Gua Sha

Fall Illness is Not Inevitable

One tool that I use to prevent and treat Fall illnesses is Gua Sha, which means "scraping sha".
Sha is what you see when you press on someone's muscle tissue and see your fingertips leave behind a white mark surrounded by redness. Try this on a friend's neck or shoulders. If you press there and see your fingertips leave a mark, they could use some Gua Sha!

I use a smooth-edged tool to scrap the sha, applying oil and moderate pressure to the tissue. What is revealed are red-to-purple marks, petechia, which fade within 2-4 days. This allows for stagnant blood to leave the area, bringing fresh blood IN.

In addition to treating respiratory conditions, I love this modality for folks with chronically tense/painful neck and shoulder and back muscles.

For more information, check out this link.

SPECIAL OFFERS FROM DEVI HEALTH

1. For the months of September, October, and November, I am offering $40 30-minute Eastern Nutrition consultations.

This is a great way to discuss in-depth a strategy for preventing illness and treating what commonly ails you, from sinus infections to headaches. I have on hand some wonderful recipes for soups, stews, congees, and medicinal meals that may serve as home remedies to keep you and your family healthy.

2. For those who are new to acupuncture, I am offering 40% off the 90-minute initial appointment, a value of $40!! Please spread the word!

3. If you are thinking of giving a loved one a gift certificate for a 60-minute acupuncture session, I am offering gift packages this year! You may purchase 2 treatments for $120, 3 for $150, and 5 for $200.

These make great wedding gifts or support packages for wedding parties and/or families.

4. Group Acupuncture: If your family, co-workers, or friends could use a collective boost, talk to me about setting up a group acupuncture session for you all, which will include a group guided meditation and wellness discussion.

Eastern Nutrition and the Heart

Here is a super helpful article from Acupuncture Today that discusses some ways to support your heart health using what I like to call "kitchen medicine." You do not have to confine your entire diet to what is discussed here, but incorporating some of these ideas into your existing diet may be a way to slowly transition toward a diet that supports your entire being.

I personally love the breakfast, especially before or after major events - the kinds that really tax you, leaving you sometimes disoriented, ungrounded, and anxious or agitated. Add some cinnamon twig for added warmth and invigoration.

Medicated Diet Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease

By Gordon Cohen, LAc

Angina, chest pain, dizziness, palpitation and high blood pressure are symptoms associated with cardiovascular disease. Medical science dedicates a great deal of effort and expense developing drugs, devices and procedures to combat the most common cause of death in both men and women.

These symptoms can be controlled, prevented and treated successfully using medicated diet therapy.

Medicated diet therapy is a special branch of Chinese herbology which uses food products according to their herbal properties to treat diseases. This combines the effectiveness of herbal medicine with the familiarity of foodstuffs. Many common foods have herbal properties, and many of the herbs first identified in source texts were barley, yams, dates, walnuts, figs, grapes and sesame seeds. Medicated diet is divided into two components, namely dietary drugs and medicinal recipes. Dietary drugs are individual foods. They are used to complement other, more detailed modalities. Medicinal recipes are complex formulae which are effective alone and also potentiate other treatments.

The most revered ancient texts of acupuncture and herbal medicine include dietary prescriptions. For example, in the Treatise on Cold-Induced Diseases, rice porridge is recommended to be taken concurrently with the first prescription of gui zhi tang.

The ingredients of medicated recipes are selected according to classifications defined in traditional herbology. These are according to the nature of the flavors and the associated organs. Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, bland and spicy determine types of herbal function and target particular organs. For example sour ingredients target the liver, while bitter ingredients target the heart and are anti-toxic in action.

The nature of food refers to indications of metabolic response and determine potential side effects. These are described as cold, cool, neutral, warm and hot. Red chili pepper is hot in nature. If applied to the skin, a sensation of warmth will be perceived. When ingested, it will produce an elevation of body temperature. It can cause increase of night sweats, but is useful in treating chills. Mint leaf is used to treat sore throat. Its cool nature produces the familiar sensation associated with mint flavoring.

