosterone does not necessarily mean better sexual function

We all know that testosterone level is closely related with a man's erectile function, but it is not the only factor that contributes to impotence. The normal range of testosterone level is very wide: from 300 to 1000 pg/mL. You would think a man with testosterone level around 300 pg/mL would probably have some erectile dysfunction, but that is not always true. Let me tell you a story about a man who came to me for weak erections after turning 45 years old.

This man, who formerly served in the US army, used to have such strong sexual drive and function that when he was in his twenties, he went to a bar, had a one night stand with a girl, and ended up with a child before he even thought about setting up a family. He became more responsible in his thirties, got married, and had two other children. He had been a very disciplined military man and later became a successful businessman.

During his first marriage, he started gaining weight around his middle because he ate more candy than before to make him happy. Due to his unhealthy diet and lack of physical exercise, he gained more fat and lost more muscle. He ended up in the hospital for a small surgery and met a beautiful, active younger lady. This new stimulation made his sexual function stronger for a short period of time, but this did not last very long because he did not change his lifestyle.

By the age of 48, he started having knee pain after running for 20 min and noticed that his muscle mass was declining faster then he expected. More important is that although he loves his new girlfriend, his erection still became weaker and he told me he could not have as strong and as long of an erection as a few years ago. On the other hand, his girlfriend, who eats healthy and has a very positive attitude on life, still had beautiful skin and strong sex drive.



My patient did not want to develop impotence and upset his beloved girlfriend, so he did research on the Internet and found that acupuncture can help his knee pain and more importantly, his sexual function. He called me a few months before moving to Boston, and we started treating his knee pain first. Because he still has pretty good circulation and strong muscles due to years of military training and regular sleep pattern, he responded to the treatment very well, and after 6 treatments, he started running again without knee pain.

Then, he brought up his declining sexual function. He told me that he used to have sex with his girlfriend 4 to 5 times a week and their intercourse could last about 40 min. Now, he can barely make once a week, and it only lasted for 10 to 15 min. He told me his first testosterone level was low, around 300 pg/mL. I told him that he needed to build strong muscles and eat a lot of fruit and vegetables to bring up his testosterone level. In the mean time, we started using kidney and liver points to improve the energy flow to his adrenal gland, thyroid gland and testicles.

Within the next 6 months, he lost 40 lbs and gradually gained back his muscle mass.He can have longer and stronger erections and have excellent sex 3 to 4 times a week. He was so thrilled about the changes. However, in a subsequent test for testosterone level, he found that his testosterone level only increased slightly. He is happy with his sexual level, but puzzled by his low level of testosterone.
My answer is that his body may not need that much testosterone to have normal sexual function. Although 350 pg/mL low for other men, it is sufficient for him because acupuncture made his testosterone receptors more efficient. Furthermore, his strong muscle also helps to make his testosterone work better. This phenomenon makes since if we draw an analogy to heart function. A strong heart does not need to beat too fast to provide enough blood and oxygen to your body and brain. From an evolutionary point of view, a lower hormone level can actually protect our body because it allows us to produce less metabolic waste products.

Boston Chinese Acupuncture can help you resume normal erectile function even if your testosterone level is low. Men who a lot of stress from work and high expectations to fulfill may need acupuncture to help them reduce their stress and redirect energy to their testicles, pituitary gland, thyroid gland and hypothalamus every two weeks or once a month. This investment to balance your hormone levels will help you have a healthy and fulfilling sex life through middle age and beyond!

DIY Neck Pain Relief

In our increasingly digital world, we are constantly looking down at our phones, tablets and laptops.  It is no wonder, then, that more and more people come to my clinic for neck pain relief.

Nerves from all over the body go through the neck to reach the brain.  If your neck muscles are tight or spasming, it can irritate the nerves and cut off circulation to the brain and eyes.  As a result, you may experience dizziness, vision problems, difficulty breathing, and anxiety.  Frankly, I cannot overstate how important the neck is to your general feeling of wellbeing.

There are several different ways of relaxing your neck muscles.  The most basic, of course, is to eliminate or reduce the activities that cause those muscles to tighten up, such as the use of electronic devices or misaligned sleeping positions.  However, for most people, drastically reducing the time you spend on the computer is simply not an option due to the nature of your work.  If this is the case, stretching and acupressure may be a good place to start.

Last December, I did a 3-part video series with Dr. Jing Fan, an orthopedic surgeon from Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, on stretching exercises for neck pain. The original blog post can be found on my clinic's website, www.bostonchineseacupuncture.com.  Dr. Fan, who is very tall and spent many hours every day looking down to perform surgeries in China, believes that by doing these exercises for 10 minutes daily, he was able to stave off the neck pain that plagued so many of his colleagues.

If you are in need of instant pain relief and do not have the time or space to perform stretching exercises, there are a few acupressure points you can press while sitting at your desk or lying down. These four points along the neck and upper back are called Gallbladder 20 (Feng Chi), Small Intestines 15, Gallbladder 21 (Jian Jing) and Bladder 15.  I provide a detailed explanation of each one in the video below.

 

Sometimes, however, if your neck muscles have been spasming for too long or you simply cannot reduce the amount of time you spend sitting and working at the computer, DIY neck pain relief may not be enough.  If that is the case, you many want to consider getting acupuncture done at those neck pain relief acupoints to deeply relax your muscles and reset them for a healthier alignment.  I have offices in Needham, MA (20 min outside of Boston) and in Boca Raton, FL, but with the increase in the number of acupuncture schools in the U.S., you should be able to find an experienced acupuncturist near you.

That is all for my DIY Neck Pain Relief Guide for now!  As always, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel @AcuOptimalHealth for more information on acupuncture and healthy living.

All About Women and Autoimmune Diseases

As women, we go through three main periods of hormone upheaval in our lifetime: first during puberty, second during and after pregnancy, and lastly during menopause. When our body is going through such dramatic hormonal changes, we can develop a condition known as estrogen dominance, where the level of estrogen in our body is too high compared to progesterone.

Estrogen is generally an immune stimulant while progesterone is an immune suppressant. Thus, if there is not enough progesterone to balance out estrogen, our immune system may become hyperactive and attack our own tissues, resulting in different autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto's, colitis, and ALS, depending on which tissues are targeted.

If you are interested in the mechanism of how hormone changes affects our likelihood of getting autoimmune diseases, please read the more detailed article I wrote on my website, www.bostonchineseacupuncture.com!



Below are some tips for preventing autoimmune diseases.

1. Avoid using birth control pills if possible. When you do not ovulate regularly, your body has less progesterone to balance estrogen, and therefore, immune function tends to be hyperactive. Once the imbalance reaches a certain level, your gene expression will change.


2. Avoid too much alcohol. Alcohol can enhance an enzyme called aromatase which can convert naturally occurring testosterone into "bad estrogen" that overstimulates your immune system. Also, alcohol tends to make your body produce internal heat, leading to inflammation.


3. Eat more cruciferous vegetables. Kale, cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower can inhibit aromatase naturally.


4. Avoid dry cleaning clothing and using plastic containers. The chemicals used can serve as bad estrogen to change our immune function.


5. Practice yoga, Qi Gong and meditation to calm down the nervous system.


6. Take wheatgrass, raspberry tea, and Chinese herbal formulas to enhance your ovarian, adrenal and other gland functions to create a more balanced hormone level. Certain chemicals in these supplements can also serve as very weak, "good estrogen" to prevent the stimulating effect of "bad estrogen".


7. Regular acupuncture treatments can help adjust your nervous and immune functions.

As always, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel for regular updates on acupuncture and health!

Osteoarthritis & Acupuncture Video Series

Osteoarthritis is the inflammation of the joints caused by wear and tear. Although it can occur in any joint, osteoarthritis typically affects the knee and hip joints.

Recently, I filmed a video series about how acupuncture can help reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis.  For example, acupuncture can reduce the amount of swelling inside the joints, which gives you greater mobility. In addition, acupuncture can induce increased production of hormones inside your body that naturally provide pain relief, such as endorphin, serotonin and dopamine. 

If this peaks your interest and you'd like to learn more about the specific acupuncture points that are used to treat osteoarthritis, please watch the following video where I demonstrate 4 points around the knees that I commonly use on patients with osteoarthritis. Since it is summer vacation right now, I performed the demonstration on my youngest son.  He doesn't have osteoarthritis, but he does play a lot of sports so I figured it's never to early to start protecting his knees with acupuncture!

