What is neuropathy? Neuropathy is a stabbing, burning or tingling sensation.  It can be caused by diabetes, spinal stenosis, chemotherapy, shingles or nerve damage.

Western treatments may include surgery, but generally neuropathy is treated with drugs.  Some patients cannot tolerate the side effects of drug treatment or it may be ineffective and they seek out alternative treatments like acupuncture to help the neuropathy and manage the side effects of the drugs.  In many cases patients are able to reduce the amount of drugs they are taking and sometimes even stop taking them, completely managing their condition with acupuncture.

Treatment outcomes with acupuncture

In general, the more severe the case the more acupuncture treatment a patient is going to need.  Your acupuncturist will discuss your general health, how severe the pain is, how large the affected area is and how long you’ve had the condition.  From the acupuncturist’s assessment you will be given a custom treatment plan.  Patients who follow the treatment plan exactly get the best results.

Supportive treatment at home includes quitting smoking, getting regular exercise and good sleep habits.  Acupuncture can help support you in lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, getting better sleep and starting an exercise routine.  Sleep is critical with any chronic condition because when we are sleeping is when the body is healing.  Walking, yoga, chair yoga and stretching are great exercises to begin with at home.

Make sure you get yourself some good shoes and treat your body well.  Compression socks might be helpful too.

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Think about the people you spend the most time with.  Are they adding to or subtracting from your life? Is there anyone who, after you interact with them, you feel consistently drained or negative?  Everyone has bad days, but do you have someone in your life who is always complaining?If you have energy vampires around you, maybe consider addition by subtraction.  Sometimes boundaries have to be set for people you interact with to keep them from sucking your emotional energy.

Most of us do not have unlimited energy and we need to be careful how we give our energy away and who we give it to.  Be selective with who gets your time.  We are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with.  We don’t have control over who we must interact with like family or co-workers or a boss.

The people we spend our time with are important.  Its helpful to surround yourself with positive, supportive people especially when you are trying to make a life changes.  Having an accountability buddy, someone with similar goals that you can check in with can help you reach your goals.  Having a buddy with similar goals can also help protect you when you fall down.  When you are also in charge of keeping someone else accountable it helps you stick to your goals, too.

Its also good to take some time to reflect on what kind of friend you are.  Are you supportive of your friends?  Are you there for them when they need you? Do you emotionally dump on them without giving in return?  As women sometimes we have difficulty being direct or asking for what we want.  Are you being passive aggressive or are you not feeling heard?  There is always room for self-reflection and improvement for all of us.

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I get it.  Water tastes bad and it is boring.  But before you pour some sugary flavor into your water or drink another diet soda, let me share some awesome things about water.  First of all water is plentiful and it is free.  It is readily available and it has zero calories.  60% of your body is water and 90% of our blood is water- that is alot of water!  The benefits of drinking water, besides keeping you alive, is it helps your skin look fantastic, flushes out toxins, maintains our body temperature and helps digestion.  Water also helps maintain blood pressure, helps with asthma and allergies and prevents muscle cramps and soreness.

Are you drinking enough water?  Signs of dehydration include thirst, dry mouth, headaches, irritability, trouble concentrating and muscle cramps. Aim to drink ½ your body weight in ounces, more if its hot outside.

To adjust your taste buds, get used to drinking water by diluting other drinks until you get used to it.  Once you adjust your taste it is actually delicious.  If you are trying to get off of soda try seltzer, a squeeze of lemon or lime or some fresh mint leaves.  Comment below with your favorite way to drink water!

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Most people start an exercise routine for weight loss, but there are many other benefits.  Try to look at exercise as a gift to yourself and weight loss being a nice side effect.  It will take the pressure off and make it more fun, and more fun means you are more likely to do it and stick with it.