Ingredients are also selected according to their roles in the actions of the recipe. These are categorized as follows: chief, deputy, assistant and envoy. The chief ingredient in a recipe determines the recipe's main function. An example would be meat in any recipe. The deputy supports the chief action and adds a secondary function. This would be the beans in chili con carne. Assistants enhance the effect of the chief or deputy (helping assistant).They can also reduce harshness or toxicity (opposing assistant).Onions, which improve the function of qi-tonifying meats such as beef, are helping assistants. Fresh ginger is a very potent antidotal and will neutralize actual poisons found in herbs and foods, as an opposing assistant. The envoy directs the formula to a specific anatomical location and harmonizes the flavors of the recipe. Round-grain polished rice is sweet and neutral. It harmonizes the flavors of recipes. It also activates the middle burner, which makes it an ideal envoy.

After differential diagnosis using tongue and pulse signs, dietary drugs are selected, and the chief, deputy, assistants and envoys chosen. For example, a patient presents symptoms of chilled extremities and a desire for warm liquids, accompanying palpitations. A pale bluish or swollen tongue accompanied by slow pulse indicates yang deficiency or cold accumulation. Treatment should tonify yang and disperse cold.

The treatment of cardiovascular disease is one of the more important uses of medicated diet therapy. Coronary artery disease is considered to be an excellent target from the aspects of prevention, cure and recovery. Treatment falls into two subcategories: individual foods, and medicinal recipes.

Coronary artery disease is differentiated by TCM into two categories: excess and deficiency. The main dietary drugs for the heart are shan zha, xie bai, bai he, long yan rou, sang ren, fu ling, suan zao ren, ju hua, rou gui, gan jiang, da suan, kun bu and hai zao. These are used alone for blood stasis, qi deficiency, yin deficiency, yang deficiency, qi stasis and phlegm stasis. Dietary drugs are taken as snacks, condiments or flavoring for rice porridge. More complicated recipes are offered for comprehensive treatments.

For example: hawthorn and wild garlic porridge is used to treat obvious precordial pain with qi deficiency. Sargasso, soybean and kelp soup treats coronary disease accompanied by hypertension and high cholesterol. Ginseng, red sage and hawthorn spirits treats blood stasis and qi deficiency. Honeyed Extract for Nourishing the Heart treats deficient yin and qi, as well as blood stasis.

The best way to take advantage of food herbology is to prescribe daily menus which offer more options than breakfast, lunch and dinner. Here are some examples:

Breakfast: Red date and wheat-berry rice porridge. This wholesome nutty porridge strengthens and regulates the heart qi. Red date is the chief. It is sweet and neutral, and activates the heart, spleen and stomach. In this recipe, it nourishes the heart qi. Wheat berry is the deputy. It is sweet and cool, and activates the heart and lung. In this recipe, it regulates the heart qi.

Lunch: Carrot, macrostem onion and celery porridge. This savory rice porridge is especially effective to treat coronary disease accompanied by precordial discomfort .Macrostem onion is the chief. It is spicy bitter and warm. It activates the lung, heart, stomach and large intestine. In this recipe, it regulates the qi in the chest. Carrot is the deputy. It is sweet and neutral, and activates the lung and spleen, and tonifies the five organs. In this recipe, it strengthens the heart. Celery is also a deputy. It is sweet, bitter and cool. It activates the stomach and liver. In this recipe, it regulates the blood vessels.

Dinner: Saffron and black-chicken rice porridge. This savory porridge nourishes the yin and invigorates the blood. Black chicken is a chief ingredient. It is sweet and neutral, and activates the liver and kidney. In this recipe, it nourishes the yin. Saffron is the other chief ingredient. It is spicy and warm, and activates the heart and liver. In this recipe, it invigorates and nourishes the blood. Round-grain polished rice is the envoy. It is sweet and neutral, and activates the spleen and stomach. It harmonizes the ingredients.