If you like these mini videos, please subscribe to my YouTube channel for more.  Or if you prefer reading about osteoarthritis to watching videos, transcripts for these can be found at my website, BocaAcupuncture.org!

Acupuncture for Infertility FAQ

Last Wednesday, April 1, my clinic was featured on the WCVB show Chronicle in their episode titled Fertility. It was truly an honor for me to be make my first television appearance talking about how acupuncture can help couples conceive, a topic that has been very important to my career as an acupuncturist. The outpouring of response to this show has been tremendous and I thank everyone who was involved in its production and who took the time to watch! 

My kids took this screenshot of the show and posted it all over their Facebook pages.  I wonder if this means I am finally going to crack the 15-25 year-old demographic!

After the show aired, I received quite a number of requests for further information on how acupuncture for infertility works. I have included a few basic responses below and the rest can be found on my website, Boston Chinese Acupuncture.

ACUPUNCTURE FOR INFERTILITY FAQ 

 

How many couples have you helped get pregnant?

Over the past 15 years I have been practicing in the Boston area, I have helped a couple of hundred women give birth to healthy babies. Women of all ages and underlying fertility problems have come to me for help. I have successfully treated women as old as 46 and women with clinical reproductive problems, including severe endometriosis and PCOS. I have even helped a woman with re-opened ligated tubes get pregnant!

When should I start acupuncture treatments?

You should start acupuncture treatments at least 3 months before you plan to conceive, whether naturally or through IVF and IUI. Acupuncture helps relax your uterus muscles and balance your hormones, increasing the likelihood of a successful implantation

How often should I come for treatments? How long will it take before I get pregnant?

I generally recommend patients come 1-2 times a week. Because the effects of acupuncture are incremental and cumulative, for the best results, I recommend spacing out treatments evenly without leaving too much time between sessions. In my experience, it takes between 2 and 12 months of acupuncture for most women to get pregnant, depending on the individual's age and general health.

Should I continue acupuncture treatments during pregnancy?

Yes. Although acupuncture can been done safely during the entire course of the pregnancy, I recommend that my patients continue acupuncture until at least 12 weeks into their pregnancy. Acupuncture treatments can help lower the rate of miscarriages, which is particularly important during the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy.

New Event: Health Seminar at Whole Foods Market Boca Raton

Next month, I will be holding a free lecture about how green juice and acupuncture can reduce inflammation to prevent cancer, allergies and autoimmune diseases at the Whole Foods Market in Boca Raton, FL. In this lecture, I will use recent scientific research to explain how green juice (blended vegetables comprised predominantly of leafy greens) can help the body balance its immune function and produce more anti-inflammatory chemicals such as cortisol, progesterone and other relaxing hormones. I will also use clinical cases to demonstrate how a powerful combination of green juice and acupuncture can help people fight infertility, menopause and arthritis and aid cancer survivors in preventing neuropathy, anxiety, depression and insomnia. At the end of the talk, I will also be sharing a few of my favorite green juice recipes!

Date: April 19, 2015
Time: 11 am - 12:30 pm
Address: 1400 Glades Rd, Boca Raton, FL 33431 (Boca Raton Whole Foods Market)

Weekly green juice excursion to Whole Foods

I admit that I was originally a green-juice skeptic before my patients convinced me to buy a Vitamix and give juicing a go. The hassle to make a frankly unappetizing, goopy mixture the texture of baby food seemed hardly worth the effort. But after making and drinking green juice for the past few months, I can say that I have been converted. The juices, which are predominantly kale-based, are pretty delicious once I looked past its coloring.  I also started experimenting by adding different fruits and honey into the mix, giving the blend a pleasantly sweet flavor and making it much more palatable.  Making green juice has become a fun kitchen experiment rather than a chore!

