Acupuncture? You've Got to be Kiddin!

ACUPUNCTURE? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDIN’!

I've got this friend who's up for trying anything and everything, so when she told me she was going to an acupuncturist for her PMS; I laughed in her face and said: "Yeah, sure, good luck!" But when she came back a few months later trying to get me to go too, that's when I had to say, "Hey, wait a minute, I'm not letting any maniac stick needles into my body for no good reason."

But since I'm the kind of person who's very cautious, I decided to check out my girlfriend’s conversion to holistic medicine my own way. There was no way I was going to let anyone, even if he was a doctor, stick needles in my stomach, arms and legs for the sake of getting rid of my constipation and stomach pain.

Since I had access to the Internet, I decided this was the quickest way to my investigation. I need to tell you that I'm the biggest skeptic around. Maybe it's my astrological sign being in Taurus, but I need to be totally convinced before I'll try anything new, especially something from China and, on top of that, something that could hurt.

I need to tell those of you who are still with me on this that I was amazed by the kind of scientific experiments I found to support acupuncture. First off, I learned there was much more to holistic medicine than acupuncture and herbs. The other types of holistic medicine are naturopathy, homeopathy, chiropractic and half a dozen others. I also found out that acupuncture was much older than Western medicine – acupuncture is about 4000 years old; Western medicine is only about 200 years old. I figured anything that's been used for 4000 years must have some validity to it.

I also found out that many M.D.'s are actually using acupuncture now because it's been proven to be so effective. I interviewed Dr. Randy Martin, OMD, and he told me that it's used not only for PMS and headaches, but also for colds and flu, constipation, poor eyesight, breast enlargement, anorexia, overeating, drug addiction, smoking cessation, depression, anxiety, and just about any other problem you can think of.

Dr. Martin even talked me into trying an acupuncture treatment. He said I should experience it firsthand. Well, my friends, I need to tell you that I couldn't even feel the needles. Unbelievable, but the needles are so thin they just slide in without you even feeling them. Weird stuff! Dr. Martin told me the price ranges from about $50-$150 for a treatment (depending on who you go to) and that most health insurance actually pays for acupuncture.

He said that although most acupuncturists perform blood tests and x-rays like Western-trained doctors, the acupuncturist also looks at the tongue and checks the pulse. The tongue and pulse can apparently tell the trained acupuncturist exactly what's going on with all the organs inside the body. This is a great adjunct to the blood tests. Dr. Martin likes to use holistic medicine with Western medicine. He calls this complementary medicine – when you combine everything for the benefit of the patient.

There is also a way of diagnosing the patient based on Yin and Yang. I'd heard these terms before, but I didn't realize how they were actually more than just the philosophy I'd read about. Yin is the feminine energy and represents things like being introverted, passive, receptive, quiet, artistic, musical, creative, intuitive, and inventive. Yang is the male element and represents things like being more out-going, talkative, hyper, intellectual, scientific-minded, anxiety, seeing things as black and white. Both guys and girls have both Yin and Yang aspects, and the idea is to have both in perfect balance (nobody really does have this perfect balance). So, depending on which you are (more Yin or more Yang), you are more susceptible to different kinds of diseases and emotional issues.

The best way to find an acupuncturist is to ask your friends. Although you'll find them listed in the phone book or Internet, you won't know anything about them. You can also do your own interview, like I did. Ask questions, such as how long have they’ve been in practice, what they charge, what their specialty is, etc. You want to make sure you have a good feeling about the office before you go in. You can also find out if the acupuncturist uses herbs, nutritional supplements, or homeopathic remedies and if he or she also does nutritional consultations, since your problems tend to clear up much quicker if you also change your diet and take some herbs. Dr. Martin does it all, and this is one of the things that makes him so unique. He has also been in practice longer than almost any other acupuncturist around.

At any rate, I was incredibly impressed with Dr. Martin and the cure he did on my friend’s PMS. In fact, I'm thinking of going to him on a regular basis for my constipation and headaches.