This menu offers a variety of dietary drugs presented in the most effective manner to support other treatment. The ingredients used in medicated diet are common foods that are readily available in grocery stores. Medicated diet therapy can be frequently used in conjunction with other modalities of traditional Chinese medicine. By including it in treatment of heart disease, the practitioner can potentiate the effectiveness of herb and acupuncture prescriptions and improve their outcome.

As the summer approaches its end, you may be feeling heavy-limbed, sluggish, irritable. Try including kitchari in your diet as a way to give yourself a gentle cleanse while not depriving your body of nourishment.

Cleansing Kitchari: from www.yogajournal.com

This Indian comfort food provides strength and energy while you're fasting.

By Alison Rose Levy

In America, downing a hearty grain dish would not be called fasting. But in India kitchari—a soupy porridge made from rice and mung beans, lightly spiced with ginger, cilantro, and other spices—is considered a fasting food and is used to purify digestion and cleanse systemic toxins.

Ayurvedic physicians often prescribe a kitchari diet before, during, and after panchakarma, a rejuvenative treatment that cleanses toxins stored in bodily tissues as it restores systemic balance. Kitchari provides solid nourishment while allowing the body to devote energy to healing. You can safely subsist on kitchari anytime in order to build vitality and strength as it helps balance all three doshas. For restless vata, the warm soup is grounding; for fiery pitta, its spices are calming; and for chilly kapha, it provides healing warmth.

Ayurveda believes that all healing begins with the digestive tract, and kitchari can give it a much-needed rest from constantly processing different foods while providing essential nutrients. The blend of rice and split mung beans offers an array of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Its mixture of spices is believed to kindle the digestive fire, the Ayurvedic description for your innate digestive power, which can be weakened by poor food combinations.

Kitchari tastes like a cross between a creamy rice cereal and a light dal, or lentil soup. If it is a cold, blustery day or you are feeling under the weather, a steaming bowl of this classic Indian comfort food can both warm up your bones and restore sagging energy. Everyone has his or her own special method of making kitchari. Ayurvedic Cooking for Self-Healing (The Ayurvedic Press, 1997), by Usha Lad and Vasant Lad, offers a half-dozen kitchari recipes, including this one that was adapted for Yoga Journal:

First, rinse one cup of split yellow mung beans and soak for several hours. Set aside. In a blender, liquefy one tablespoon of peeled, chopped ginger; two tablespoons of shredded coconut; and a handful of chopped cilantro with one-half cup of water. In a large saucepan, lightly brown one-half teaspoon cinnamon; one-quarter teaspoon each of cardamom, pepper, clove powder, turmeric, salt; and three bay leaves (remove before serving) in three tablespoons of ghee, or butter.

Drain the mung dal and then stir it into the spice mixture in the saucepan. Next, add one cup of raw basmati rice. Stir in the blended spice and coconut mixture, followed by six cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook on low heat for approximately 25 to 30 minutes until soft.

If you are feeling especially warm, irritable, and sluggish, consider removing the coconut and the warming herbs: cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, and clove powder. Try emphasizing the mung beans and even mung bean sprouts, grated daikon radish, and aduki beans. Experiment!

Some other nutritional ideas for beating the heat while being good to your body:

• Drink: peppermint tea, cucumber water, lots of water infused with lemon, dandelion root tea, green tea
  
• Eat: light meals consisting of steamed vegetables and whole grains, like amaranth, couscous, quinoa, barley
  
• Avoid: dairy, beer, hot and iced coffee with cream (yummy as it is, it'll create more stagnation and dampness in your system)

At the same time, approach what you eat with joy, remembering compassion for yourself and moderation in ALL THINGS, especially when working on your health!

Why Acupuncture? Here's Why!

I love acupuncture, and I love it when biomedical practitioners are supportive of it, as well!