Most importantly, I understand now what the hype about green juice is all about. Between the extra fiber, vitamins and minerals, a cup of green juice a day leaves my digestive system running smoothly and my body feeling youthful.  I was also impressed by how full and satisfied I felt after drinking green juice. One problem I've had ever since I was little was feeling hungry between meals. I would snack frequently - a little bit of chocolate here, a handful of nuts there. But as I've gotten older and my metabolism has slowed down, I now need to be much more careful about snacking. Green juice has really helped me on this front because after drinking it, I do not need to eat as much. It's a great relief not to have my stomach clamoring for attention all the time!

Find out more about this event at Facebook and Eventbrite. RSVP today and I hope to see you there!

Using Acupuncture to Increase Blood Oxygen Level

A patient I will call Cindy grew up in Boston and came to my clinic for acupuncture treatments due to breathing difficulties and low blood oxygen levels. She had been an incredibly active and restless lady throughout her life, unable to sit still and constantly moving around energetically. As a teacher in Boston, she loves to use her knowledge and encourage kids to become passionate and creative people. She also takes good care of her family. 

A couple of weeks ago, she had a very stressful work week. Afterwards, she suddenly developed chest tightness and breathing difficulties, so she went to the emergency room and got her heart and lungs checked. Her organs showed no abnormalities, but her blood oxygen level readings (which were measured through her fingers) constantly fluctuated between 67 and 98%, with the right and left fingers showing different readings. She went to see a cardiologist and a pulmonary specialist and was told her lungs and heart have no problems. However, when her oxygen level dropped below 87%, she started having anxiety and chest tightness. 

One day, while sitting in a conference in Needham, she became almost intolerably uncomfortable by the end of the day because her oxygen level had dropped to 76%. During weekends, she does not work and consistently sleeps well, but the blood oxygen level readings of her right side would still be much lower than those of her left side, which typically hovered around 98% percent. She could not understand why the two sides were so different.

A friend recommended her to see me in order to figure out the reason behind her blood oxygen level fluctuation and the difference between her left and right sides. I analyzed her symptoms as well as her medical history. She told me that she was born with weak rotator cuff muscles, which I think may have caused her neck muscles to be extremely tight.  At the time she came to see me, she was 50 years old. Even though she still had normal periods, her ovarian and adrenal gland function had been steadily declining, leading to decreased production of “relaxing” hormones, such as GABA, serotonin and progesterone, and infrequent panic attacks during which she would feel overwhelmed by her responsibilities. The parts of her body that allow her to cope with stress, such as the hypothalamus and pituitary and adrenal glands, have nowhere near the functionality that they had when she was 20. Her estrogen levels were decreasing, but her progesterone levels, estrogen’s counterpart, were declining at a faster rate. Her unbalanced estrogen levels made her nervous system more sensitive to stress, and her overall declining hormone levels caused her shoulder and neck muscles to weaken. If she experienced the same amount of stress she used to experience when she was twenty now, her body would suffer long-term, irreparable damage. Acupuncture can help strengthen her adrenal and ovarian gland function, so she can produce more “relaxing” hormones to cope with stress more efficiently.

Before her first treatment, I asked her to measure her blood oxygen level: the reading fluctuated between 70 and 90%. When I conducted acupressure research with a nurse practitioner at the Medical College of Ohio, I learned that when babies sleep on their stomach, their blood oxygen levels typically increase and they are more relaxed. With that in mind, I ask Cindy to lie on her stomach: her blood oxygen levels started to rise instantly. Afterwards, I put in a few needles to relax her neck and upper shoulder muscles. During this treatment, her blood oxygen levels remained between 98 and 99% for the whole 50 minutes. Next, I applied electrical stimulation on her neck and shoulder muscles for ten minutes. After the treatment, her blood oxygen levels continued to stay at around 98%.  

I believe that her low blood oxygen levels were related to her tight neck and shoulder muscles. However, it seemed peculiar to me that more people do not suffer from her condition. The fact that the rotator cuff muscles on her right side were born weaker than the muscles on her left side could explain why her blood oxygen levels were constantly different on the two sides of her body. In addition, her hyperactive nervous system probably exacerbated the situation. When you are stressed out or have been sitting for too long, your neck and upper shoulder muscles become very tight, which may trigger nerve reflexes, causing your breathing to become shallow and less efficient.  As a result, your blood oxygen levels start dropping, especially in the absence of fresh air, and you become increasingly anxious. This is the reason why many people who work in confined spaces have to go out frequently for fresh air to maintain their productivity.