If you are focused on weight loss, remember all the other reasons exercise is beneficial, this will help you stick to your goals.  Exercise relieves stress, lowers the risk of chronic diseases and also provides some much needed “me time”. 
Keep it simple and make it fun.  Be sure to wear good socks and shoes and make an appointment with yourself.  Put it in your calendar.  Do it first thing in the morning, on your lunch break or even after dinner.  It can be as simple as going on a walk or doing some yoga.  If you’re walking or running, consider listening to your favorite music or an audiobook.  You can even call a friend to catch up!  Other ideas include  the tons of videos and classes on YouTube or Zoom for everything from dancing to kickboxing.  Aim for 3x a week, but for the first month, just aim to make it a habit.  Comment below with your favorite form of exercise!
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Actually I’m going to give you more than one because I love to over-deliver for you all.  I’m giving these tips not because of Covid-19 but because we can all benefit from making sure our immune system is working optimally.  Regular colds, flus and other pathogens are always out there, do what you can to keep your body’s defense system in tip top shape.  This doesn’t have to be complicated, try these simple things:

Adequate sleep.  For most people this is 7-9 hours a night.  To get good sleep shut off your phone and news sources 2 hours before your bedtime and make sure your room is cool and dark.
Regular exercise. Aim for at least 30 minutes 3 times per week.  Work up a sweat.
Supplements: fish oil, vitamin D, vitamin C all help to boost the immune system. In my house we do an extra dose at the first sign of any sniffles.  
Super foods: live, probiotic and fermented foods like sauerkraut. Avoid sugary yogurt.

What difference does this make for you? Please comment below because I would love to know.

The most productive use of time and energy is finding something important and meaningful to you to focus on.

We have limited time and energy, use it on what is actually important to you.

Every life has problems, make those good problems.

Finding meaning in your life will give you the motivation and energy to power through your problems.

There is so much information and resources available we don’t know what to give a f*ck about anymore.

The desire for a more positive experience is in itself a negative experience.  Acceptance of your negative experience is a positive experience.

Accepting your life as great is the number one thing you can do for your happiness.

Life is short, everyone is going to die including you.  You only have a limiting amount of f*cks to give.

Learn how to focus on prioritize your thoughts and energy on your personal values. This is very difficult.

Figure out what your personal values are.

When a person has no problems, the mind automatically finds a way to invent some.

It’s ok for things to suck some of the time.

Problems don’t stop, they are either exchanged or upgraded.  

Happiness is found in solving problems, not avoiding them because they are inevitable.

We get extremes of information from the media, especially social media and this skews our view of reality. 

Comparison is the thief of joy - Teddy Roosevelt

The person who believes they know everything learns nothing.

People who are terrified of what other people think about they are actually afraid of all the negative things they think about themselves being reflected back at them.  

Comment below with your biggest takeaway!

# 1 BREATHE
The first thing people do when they are stressed
out or anxious is to stop breathing. Our breath has
a direct link to our nervous system. When we are
breathing deeply and regularly its impossible to
feel stressed out. Put your hand on your belly and
breathe in deeply until you make your hand move
and keep breathing slowly and deeply to calm
yourself down. Breathe in for a slow count of 5,
hold it for 5 and then exhale for 5. Repeat for 5
minutes 3x/day or as frequently as you need to.

#2 FORGIVE
Give people some grace and practice some radical
forgiveness. Holding a grudge is like drinking
poison and expecting the other person to die.
Don’t forget to forgive yourself. We’re all under a
lot of stress and pressure right now and we all
deserve grace. Hey, that means even you.
Especially you.

#3 CONNECT
If you are by yourself right now, it might be hard to
reach out to others but I urge you to take that step.
Think of 3 people you can keep in touch with daily
by text, phone or facetime and reach out. I’m sure
they would love to hear from you. If we all did this
no one would be alone. And people stuck in the
house with annoying family members? Reach out
to your friends or family who are at home alone.

#4 GRATITUDE
This is one of my favorite ways to change my
perspective when I’m stuck. Make a list of 10 things
you’re grateful for and read it over several times a
day. It might be something as simple as I’m alive
or there is a roof over my head to start with but I’m
sure once you start writing you will find out there’s
a lot.

#5 FUN
Find a way to have fun and laugh. There’s tons of
funny movies on Netflix. Maybe zoom with some
friends and have a virtual happy hour with your
favorite beverage. Try a light audiobook or
podcast. Maybe a yoga class on youtube. Or one of
those adult coloring books with swear words in it.
Make sure you do at least 1 fun thing a day to keep
your sanity.

1 Thing to NOT Do
Don't be hard on yourself. You are doing a great job. You are balancing a lot: work, family, people’s annoying
habits and I would call getting through the day a win. We’re in unprecedented times
and in the end if your house is a mess, you can’t get google classroom to work and
English is still the only language you speak, YOU WIN. I am proud of you.