Check out this article from the Mayo Clinic from SunSentinel.com

By Ronald Reimer M.D., Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville
December 31, 2008

Dear Mayo Clinic: What do you think of acupuncture as a treatment for various ailments? How does it work?

Acupuncture, which has been used and studied throughout the world for more than 4,000 years, can be utilized to rebalance the flow of energy (Qi) in the body and effectively treat many conditions. At Mayo Clinic, acupuncture has been used successfully for pain management, postoperative nausea, anxiety relief, drug addiction, insomnia and headaches, to name a few.

Acupuncture is administered by inserting up to a dozen or more tiny needles into very precise locations (points) determined by symptoms. The needle insertion points are based on a series of points along meridians or channels that interconnect throughout the body, each with a different function. There are 12 principal meridians within the body, containing almost 400 acupuncture points.

Patients rarely have any discomfort with needle insertion. Needles remain in place for 15 to 45 minutes. During a treatment, the acupuncturist may gently stimulate the needles manually, apply heat with a ceramic lamp at a safe distance, or attach low-frequency electrical stimulation. The goal is to improve energy flow in the body, thus relieving pain and other symptoms, allowing people to improve their quality of life.

For some conditions, one treatment provides rapid relief. Other situations, such as chronic pain management, may require a series of treatments. In some cases, symptom relief is not always immediate and may require a period of two to three days for the positive effects to be noted. This is in part related to delayed secretion of endorphins. While some patients and providers remain skeptical of its therapeutic value, acupuncture is becoming more mainstream in Western medicine as a stand-alone treatment or as one element of a comprehensive treatment plan.
As a practicing neurosurgeon, I can cite several examples of acupuncture's beneficial effects. These stories from our patients illustrate the scope of acupuncture's benefits.

Post-surgery nausea

Nausea and vomiting after surgery can be a serious side effect of anesthesia for some patients. It can slow recovery and require some patients to remain in the hospital for weeks on IV fluids. Potential complications of extended bed rest include increased risk of pneumonia and blood clots. One acupuncture treatment can abate the nausea.
A colleague of mine needed neck surgery and had a history of postoperative nausea that resulted in prolonged hospital stays. We performed acupuncture within an hour of surgery. At that point, she was already developing nausea. Following one treatment, she didn't need anti-nausea medication, slept well and sailed through her recovery. She and her husband considered the benefit dramatic. We also have seen dramatic results in liver and heart transplant patients with relief of nausea and quicker recovery.

Tennis and golf elbow (epicondylitis)

Another patient, an avid tennis player, thought he was permanently sidelined because of elbow pain. Aggressive physical therapy and steroid injections hadn't helped. With one acupuncture session, his pain was eliminated, and several days later he played in a doubles match - and won. Studies have shown that, for this type of pain, acupuncture can be more effective than steroid injections or physical therapy alone.

Cancer recovery

Another patient had difficulty bouncing back after surgery - an esophagus resection to treat cancer. Like many patients, he had problems eating, lost weight and wasn't able to work or exercise. After he'd lost almost 50 pounds and nothing else helped, he tried a series of acupuncture treatments. He says the acupuncture gave him his life back. He has returned to work and more normal activities, has gained needed weight and works out regularly with a trainer.

Growing acceptance

Granted, these are anecdotes. Not everyone will experience similar results, nor might everyone even be a candidate for acupuncture. Acupuncture has an excellent safety profile, with negligible risk of infection or bleeding. It can safely be performed on patients who are on blood thinners, unlike many other pain management modalities. Patients should seek treatment by physicians who've received extensive training in the art and science of acupuncture.

*Please Note The majority of acupuncturists are not M.D.'s but are highly qualified to perform acupuncture. Most Acupuncturists have obtained a A Master's degree in Chinese Medicine from an accredited four year program and passed a National exam.

Overall, an ever-growing body of research confirms the benefits of acupuncture.

One treatment can cost from $100 to $200, and most insurance companies do not cover acupuncture.Coverage is slowly becoming more common, as insurers see that acupuncture can help reduce health-care costs when fewer pain medications are needed and patients can be discharged more quickly from the hospital.