When a person is in a confined space with many people, lower oxygen levels in the air can cause his/her blood oxygen levels to drop and can trigger anxiety and panic attacks. In contrast, taking a walk on the beach or in the woods, where oxygen levels are high, can alleviate stress and cause one to feel relaxed and happy. If you have no time to go to the beach, simply open the window or stand outside and take deep breaths.

Recent research indicates that meditation combined with a certain type of relaxed thinking and deep breathing can actually change your gene expression. For instance, if you were born with a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system, meditating can create a balance between your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. In this way, when you have to cope with stress, you can stay calm and breathe deeply so your heart rate will not go up too high and your breathing will not become too shallow. When you are in a more relaxed state, your digestive system becomes more efficient, your heart rate slows down and your immune function is more balanced, so you can avoid many kinds of ailments, such as heart disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases and different kinds of inflammation. This is the reason why people who sleep well and stay relaxed most of the time tend to live longer and healthier lives. Genetic factors can only contribute so much to our longevity: we can change our gene expression by turning off bad genes and turning on good genes. Balance is the key for a healthier and happier life.

Acupuncture, Dopamine, and Addiction

Dopamine is a chemical messenger responsible for transmitting signals between nerve cells. It is very prominent in the transmission from the nerve cells of the substantia nigra to those of the corpus striatum, to facilitate smooth, purposeful muscle activity. Dopamine is the immediate metabolic precursor of norepinephrine (also called noradrenaline) and epinephrine (also called adrenaline), i.e., it is the raw material from which the other two chemicals are made. Dopamine can have either an excitatory or inhibitory effect on nerve cells, depending on the characteristics of the protein it combines with.

Dopamine is associated with the perception of pain and pleasure. Increased dopamine in the frontal lobes lessens pain and increases pleasure. If a person naturally has a higher level of dopamine because of a good personality, good genes and a diet, he or she tends to tolerate pain better. That is why even when different people have the same kind of arthritis or back problems, some people have unbearable pain while others have no pain at all. On the TV show House, the foster parents of a girl were suspected of abusing her. Although her body showed many signs of physical abuse, she did not complain about the pain to the physician. One of the residents used a bucket of ice to test her tolerance to coldness. Although the resident started screaming due to the extreme pain induced by the cold ice when he took the test, the little girl stayed very calm. Later, her physicians found out that she had a gene that made her pain threshold above average. She may have had increased amounts of dopamine in her frontal lobes, making her more tolerant to physical pain.

Dopamine is greatly involved in feelings of reward, alertness and purposeful behavior. Dopamine is commonly associated with the 'pleasure system' of the brain, providing feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate us to do, or continue doing certain activities. Dopamine is released by naturally rewarding experiences such as food, sex, the uses of certain drugs and stimuli that become associated with them. In milder disorders, too much dopamine in the limbic system (a network of brain structures) is associated with emotion and memory problems, and not enough in the cerebral cortex may produce an overly suspicious personality prone to bouts of paranoia that may inhibit social interaction.

Alcohol can increase dopamine levels in brain regions collectively called the mesolimbic system by curtailing the enzyme activity that breaks down dopamine. When alcoholics suddenly stop drinking alcohol, their dopamine levels plunge, causing dysphoria, an unpleasant feeling, and anhedonia, the inability to experience the pleasure from normally pleasurable events, such as eating, exercise and social interactions.

The sudden drop of dopamine might contribute to the intense ethanol craving experienced by addicts, explained by Weiss et al. in the Journal of Neuroscience 1996. These ethanol-induced changes in dopamine levels provide positive reinforcement that contributes to continued alcohol abuse. People that have stronger releases of dopamine when they drink alcohol or coffee tend to be addicted to alcohol, especially people who are very smart and do not enjoy social networks. Other people do not have enough enzyme to process alcohol, so they feel stomach pain, nausea, dizzy. A certain group of people will never be able to enjoy alcohol.

