Tag: chronic

Living With Chronic Pain – Steph’s Story

by  on  in Case Studies

When I first met Steph she told me that she was suffering with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome-Hypermobility type, a painful and chronic condition I had never heard of. She also had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, fibromyalgia, digestive issues & depression which appeared to be connected to the main condition. Although as acupuncturists we treat what we see, and diagnose according to traditional Chinese medicine, I did do some research about the condition and discovered that there was very little information about it, never mind treatments.

Steph was taking anywhere between 4 and 10 ibuprofen tablets every day. Her muscles and tendons were always inflamed and tight. Nevertheless she did a busy, full time job and by restricting her diet would manage her condition, both physical and emotional, as best she could.

Her first treatment was very difficult for her, as it is for many chronic patients. When you’re in pain, even a light touch hurts so she was particularly brave to seek treatment. However, her rapid improvement surprised us both.

Read about what Steph had to say:

The treatment  made all the difference, not only with treating specific trouble areas such as shoulder or lower back pain but in a general sense of wellbeing. I came to treatment in advance of a very busy & stressful time at work in the hope that I would be able to avoid a serious decline in my health during it. I could never have expected such quick and almost miraculous results. I have gone from taking 4-10 ibuprofen tablets a day to taking maybe 4 a week at most. I have even started running; something I didn’t think would be possible I also feel a lot calmer emotionally & mentally and more able to deal with stress.

Rita tailors each session to how I’m feeling that day and what kind of problems I’ve had during the week. She uses tuina, acupuncture and cupping (my favourite) depending on my needs. I feel totally safe with her and never worry that I’ll get hurt, which is something that has happened with massage before.

I’m a very anxious person but Rita makes you instantly comfortable & at ease. I can’t believe how much I laugh during our sessions and how much I look forward to my appointment each week. Seriously, thank you Rita, I cannot thank you enough for how much you have changed my life in the last 4 months! I’m almost unrecognisable.

Stephanie, Walthamstow

UPDATE

I heard from Steph recently, some 4 months after she finished treatment with me. She’s pretty much pain killer free!

I just did a 1 hour 80s aerobics class! I kept up with all of it and although I feel stretched out I am not in worrying pain!!! I couldn’t even have thought about this without you doing your magic at the beginning of the year! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frozen Shoulder – Justine’s Story

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Justine came to my clinic after suffering from frozen shoulder on and off for four years. She finally sought help when she was unable to put her clothes on unaided. The pain in her shoulder meant she couldn’t sleep, raise her arm or take on basic tasks. It was totally disabling. She had been told it could take up to 2 years to treat with physiotherapy.

My treatment plan for Justine consisted of acupuncture, TuiNa medical massage and cupping. Acupuncture and Tuina massage are well established for treating musculo-skeletal conditions, but cupping is definitely something that I believe makes the difference. I’ve seen it work on even the most chronic shoulder problems in my clinic.

Acupuncturists use fire cupping (the application of a glass cup that creates local suction on the skin); which mobilizes blood flow and moves lymph in order to promote healing. We use cupping most often when there is ‘stagnation’ which is experienced as sharp, biting pain, in this case around the shoulder although it is also used as a form of massage. People who have had cupping will often have round red marks on the skin which look like bruising but do not hurt. The greater the stagnation, the stronger the colour. In very serious cases the colour can turn to a very dark purple or black. But the results can be quite dramatic in reducing pain in the area.

The combination worked well and she regained full movement in her shoulder and arm, completely pain free within 6 treatments. A year later and there’s been no recurrence of symptoms.

 Read about Justine’s experience:

When I had to ask my husband for help for the third time in a week to take my jumper off over my head I knew I had to find a proper fix for my shoulder. Enough was enough!

I’d suffered from frozen shoulder pain and reduced movement, on and off for around four years. Despite trying a variety of treatments over that time, steroid injections from the GP, painkillers, visits to the physio and osteopath included, I’d never managed to find the right kind of treatment to tip me over into the ‘thawing’ phase or full recovery. Until I found Rita.

After just two visits to Rita’s calm and welcoming clinic space, I had a significant reduction in everyday pain and my mobility and range of movement were vastly improved. Using a combination of acupuncture, cupping and TuiNa deep tissue massage, Rita managed to leave me essentially symptom free within five or six treatments. The relief of not having to live with everyday pain is not to be underestimated.

Rita combines her knowledge with a relaxing, easy manner and I’ve continued to see her on a regular basis for a ‘tune-up’ and to maintain a sense of well-being. I’d heartily recommend her to anyone, and have done so to a couple of friends who are now also happy clients.

 Justine, Crouch End

Find out more about frozen shoulder and treatment options:

https://peachyacupuncture.com/2014/10/22/treating-frozen-shoulder-the-acupuncturists-box-of-tricks/

Sciatica – a right pain in a**e!

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Sciatica can be a right (or left) pain in the a**e. For those of you who’ve lived with sciatica (as I have), you’ll appreciate just how much.

Sciatica is a common type of pain caused by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve. Sufferers will usually experience sciatica on one side of the body, in the buttocks and often extending down the back or side of the leg, down to the feet. At it’s worst its a particularly disabling and chronic condition which can vary in intensity from manageable to excruciating.

*Common symptoms of sciatica include:

– Pain in the buttock or leg that is worse when sitting
– Burning or tingling down the leg
– Weakness, numbness, or difficulty moving the leg or foot
– A constant pain on one side of the buttock
– A shooting pain that makes it difficult to stand up

Chronic lower back pain or disc herniation is the most common cause but unfortunately patients will often just be offered pain medication by their doctors, which isn’t a sustainable option.