Send questions to medicaledge@mayo.edu or Medical Edge from Mayo Clinic, c/o TMS, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207. For more information, go to mayoclinic.org.

Tanuja's Addendum: At my office, I charge $80 for an hour-long appointment, $100 for a 90-minute appointment. I do not accept insurance, but I can give patients a Superbill which they may submit to their insurance company for a reimbursement.

And another post on health care reform...

The health care fight has turned ugly, fast. And lies about reform are spreading via anonymous email chains. Here are the real facts that you need to know:

Top Five Health Care Reform Lies—and How to Fight Back (from MoveOn.org)

Lie #1: President Obama wants to euthanize your grandma!!!

The truth: These accusations—of "death panels" and forced euthanasia—are, of course, flatly untrue. As an article from the Associated Press puts it: "No 'death panel' in health care bill."1 What's the real deal? Reform legislation includes a provision, supported by the AARP, to offer senior citizens access to a professional medical counselor who will provide them with information on preparing a living will and other issues facing older Americans.2

If you'd like to read the actual section of the legislation that spawned these outrageous claims (Section 1233 of H.R. 3200) for yourself, here it is. It's pretty boring stuff, which is why the accusations that it creates "death panels" is so absurd. But don't take our word for it, read it yourself.

Lie #2: Democrats are going to outlaw private insurance and force you into a government plan!!!

The truth: With reform, choices will increase, not decrease. Obama's reform plans will create a health insurance exchange, a one-stop shopping marketplace for affordable, high-quality insurance options.3 Included in the exchange is the public health insurance option—a nationwide plan with a broad network of providers—that will operate alongside private insurance companies, injecting competition into the market to drive quality up and costs down.4 If you're happy with your coverage and doctors, you can keep them.5 But the new public plan will expand choices to millions of businesses or individuals who choose to opt into it, including many who simply can't afford health care now.

Lie #3: President Obama wants to implement Soviet-style rationing!!!

The truth: Health care reform will expand access to high-quality health insurance, and give individuals, families, and businesses more choices for coverage. Right now, big corporations decide whether to give you coverage, what doctors you get to see, and whether a particular procedure or medicine is covered—that is rationed care. And a big part of reform is to stop that.

Health care reform will do away with some of the most nefarious aspects of this rationing: discrimination for pre-existing conditions, insurers that cancel coverage when you get sick, gender discrimination, and lifetime and yearly limits on coverage.6 And outside of that, as noted above, reform will increase insurance options, not force anyone into a rationed situation.

Lie #4: Obama is secretly plotting to cut senior citizens' Medicare benefits!!!

The truth: Health care reform plans will not reduce Medicare benefits.7 Reform includes savings from Medicare that are unrelated to patient care—in fact, the savings comes from cutting billions of dollars in overpayments to insurance companies and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.8

Lie #5: Obama's health care plan will bankrupt America!!!

The truth: We need health care reform now in order to prevent bankruptcy—to control spiraling costs that affect individuals, families, small businesses, and the American economy. Right now, we spend more than $2 trillion dollars a year on health care.9 The average family premium is projected to rise to over $22,000 in the next decade10—and each year, nearly a million people face bankruptcy because of medical expenses.11 Reform, with an affordable, high-quality public option that can spur competition, is necessary to bring down skyrocketing costs. Also, President Obama's reform plans would be fully paid for over 10 years and not add a penny to the deficit.12

P.S. Want more? Check out this great new White House "Reality Check" website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/ or this excellent piece from Health Care for America Now on some of the most outrageous lies: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51729

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Do not fear, I will get back to discussing acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, if people do not have access to affordable health care, my entire existence becomes futile. Even if I offer a sliding scale for my services. Even if I work in underserved communities. Everyone, meaning the insured and the uninsured, will continue to suffer if we do not pass some sensible health care reform. Period.