Acupuncture at the specific point Ht7 (at the ulnar end of the transverse crease of the wrist, in the depression on the radial side of the tendon of medial flexor carpi ulnaris), but not at control points PC6 (2 inches above transverse crease of wrist, between tendons of medial palmaris longus and medial flexor radialis) or tail, prevented both a decrease of dopamine levels in a specific brain region called the nucleus accumbens during ethanol withdrawal and an increase of dopamine levels induced by an ethanol challenge. Stimulation of Ht7 facilitates normalization of dopamine levels in the brain following chronic ethanol exposure. If people are trying to quit drinking, acupuncture 2 to 3 times a week can help their body stabilize their dopamine level so they do not get depressed or agitated.

Nicotine induces tolerance and addiction by acting on the central dopaminergic pathways (those using dopamine as a neurotransmitter), thus leading to pleasure and reward sensations. It stimulates the central nervous system, enhances alertness and reduces appetite. Many women are reluctant to quit smoking because they are afraid to gain weight. A 50% reduction of nicotine consumption may trigger withdrawal symptoms in addicted individuals including anxiety, anger, sleep disorders, hunger, cognitive dysfunction and cigarette cravings. Certain drugs that inhibit the reuptake of dopamine are used for quitting smoking. However, those drugs can be dangerous to people who have epilepsy, eating disorders, uncontrolled hypertension, recent alcohol abstinence, or are undergoing current therapy with mono-amine oxidase inhibitors (drugs increase norepinephrine and epinephrine levels).

If you have smoked for more than ten years, certain enzyme activities have changed. When you suddenly quit smoking, reduced dopamine levels will make you feel miserable. Ear and body acupuncture can help your body rebalance the brain chemicals, producing more feel-good hormones, such as dopamine, serotonin, and endorphin, and reducing stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. Acupuncture stimulates your own body to rebalance those complicated hormones instead of just inhibiting or stimulating the metabolism of specific hormones. It is hard to use just one chemical change to explain the response of the entire body.

One lady had smoked a pack of cigarettes per day for 30 years before she started acupuncture treatments. After her best friend died of lung cancer at the age of 50, she finally decided to quit. She had acupuncture twice a week for 6 weeks. Surprisingly, she did not have any withdrawal symptoms or even gain any weight. Another lady had a couple of ear needles for 3 months; she never went back to smoking. Her daughter said that she was extremely surprised because her mother had been a heavy smoker for more than 20 years. However, not everybody has successful stories. Two major factors affecting success are the extent of a person's determination to quit and the busyness of the person's schedule during the quitting process.

Morphine can also induce dopamine release, causing addiction. Acupuncture can suppress Morphine Withdrawal Syndrome. In 2005, Dr. Kim and his colleagues in South Korea reported results of a study on how acupuncture can change dopamine levels and influence behavior in rats sensitized to morphine. They posted their results in the magazine Neuroscience Letter. Acupuncture at the specific acupuncture point HT7, but not at control points (TW8 and tail), significantly decreased both dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and behavioral hyperactivity induced by a systemic morphine challenge. These results suggest that the therapeutic effect of acupuncture on morphine addiction occurs through normalization of dopamine and reduction of behavioral sensitization by morphine.

Postpartum Doulas of the East: Sitting the Month

The Chinese tradition of “sitting the month” is a combination of medical, behavioral and dietetic practices designed to maximize recovery from the adverse effects of childbirth and pregnancy in postpartum women during the first month after childbirth. According to Chinese Medical theory, two main issues afflict all postpartum women: qi/blood deficiency and blood stagnation in the area of the uterus. These two deficiencies, if not properly attended to, can give rise to any number of illnesses – sometimes illnesses manifest instantly, others begin in the post-partum period but do not surface until later. Common afflictions include anemia, insufficient breast milk, lightheadedness, constipation or oliguria, a bloated sensation, and immune system deficiency. If the symptoms are left untended, more serious illness, such as hypothyroidism, depression, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and debilitating menopause may result. “Sitting the month” uses a combination of personally tailored Chinese herbal formulas, food therapy and lifestyle changes to alleviate the above symptoms and ensure that more serious illness does not result from the temporary weakness which all women experience in the early postpartum stages.

