Stress Relief with Chinese Medicine

Some time ago, a patient came in with a headache, shoulder pain, nausea, stomach pain, and no appetite. She had been suffering from these problems for the previous three months, and was hoping for some relief.   When we talked about what was going on with her, she seemed to be under a lot of stress.  She cleans houses for a living and also has to take care of her own family. Who wouldn’t be stressed by this?

After talking with her, taking her pulse, and looking at her tongue (the pulse and tongue are common Chinese medical diagnostic tools) I diagnosed her with “constrained Liver qi”, a very common syndrome, and one closely related to stress.  Headaches, shoulder tension and digestive problems are also common symptoms of “constrained Liver qi”.  I gave her an acupuncture treatment focused on relaxing her “Liver qi” and alleviating her stress. In the mean time, I started thinking about the herbal formula I might give her when she returned the following week (I generally like to see how the acupuncture works after a first treatment, before giving herbs).

When she returned for her second treatment, she was about 90% symptom-free.  I gave her another acupuncture treatment, decided against giving her herbs, and had her come back the following week.  When she returned, she said she had felt great all week.  No headaches, good appetite and no digestive problems. It made me feel really good to see how much better she was feeling.

We all know that stress has an effect on our health.  Based on my experience as a practitioner of Chinese Medicine for the last 10 years, I would venture to say that stress is a factor in almost every ailment a person presents with.   Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are wonderful modalities for helping to manage stress and strengthen the body’s ability to deal with stress.  Acupuncture and herbs can even help us to adjust the way we think about stress.

While it is rare to see such a quick turn around, as in the patient above, it is always rewarding for a practitioner and, of course, wonderful for the patient.  In this case, all of this patient’s problems were caused by stress.  The acupuncture helped to regulate and smooth our the qi in her channels, thereby soothing the stress and the effects it had had on her body.  As all health starts at an energetic level, once her Liver energy was balanced, her symptoms went away.