Side-by-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals

Seriously, check this out. Use it.
And come to your own conclusions.

Weighing in on Health Care Reform

What is Comprehensive Health Care Reform?

from a great website!

Comprehensive health care reform will provide a guarantee of good, affordable health coverage to everyone and make health care more affordable for our families, our businesses, and our nation as a whole. HCAN has 10 principles for reform that have been endorsed by President Obama and more than 190 members of Congress:

• A truly inclusive and accessible health care system in which no one is left out.
• A choice of a private insurance plan, including keeping the insurance you have if you like it, or a public health insurance plan that guarantees affordable coverage without a private insurer middleman.
• A standard for health benefits that covers what people need to keep healthy and to be treated when they are ill. Health care benefits should cover all necessary care including preventative services and treatment needed by those with serious and chronic diseases and conditions.
• Health care coverage with out-of-pocket costs including premiums, co-pays, and deductibles that are based on a family’s ability to pay for health care and without limits on payments for covered services.
• Equity in health care access, treatment, research and resources to people and communities of color, resulting in the elimination of racial disparities in health outcomes and real improvement in health and life expectancy for all.
• Health coverage through the largest possible pools in order to achieve affordable, quality coverage for the entire population and to share risk fairly.
• A watchdog role on all plans, to assure that risk is fairly spread among all health care payers and that insurers do not turn people away, raise rates, or drop coverage based on a person’s health history or wrongly delay or deny care.
• A choice of doctors, health providers, and private and public health insurance plans, without gaps in coverage or access and a delivery system that meets the needs of at-risk populations.
• Affordable and predictable health costs to businesses and employers. To the extent that employers contribute to the cost of health coverage, those payments should be related to employee wages rather than on a per-employee basis.
• Effective cost controls that promote quality, lower administrative costs, and long term financial sustainability, including: standard claims forms, secure electronic medical records, using the public’s purchasing power to instill greater reliance on evidence-based protocols and lower drug and device prices, better management and treatment of chronic diseases, and a public role in deciding where money is invested in health care.

Check out their listing of local events/rallies you may attend. Or you may call your Congressperson today and let your voice be heard.

Creating access to health care requires the participation of all of us.

Welcome to Devi Health: the Blog!!

At Acupuncture.com, Lawrence Howard, LAc, MSAc, submitted an article this month called The Mind of an Acupuncturist.

He writes, "The mind of an acupuncturist is complex. They listen to the Western complaint, convert it to TCM terminology, treat the patient, and then translate their findings back into Western terms in order to interact with Western-minded people. In summary, there’s a whole lot more going on in an acupuncturist’s mind than 'sticking a pin where it hurts.'"

Well said. The mind of an acupuncturist is complex...and then some. We also ask questions about a patient's overall health, her eating and sleeping habits, her emotional landscape, her exercise habits, her sexual habits, and then some - we observe a patient's posture, her facial expressions, her hand gestures, the sound of her voice, and then some - it all fits together to create a pattern, and that pattern is what we treat.

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I am grateful for the acupuncturists who made this profession legal, at least in Illinois where I practice, and who are continuing to make it more "mainstream" and widely accepted as a legitimate, complimentary mode of health care.

At the same time, acupuncture is not securely legal in every state, and in Chicago, where there is an abundance of acupuncture available, I often hear comments and questions from friends, family, and patients that indicate that even if we are present and abundant, we are still unknown (and in some cases, untrusted) by a sizable portion of the population.

Thus, we have the opportunity to take our presence to the next level, the level of not-just-legal-but-accepted-and-relied-on. In my opinion, we will accomplish this not "just" as practitioners of a health modality but as health educators.

We have to keep talking about what we do and why we do it, and not just in text-bookish, technical terms. We have to continue attempting to convey the meaning of and behind the work we do, what drives us, what makes us continually more and more relevant as health care providers. And then some.

So consider this blog an attempt to bring "and then some" to fruition.

Thanks for visiting, and let me know what you think!

Be well!