Due to some of the more anachronistic practices associated with “sitting the month,” – a moratorium on showering, air conditioning and going outside in the wind, a diet of relatively bland foods, etc. – the tradition had all but vanished, but new “sitting centers,” which cater to the needs of modern women, have helped foster an unprecedented resurgence in popularity all while retaining the core theoretical principles on which the practice was founded. Today in Taiwan, the top sitting centers have waitlists backed up for years – perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that treatments not only restore health and vitality, they also help women to recover their pre-childbirth physique using herbal therapy and acupuncture.

Now, as interest in “sitting the month” continues to grow, new research has put the old tradition to the test of modern “evidence-based” standards with highly positive results. A new retrospective cohort study conducted by the China Medical University of Taiwan found that a standard “sitting the month” regimen - including herbal medicine, dietary restriction and lifestyle change- significantly raised erythrocyte levels, increased breast milk, decreased lochia elimination time and decreased likelihood of depression in a group of post-partum women compared with a group of post-partum women who had not sat the month. [1]

In recent times, commentators have compared sitting the month to the increasingly popular western practice of hiring a “postpartum doula.” In fact, the two practices do hold a lot in common, but with some key differences. Both practices honor the importance of the mother’s health postpartum and work to recover and maintain health during this crucial period. Both practices also decrease the demands and stress on the mother directly following birth by providing cooking and cleaning services throughout the first month. Sitting the month is distinguished from having a postpartum doula insofar as it incorporates a system of medical knowledge into the recovery and care process. According to Chinese medical gynecology, the body is in a weak and deficient state following birth: sitting the month is designed to not only assuage the daily stresses associated with new-motherhood, but to treat the specific imbalances that afflict all postpartum women. In this regard, sitting the month is actually a more holistic, multi-faceted approach to postpartum care.

For more information on sitting the month, please see the Time article below.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2099912,00.html

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[1] For an abstract of the study, please see http://www.ccmp.gov.tw/public/public.asp?selno=1378&relno=1378&level=C.

(Traditional Mandarin Chinese)

Sanfujiu: A Traditional, Non-Invasive Treatment for Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Chronic Respiratory Illness.

    In recent years, Taiwan has seen a resurgence in the use of a traditional treatment called “Sanfujiu” (三伏灸) for patients with a wide variety of respiratory problems. The treatment is simple – herbal patches are placed on specified acupoints on the back and left for one day three times throughout the summer – but the results, both anecdotally and scientifically, have attracted increasing attention from patients and practitioners in Taiwan and abroad.

    According to Chinese Medical theory, allergies, asthma and chronic bronchitis are often caused by deficiencies in the yang qi of the lung. Sanfujiu uses herbal patches that supplement yang qi on points corresponding to the lung. Additionally, practitioners traditionally choose to treat on three days in the summer when “environmental yang qi” and the body’s yang qi are both thought to be at their highest. The rationale is that a treatment for supplementing yang qi will be most effective when environmental yang qi and bodily yang qi are at their respective peaks. [i]

    Until recently, the efficacy of Sanfujiu had only been corroborated on an anecdotal level, but a growing body[ii] of scientific evidence now confirms that Sanfujiu can be effective in treating allergic rhinitis, asthma and chronic bronchitis. In particular, a research study conducted by Harvard School of Public Health and a team of Taiwanese collaborators found that:

 The acupoint herbal patch (sanfujiu) is a valuable treatment for allergic rhinitis, especially in the symptoms of sneezing, running and itchy nose. The results of the SF-36 indicate a distinct improvement in GH (general health) and VT (vitality) in patients treated with acupoint herbal patches. This study supports the belief that the acupoint herbal patch is an effective treatment for allergic rhinitis and can significantly improve general health, social life and vitality in quality of life.[iii]

    Additionally, informal studies carried out within the China Medical University of Taiwan report 80% efficacy in patients with asthma and seasonal allergies who have received 3 consecutive years of treatment. Such efficacy rates help explain why Sanfujiu has achieved such wide-ranging popularity in Taiwan and receives increasing attention abroad.

A video showing a Sanfujiu treatment (in Chinese): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=tzaHuFmEjTc#t=64s

By: William Ceurvels

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·                                 [i] Chen-Jei Tai, Chia-Pei Chang, et al. (2007) Efficacy of Sanfujiu to Treat Allergies: Patient Outcomes at 1 Year after Treatment. Evidence Based Complementary Alternative Medicine. 2007 June; 4(2): 241–246. PMC1876606

[ii]  See reference section of above article for a long list of related studies.    

