True Medicine

 In my doctoral program I received specialized training in acupuncture, oriental medicine, alternative therapies and specialized techniques, along with western allopathic and biological studies. Starting this program, which was kind of a fluke for me, was the best journey I ever decided to endure. Each module (month) I traveled to Portland, I left feeling like I climbed the ladder of knowledge more and more. Entry level acupuncture school requires 2-4 years of biology/physiology prerequisite, then four years of intensive basic acupuncture, herbal and oriental medicine training techniques. With that training, I felt like a toddler in the acupuncture world! The Doctoral program takes medicine to a whole new level.

We learned more about geriatrics, aging, cancer, parkinsons and alzheimers, gastrointestinal disorders, orthopedics and autoimmunity. Year two was all about women's health. We went in depth about infertility, pregnancy, menopause, menstrual disorders, postpartum, abuse, trauma,

infections, viruses, reproductive cancers and more. Acupuncture and herbal therapy is being used for women's issues more and more. Women use it to regulate their hormones, help with the process of pregnancy, overcoming trauma and menopausal symptoms, and hospitals are even beginning to use acupuncture during labor and delivery. Gynecology is incredibly exciting in my field today because there is a wide variety of issues acupuncture can help with and research is backing it up.

There are so many easy things you can do every day to help with your health. And if there is one thing I love most about my practice, it's my emphasis on the educational piece of self help for health. When in doubt, listen to your grandmother. More often than not, her simple kitchen recipes for any illness were probably right! Sometimes we try to simplify things by over complicating them. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. If there is one major lesson I have learned about medicine and health, it is that there is never a quick fix—a silver bullet. If there is, there is always a consequence to pay for it. This is solely what the medicine I have spent the last 12 years of my life learning about is based on; the principles of nature. A disease isn't something you'catch.' Someone doesn't cough and give you breast cancer. It grows slowly, like a weed.

These are all things I talk to my patients about. Not only how disease happens, but how to correct it and how to prevent it again. This is true medicine. In fact, the definition is as such: the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery). Our current allopathic system does not address the most important part—the prevention!

As far as gynecology, our endocrine and reproductive systems are like our electricity or plumbing in our houses. It's the bones that need proper taking care of. If you dump a bunch of trash down your pipes, they will clog. It is quite simple. This goes for most systems in the body, but the reproductive system is the ultimate signal to health. If your body can't produce the right hormones or worse, reproduce, this is a perfect sign for us that something isn't quite right in the body. What more simple and less invasive way to correct these imbalances than acupuncture? It amazes me every day how many people are willing to get cut open or take very harmful medications to try to negate these problems; not to mention the cost of them is astronomical. Acupuncture is not covered by most insurance companies for two good reasons: it's inexpensive, and it works. Two things that won't keep insurance companies in business!

My overall goal is to educate people on becoming their own voice for their health. We are often lead to the misconception that we do not have a choice or an "I guess I'll just have to live with this symptom for the rest of my life" attitude. There are many, many easy things you can do that will make a big impact on your health and quality of life every single day. And it's not just about diet, acupuncture or herbs. There are many different forms of medicine that help people. I am continuing to add practitioners to my office, The Downtown Evergreen Health Clinic, because I see how powerful combining the power of each facet can be. This is success; this is health; this is how you get people better!

I'll leave you with the infamous Thomas Edison quote about medicine: "The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease."