25 Years Practicing Acupuncture

25 Years Practicing Acupuncture

Today I celebrate 25 years since I qualified as a Traditional Five Element Acupuncturist. 

I did not expect on this day that my practice would be closed due to a world Pandemic! 

In time it will get better, we need to be patient and let the world heal. 

When we come out the other side there will be much need to help people heal from the shock trauma and loss caused by this and I will be there to help pick up the pieces, because Traditional Five Element Acupuncture treats you as a whole in Body, Mind and Spirit.

To give you a history of what bought me to Traditional Five Element Acupuncture, I was nursing in Warwick Hospital in Warwickshire. I trained in the lovely cottage hospital in Stratford-on-Avon, as an Enrolled Nurse (General) now extinct! I loved nursing and my job in a Medical/Haematology ward, but my future was to be different. I injured my back while at work in my mid 20’s and even though there appeared to be no bone injury, I did not heal well. I needed more help, which is when I found Traditional Five Element Acupuncture, I also had massage and McTimoney Chiropractic which were too be invaluable in my recovery. Though it was the Traditional Five Element Acupuncture that intrigued me, as it helped me on so many levels, my back healed and my PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) improved which had made me extremely ill for many years. I asked my acupuncturist so many questions that she could not answer them all!

She sent me to an open day at The College of Traditional Acupuncture an Internationally renowned college in Leamington Spa which was only ten miles away from home. I was hooked, on that day I had an interview and started the course, never looking back!

I moved up to Nottinghamshire when I qualified, starting work in a group practice in West Bridgford, while looking for somewhere to set up on my own. I opened Southwell Acupuncture Clinic in Church Street Southwell in December 1995, I was there for 19 years and moved to my current practice in Southwell Business Centre 6 years ago. My treatment room in Church Street in hindsight was a bit dark and pokey, luckily now I have a large sunny naturally lit treatment room which is a pleasure to treat in and my patients love it.

Over the 25 years I have treated so many patients. When I started, I mostly treated old ladies! The world has changed and access to more information through the internet has helped people take responsibility for their own health now. I now treat all ages from preconception to end of life care and everything in-between.

I feel that the experience as a nurse gave me a wonderful grounding and understanding of health and how western medicine treats a person. Though I discovered with Traditional Five Element  Acupuncture how much more I can help each person with their whole wellbeing. Sometimes it is the case that I encourage a patient to go to their GP alongside the treatment I am giving, sometimes to change medication, sort out investigation, or surgery. My encouragement and support in this helps many patients to have the confidence to ask the questions needed to find their way forward. 

 A few examples of how I have helped, one lady was getting increasingly breathless, ankles were swelling, she had been to her GP once but I encouraged her to go back and ask her GP to listen to her chest, as I thought she had heart problems and she was filling with fluid. She was rushed into hospital for treatment and surgery, she is now doing very well now. I treated her after her western medicine treatment to help her recovery in Body, mind and Spirit – so lovely to see her so well again. 

I have also treated quite a few patients who have presented with Trigeminal Neuralgia  which is, severe facial pain, sharp shooting pain or like having an electric shock in the jaw, teeth or gums, this can be debilitating. The medication available for nerve  pain have horrible side effects, can cause cognitive changes – when your brain just slows down, and drowsiness among others. In most cases patients have with the help of their GP or consultant  alongside the acupuncture treatment been able to come off the drugs because the pain has gone. I have seen life changing differences in people’s lives from these acupuncture treatments. I can only encourage patients to seek advice from their GP to reduce medication and support them in this. One lady took 6 months to come off her medication after her pain had gone acupuncture helped her get through this difficult withdrawal time. 

Over the years I have helped many couples conceive, alongside IVF or naturally and go on to have healthy happy babies some now in their teens and many more and one now on their way. I support these women through the whole pregnancy and post-natal time, and as they grow up which can be so challenging. 

I treat every day someone with pain of some degree either chronic or acute though as acupuncture works with the whole person there are so much more, I can do to help the underlining reason why they have pain. I have one patient with Chronic Pain Syndrome, who needs much support in this but there are other aspects of her life that need caring for too, which me as a person and an acupuncture practitioner can help. What I do is so much more than just needles. 

I could spend all day recounting my experiances, but your journey is what is important, I am here to help you, Traditional Five Element Acupuncture treats the person the symptoms are what you present with and we find the underling cause in Body, Mind and Spirit.

You can understand that it breaks my heart that I cannot be there for my patients during this pandemic as it is such an important part so many of my patients lives. 

I will be publishing blogs to give tips how to help keep well. 

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Further reading

Moxibustion

What is moxibustion? Moxibustion is a form of heat therapy used by acupuncturists, in which dried plant materials called “moxa”

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