            [iii] Wei-Hung Hsu, et al. (2010) Chinese Medicine Acupoint Herbal Patching for Allergic Rhinitis: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine. No.4 661-673. DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X10008135.

Excessive Sweating

Did you ever have the experience that you are in a fight-or-flight condition; your heart and breathing rates go up, your pupils dilate and your hands are sweating to cope with the emergency situation due to the adrenaline release? After the emergency is over, you end up with cold hands and feet and you are very tired. If this condition becomes worse, you could constantly have sweaty palms whenever you are multitasking, rushing around or nervous about something, and you may get diagnosed as excessive sweating.
We know that excessive sweating is caused by overactive sweat glands. The sweat gland is controlled by branches of sympathetic nerves in the chest area, which are controlled by the hypothalamus, a part of the brain controlling appetite, body temperature, thirst, fatigue, anger and circadian cycles. People suffering from this condition can sweat spontaneously, even at room temperature, and excessively in a slightly warm environment. The most common parts of the body that sweat are the palms, feet, armpits, chest, abdominal area and face. Unfortunately, those who sweat excessively tend to have a special body odor, so that they smell bad- another thing to be self-conscious about. 
If you have this problem, you can most likely blame your parents, because genetic make-up plays a big part. People with very sensitive sympathetic nervous systems tend to have hyperhidrosis. Excessive sweating and very sensitive nervous systems tend to run in the family. Thus, you may have inherited your problems from your mom, but you do not have to accept them. You can return that bad hand you have been dealt and get a much better one, so do not worry. If you are willing to change your life style a little bit, you might be able to change the gene expression.
However, you must do some work yourself. There are lifestyle choices you can make that will lessen this problem or possibly make it go away completely. You can make decisions that will change things. Start by drinking less alcohol, which can intensify the symptoms. Alcohol can produce a lot of heat inside your body and get your nervous system going. In order to maintain a normal body temperature, you have to expel extra heat through sweat and urination. That is why people tend to drink more alcohol in cold weather.. Alcoholics tend to have clammy hands and feet. There are cases where people never had this problem growing up, only to have it appear later in life, usually triggered by drinking too much alcohol. So, please drink less for your own health, dignity and peace of mind. You do not have to stop completely, just reduce, reduce, and reduce until your problem goes away. 
Other things that stimulate your nervous system that you can reduce:
1. Caffeine stimulates your sympathetic nerves, so your body becomes even more sensitive to temperature changes and stress.
2. Warm drinks and food can make you sweat more.
3. Low and high blood sugar levels can induce adrenaline release to intensify sweating.
4. Stress can induce cortisol and adrenaline release to stimulate the nervous system.
5. Multitasking: when you do three things at the same time, your body has to release more adrenaline, which stimulates the nervous system.
6. Imbalanced progesterone and estrogen levels also sensitize your nervous system, so that your body may react very strongly to small temperature changes. That is why menopausal women sweat easily, then quickly feel chilled afterwards. Men who use testosterone cream for a long time tend to sweat a lot with a special body odor.
7. Obesity: Obese people have higher levels of cortisol and estrogen. They can tolerate stress better than skinny people, but they have less tolerance for heat. When obese women go through menopause, they have more hot flashes than average-weight women.
8. Spicy foods also produce internal heat. People can tolerate spicy foods in a very damp and cold climate, but if they leave for warmer places, they have to change their eating habits accordingly.
Acupuncture, meditation, yoga and Qi Gong will help balance your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The majority of acupuncture points can be used to calm down the sympathetic nerves and strengthen the parasympathetic nerves. If your sympathetic nerves are in a more stable condition, your body will not respond to temperature changes as strongly. Food and herbs, such as bitter melon and dandelion, which have a bitter taste tend to help clear the body heat and reduce the sweating and inflammation. Sour-tasting food can help your body generate more body fluids, so that the Yin ( the essence of the body) and Yang (the energy part of the body) can be balanced. In order to achieve a happier and healthier life, the Yin and Yang have to be balanced, so that your body will sweat properly.