| I am contributing this article as a way to update all of my patients, friends and patrons of IEP of my recent progress and as a way to reflect on the tremendous benefit I have derived from acupuncture. As many of you already know I took a three month medical leave from my duties of Executive Director, Clinical Director and practitioner of acupuncture. As a person living with AIDS my goal was always to work as long as possible for I derived a tremendous satisfaction from the practice of acupuncture. However, the power of this elusive virus got the better of me for the past three months. I have had multiple bouts of hospitalization, infections and trouble with my heart. But with all the support I have received from all my friends I am on the road to recovery. I am not sure what the future will hold but I will greet it with the expectation of continued good health. This brings me to the importance of hope in this illness. I have always tried to maintain a strong sense of hope even through the gloom and doom days back in the early 80's when the news media proclaimed we would all be dead in a year. I have also held out hope when my patients were depressed, feeling sick and discouraged. Sometimes hope is not the rosy proclamation that all will be well, sometimes hope requires facing the reality of death. Hope allows us to reach each other, to comfort, to talk realistically about life and death. One of my most difficult clients was a man named Richard. Richard loved acupuncture and moxabustion. Several months before he died he made a tremendous effort to come to the clinic for treatments. There was very little I could do as his essential energy was so exhausted. I could not perform acupuncture but instead did moxabustion on tonification points, which brought Richard a great deal of peace and relief. Unfortunately I never had enough time to give Richard what he needed. We would talk about his fear of dying and the awareness that his beautiful body was falling apart. I told him to take it one day at a time, that there would continue to be good and bad days and that I would be there for him. I grew up quickly in treating Richard and in examining my own mortality. So much of what we do as acupuncturists involves balancing the body's energy, where there is excess, reducing; and where there is deficiency, supplementing. In a busy practice like IEP, often the practitioners can lose track of their most important function as we struggle to fix broken bodies. Yet we must never lose sight of our function to nurture, support and to touch our clients on both a mental and physical level. There is vastly more to illness than simply taking herbs, antibiotics, pills and potions. It is the intangible feeling of caring and understanding that touches the soul and psyche of patients. 90% of patients treated with acupuncture report a profound sense of relaxation and of calm following treatment. Thus no matter what we attempt to treat, acupuncture's most powerful effect is to relax and harmonize, allowing the body's own healing powers to take over and shift the balance towards health. I want to take this opportunity to offer a few "rules" for healthful living. These are lessons that I have learned both personally and professionally and I pass the information on to you, the reader.
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| Tom's Rules of Healthcare: 1. Use the minimum to achieve the maximum effect. Whether it be allopathic medicine, Traditional Chinese medicine, Qi-gong or yoga. Americans like to believe that if one pill is good, well then ten is better. Most of the time this is not true and can lead to more long-term harm (side effects, drug reactions, etc.). 2. For everything in any healing system there is always a cost. Not the monetary kind, but rather a cost to health and well being. You can get too much acupuncture according to your condition. Drug therapies, while tremendously effective, come with a cost to the body in liver toxicity, side effects and drug interactions. As we rush into that wonderful new "cure", take time to ask and read about side effects, drug interactions, and long-term toxicity. You may not change your mind, but do be aware. 3. Use everything you can get your hands on. When fighting to regain your health don't limit yourself to any one treatment or healing system. This coupled with hope is the most powerful healing strategy I know of. 4. I know this sounds corny, but take it one day, or one moment at a time. When we are feeling ill it is so easy to complain; to regret; to think negatively. I know this is difficult, but the truth is it works. 5. Give lots of feedback to your practitioner. Tell them what works and what does not. Often I would prescribe herbal tablets to a client only to find out they were not taken. The practitioners can find an alternative that will work for where you are. 6. Remember health is more precious than all the money, good looks, fame and success in the world. Most people don't fully realize that the dividing line between health and disease is a very fine line. Cultivate your health actively. Even if it is taking a five minute walk every day. In this case quality counts over quantity. 7. Lastly, remember that health is a balance, a consistently shifting balance. Health is never static but always changing and struggling to achieve balance. I hope these "words of wisdom" will find use by the reader. I hope to see all of you soon on my return to the Immune Enhancement Project. In the meantime here's a salute to your good health. | ||
| P.S. Over the years that I've worked at IEP, I have seen the benefits of TCM in so many people's lives that I hope more people can access treatments in the future. From time to time I wish everybody in my situation could receive the help that I've had. But, unfortunately we sometimes have to turn people away because our funding is limited. Any donation you can give to IEP would help increase the number of people to whom we can offer caring support and treatments that will improve the quality of their lives. |