Pro tip: Get everyone to agree to follow whoever wins #1 or #2 ahead of time without fussing.

#1 - Flip A Coin.

#2 - Rock, Paper, Scissors

#3 - Share.  Pete the Cat says sharing is cool!

#4 - Take Turns. 

#5 - Take a Deep Breath and Count to 10.  A great tool to use when you feel yourself starting to lose control of your feelings.

#6 - Walk Away. Is someone getting on your nerves? Leave the room.

#7 - Ignore. You don't have to engage with someone annoying.

#1 - Cooking. Get out that pumpkin spice cookie mix from the back of your newly organized pantry.

#2 - Read a Book. Read a chapter book aloud as a family or have everyone read together quietly. We're reading the first Harry Potter and then plan to watch the movie after we finish the book.

#3 - Do a Puzzle.  1000 piece Beatles puzzle from Pop-pop is our favorite.

#4 - Draw a Picture.  Get out those crayons and markers and get creative.  Maybe some sidewalk chalk outside.

#5 - Have a Dance Party.  Ask Alexa to play some classic 90s. Kidzbop Kidz is a fan favorite.

#6 - Play a Game.  Need to kill a few hours? Monopoly is the best choice.  So many card games too- war, solitaire, black jack, go fish, rummy, 7 card stud.

#7 - Play Hide and Seek In The House.  Never telling my kids my super secret hiding spot.  (In the shower with the curtain drawn hahaha)

#8 - Make Slime.  Make your own or play with glittery mermaid slime.

#9 - Meditation.  Great way to relax when you need a break throughout the day or to wind down before bed.

#10 - Work Out With Household Items.  Get out those cans and sacks of rice.

#11 - Play Dress Up. Get out your Halloween costumes!  What are you doing to be for this coming Halloween?

#12 - Legos. Have a lego contest: biggest tower, strongest bridge, most creative.

#13 - Play With Paper. Make a paper football, a fortune teller or a paper airplane.

Acupuncture is probably best known to help with pain relief. But what else can it help with? What brought you to the clinic?  Chances are we can help you.  But are you getting the most out of your treatment? This is why we discuss your health history to make sure we are getting the big picture of what’s going on and what your personal goals are.  Sometimes people come in wanting to address one big thing and then realize acupuncture can help them with another big thing that they are so used to living with they forgot about it.  Sometimes they learn it can help with a bunch of annoying little things!  I’m here to give you an overview of conditions acupuncture can help with that you might not be aware of.

We’ll start with pain. Acupuncture can help both chronic, ongoing pain and acute pain that is relatively new, for example a sprained ankle or throwing out your back.  Acupuncture can help with chronic pain of any origin, for example fibromyalgia pain all over your body or an aching knee from arthritis or a long ago injury.  Nerve pain from nerve damage or diabetes, joint pain, muscle pain. Acupuncture helps with all kinds of headaches: migraines, sinus headaches, hormonal headaches or tension headaches.

Acupuncture helps with emotional pain: grief from losing a loved one, depression, anxiety.  It helps with just not feeling like yourself, feeling unmotivated or fatigued. It even helps with a broken heart! Acupuncture is great for people going through a breakup or a divorce.  It helps with job loss, problems with family, dealing with stress or trauma. Alot of people find it helps them deal with life in general, giving them a bit of peace and the strength to keep going.  It helps to calm down the nervous system which helps other mental health conditions like PTSD but also the inability to relax, trouble sleeping and an overactive mind.

Do you have sugar cravings? Acupuncture can help!

Acupuncture also helps with all manner of female hormonal concerns: whether this is PMS, heavy, painful or irregular periods. It can help a woman with infertility get pregnant and if applicable we will frequently see her male partner too.  It helps to safely relieve uncomfortable symptoms during pregnancy like nausea and vomiting, headaches, back pain, sciatica or pelvic pain or heartburn for example. After a woman gives birth it helps to heal her body as well as address post partum depression or anxiety.  Acupuncture is great for menopausal symptoms like irritability, hot flashes, trouble sleeping and bloating.

Do digestive problems ail you?  Whether its heart burn, bloating, constipation, diarrhea or irritable bowel, we can help.  This has been alot of information and its just a small sliver of the conditions we help people with at the clinic. If you have a condition you’re not sure acupuncture can help- please ask us! We would love to hear about it.