Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine are one the oldest and most proven forms of medicine. They are over 3000 years old and is now one of the fastest growing fields of medicine in the United States. There are a lot of unanswered questions people have about this medicine. I will try to put it in “layman’s terms” that will be easier to understand. The biggest difference between Western and Eastern Medicine is that : Western medicine primarily concentrates on symptoms and Eastern medicine concentrates on the root of the symptoms. For example: if disease is a tree, the symptoms would be the branches and if you were to trim the branches the tree would continue to grow. Western Medicine on the average, masks the symptoms and the disease continues to grow. While, Eastern Medicine looks at the sum of all the symptoms, and through 3000 years of clinical application they have found the root of the problem.

At this point, we can attack the root and get rid of the problem for good, with no side effects. The Chinese philosophy of yin and yang, explains how if the body is in energetic balance disease can not exist. There are 14 energy channels (merdians) that go up and down the body and each one of them are connected to a certain organ. On these channels there are over 300 points, each one of them having a purpose to help heal the body. Energy known as Qi (chee) flows through these channels and is the life force of the body; therefore we can access each organ through these channels. The way we diagnose patients is by looking at their tongue which is a microcosm of their internal organs and taking their pulse. There are different positions on each wrist that corresponds to different organs in the body and there are over thirty different types of pulses. I like to say we are “health detectives”, Acupuncturists who can see into the future of a person’s health.

There are several reasons why the body and organs will get out of balance: diet, external pathogens and emotions are three of the main reasons. Diet is very important because you are what you eat. There are foods that are hot and cold in nature and depending on your body type you need to eat certain foods to keep in balance. Also, the way you eat and when you eat can effect your health. There is a saying in China that explains why Americans are overweight and malnourished. It states, “ eat breakfast like a prince, lunch like a king and feed dinner to your enemies”. We do the opposite here in the U.S. The stomach Qi is at its strongest time of the day between 7 to 9 am and at it weakest between 7 to 9 pm.

The external pathogens I am talking about are hot, cold, wind, dryness, dampness, and summer heat. This all sounds very basic which it is because you have to remember how old the medicine is. You are a part of the environment and it plays a role in disease. The other factor is emotions. They play a large role in the organs being diseased. Each organ has an emotion that is connected to it. The heart is joy and over stimulation of this emotion can damage the heart. The liver is anger and depression, which you can see in recovering alcoholics who go between the two. Western medicine gives you drugs to mask the symptoms of depression, which in turn is really making the problem worse since these drugs are toxicating the liver even more. If you were to stop taking the drug your depression could become even worse. What happens is when the patient stops taking the drug that is masking the symptoms, their body isn’t able to handle the detox program that the liver needs to get back into harmony. So, the patient becomes a slave to the drug just to get through life. The spleen is worry and over thinking, the kidneys are fear and shock, and the lungs are sadness and grief. When the organ is out of balance these emotions will surface or if these emotions are dominate in your life the corresponding organ will be in a diseased state.

In China you have doctors who specialize in all the same fields Western doctors do in the U.S. The two medicines work hand and hand in China as equals. A large difference between the two medicines is that Western medicine is really “sick care” because you only go to the doctor when you are sick. In China, you pay the Eastern doctors to keep you healthy. This is like changing your oil in your car so it runs right. It would be ridiculous not to change the oil as then the mechanic would have to rebuild your engine every time it seized up. People take better care of their cars then they do their bodies. If you don’t get healthy in China the doctor doesn’t get paid.

The body is like an electronic computer and when a acupuncture needle is put in a point, it is like pushing a command key on the computer. Each point has a certain indication or command that helps the body heal itself. Acupuncturist are really computer programmers who program the body to heal itself. Sounds easy but it is an acquired skill. If you were to stick a needle in the point and not get the arrival of Qi the procedure would be useless. Getting Qi is a technique where the patient’s Qi actually comes up the acupuncture needle and the acupuncturist gets a feeling of a vibration that radiates through the needle. This specialized touch took me two years of schooling before I recognized the feeling. Also intent has a large role in the procedure. As I am putting the point in, in my minds eye I am thinking about what I want the point to do. For instance the point stomach 40 helps resolve phlegm in the body. So the Acupuncturist would place the needle in the point and get the Qi(energy), and rotate the needle counter clockwise to sedate the phlegm. I like to explain to the patient each point I am sticking the needle in so they can also be proactive with their treatment. I have found that by doing this the patients tend to get quicker results, because we have double intent playing into their healing.

At the All Natural Healing Medical Center, we have a maintence program that goes right along with the Chinese philosophy. Our goal is for our patients to live their lives the healthiest they can. We sit down with you and evaluate all aspects of your lifestyle and fine tune them for each individual. This will slow up the aging process and we can head disease off at the pass. Call today for FREE CONSULTATION with Dr. House. Good luck, have fun, God Bless. Feel free to email or call me with any questions or concerns. Clinic 941-953-3700 or DrMikeHouse@gmail.com.. like Us on Facebook “All Natural Healing Medical Center” ……Dr Michael House AP, O.M.D.