Acupuncture has a good track record in treating back pain, and along with Tuina medical massage can help to reduce pain and inflammation, and significantly lessen the need for medical intervention or pain killers. Patients will usually experience some immediate relief even after the first treatment with follow up treatments necessary to successfully manage the condition. However the more chronic the problem, the longer it takes to repair.

Many people live with chronic pain and only seek treatment when they’re in crisis. Don’t wait til you can’t get out of bed. Get help and start to feel better fast.

*source: webMD

 

Read Jacki’s story:

https://peachyacupuncture.com/2016/07/25/prolapsed-discs-sciatica-jackis-story/

Stress free – six weeks to calm

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I hold my hands up. I don’t manage stress very well at all. I changed career from being a pretty high level corporate film producer, a well paid job I had done and loved for over 20 years to being an acupuncturist in an area where there’s as many therapists as there are cafes.

Although I enjoyed my work, it would often mean working in a relentlessly pressurised environment. My sleep, appetite and anxiety levels were all affected and I would often wake up in the night thinking I’d forgotten a prop or not printed out enough scripts for the following day’s shoot. Hardly earth shattering events – but that’s what stress is all about – not coping with even minor problems.

So, we all live with stress, but not all of us manage it well. There’s a reason for this. When we are stressed it triggers a ‘fight or flight’ response. Fine if an elephant is charging towards us, but not if we’re worrying about whether our boss thinks we took 5 minutes longer at lunch. Stress releases physiological and hormonal responses that are often inappropriate for the actual event we are stressed about, leading to increased anxiety, disturbed sleep, fatigue and depression and other distressing symptoms.

No-one needs to live with that kind of stress, and yet many of us do, for extended periods of time.

Of course, there are many things that help with stress levels such as meditation, exercise, cbt, and yoga. But if you are gripped in a cycle of stress and anxiety, it can be really hard to motivate yourself so reaching for a couple of glasses of wine after work is often the way people self-medicate.

In my clinic, I treat people for stress virtually every day. I also run six, weekly auricular acupuncture groups of no more than six people specifically for stress relief, which is particularly useful in helping clients to manage their lives in a calmer way. The process takes around 40 minutes in all, with just five very fine needles placed in each ear while you sit and relax. No need to lie down or disrobe. It really couldn’t be easier and clients have been known to snore for the 30 mins the needles are left in! I measure how they have been feeling the previous week and throughout the six weeks in order to evaluate the results.

In my most recent group, there was over a 50% reduction in stress, anxiety and sleep issues, with significant changes in weeks 3 and 4 and these positive results maintained over the full 6 weeks. Clients felt they were coping better, responded less negatively to events that would normally stress them, and were generally happier. Plus they enjoyed coming once a week as it offered them some ‘me’ time where they could properly relax.

The protocol* I use is well documented, incredibly powerful and used all over the world in health clinics, at natural disaster sites and by the American military. It works for conditions such as addiction, stress and post traumatic stress disorder. So if you’re considering giving up smoking, drinking or drugs, this protocol will support you.

If you’re interested in signing up for six, weekly group sessions, then drop me a line. Cost is £90 for the full course of six sessions.

Begin the new year with a new perspective.

Ask when a new course is starting.

*NADA protocol

Read about Linda’s experience here:

Treatment focus: Acupuncture and Back Pain

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Most of us will know someone with back pain. It may have affected you personally, or someone you know – and I can tell you that it’s certainly affected me. Depressingly, if you haven’t experienced it yet, the chances are that you will at some point.

The condition affects more than 1.1 million people in the UK, with 95% of patients suffering from problems affecting the lower back. And it costs the NHS and care providers in the over £1b a year.*

There’s no surprise why that is – we spend too long lounging about in front of the telly, work in sedentary jobs and don’t exercise enough. Having said that, my dad had a slight dowagers hump, worked in an office, never exercised and loved watching telly – never had as much as a twinge…

Acupuncture is well known anecdotally as a treatment for back pain. But there’s also a great deal of evidence to support its efficacy. *Research has shown that acupuncture is significantly better than no treatment and at least as good as (if not better than) standard medical care for back pain (Witt 2006; Haake 2007; Cherkin 2009; Sherman 2009a). It appears to be particularly useful as an adjunct to conventional care, for patients with more severe symptoms and for those wishing to avoid analgesic drugs (Sherman 2009a, 2009b; Lewis 2010).

This encouraged NICE to recommend its use within the NHS. Your doctor can refer you for 8-10 acupuncture treatments as a first line treatment for persistent, non-specific low back pain. And that’s got to be a good thing.

It works in numerous ways: *providing pain relief, reducing inflammation, improving muscle stiffness and joint mobility, reducing the need for medication, complementing rehabilitation exercises and over the long-term, and is more cost effective than other treatments.

That’s the ‘science bit’, but it only tells part of the story, because studies will only have used specific acupuncture points in order to standardize their research. Traditional Chinese Medicine doesn’t really work in this way and your acupuncturist may feel that the reason for your back pain may be related to something else – and use other acupuncture points in their treatment.

It’s personalized, and that’s why individual experience will be based on the reason you have lower back pain. Which takes me back to my dad. There are people who are more prone to back pain, in the same way that others may be pre-disposed to stomach problems. What the acupuncturist offers is a genuinely holistic look at you. Not just your back.

  • Source: NICE
  • Source: BACC
  • Sources: Pomeranz 1987; Zhao2008
  • Kim 2008, Kavoussi 2007;Zijlstra 2003
  • Thomas 2006
  • Radcliffe 2006;Witt 2006
  • Ammendolia 2008; Yuan 2008