Acupuncture

Bodies do not sort themselves into categories.

Your body's function and interconnected nature expands far beyond one or two medical specialties.

Medicine divides itself into specialties. Your body never agreed to that.

The pelvic pain and the fatigue are the same nervous system. The headaches and the jaw you clench at 2am are the same story. The brain fog that no one can explain is not separate from everything else you are carrying.

Acupuncture treats the person, not the department.

WHAT BRINGS PEOPLE HERE

Pain and physical.

Chronic and acute pain. Back, neck, and joint pain. Headaches. Sciatica.

Stress and nervous system.

Anxiety. Burnout. Dysregulation. Trauma. Low mood. Depression. PTSD.

Sleep.

Insomnia. Waking at three in the morning. Sleeping without feeling rested.

Fatigue.

The kind that sleep does not fix.

Sinus, immune support, and allergies.

General health support.

Sometimes people come because they want to feel more at ease in their body. That is a good enough reason.

Some people arrive after everything else has failed. Some arrive because a friend told them to. Some arrive because they are tired in a way they do not have a better word for.

If what brought you here is not on this list, let's talk about your case.

YOUR FIRST VISIT

We talk. About what brought you here, what you have already tried, what you want to feel different, and how you want to integrate care with other practitioners or modalities. I'm here to support you and help you build the care team you decide is best for you.

I perform a physical exam.

Then a Traditional East Asian Medicine examination. I look at your tongue. I take your pulses. I ask questions that may seem unrelated to why you came, because in this medicine everything is connected.

We discuss your treatment options, and I explain what I am going to do before I do it.

Then you rest with the needles in.

Your treatment may also include electrical stimulation, gua sha, cupping, ear seeds, or infrared heat, depending on what your body needs that day.

HOW LONG THIS TAKES

The honest answer depends on two things. How severe the issue is. How long you have been living with it.

Something acute, something that arrived recently, often responds within six to twelve sessions, and the visits taper sooner.

Something chronic, something you have carried for years, takes longer. Twenty four or more sessions across many months is common, and it is not a failure of the medicine. It is a reflection of how long your body has been organizing itself around the problem.

Each acupuncture session builds upon the one before it. The single most reliable predictor of whether this works is whether you come consistently.

EAR SEEDS

Ear seeds are small seeds placed on specific points on the outside of your ear and held there with tape. They work by acupressure rather than needling. You press them gently, a few times a day, and they stay on for 2-3 days in hotter temperatures and about a week in cooler temperatures.

They are a form of auriculotherapy, an approach within Traditional East Asian Medicine that treats the whole body through points on the ear.

What they are for.

Ear seeds extend the work of your treatment between visits. They are used to support pain, sleep, anxiety, and the general settling of a nervous system that has been working too hard.

What they are not.

They are not a cure. Some studies suggest benefit for pain and insomnia. Others are small or inconclusive. What is reasonably clear is that they are safe, they are easy, and for many people they help the effects of a session last longer. You may go home with them after a visit, depending on what you are working on. I will show you where to press.

If you have a latex sensitivity, please let me know before I place your ear seeds.