Exceptionally Hot

There was an annual inspection at our clerkship site today; thus, this afternoon many of the doctors cancelled their non-emergent patients to be available for the inspection. We were given the option of going to the rehabilitation center to see some of the physical therapists and occupational therapists work with patients or we could go back to the pain center. We asked to go back to the pain center. Once we got back to the pain center, they let us choose what we wanted to do and we asked to be with the acupuncturist. I am very interested in complementary and alternative medicine and what these traditional remedies can achieve for patients. I really liked this Doctor of Chinese Medicine and had a great time learning a little bit about what he can do for patients. One thing that I can take back to my practice, is how closely he listened and how much he observed. He asked me if I had a lung problem because I am so pale. I was shocked that he could figure that out by just looking at me (I have asthma but was not having any problems breathing). He talked to us about pressure points and some of the herbal remedies (Most are very safe, but some can have extremely serious side effects, including death. Everyone who is taking any herbs needs to let their doctor know because some medications can interact with these herbal treatments. Also, herbal treatments need to be taken seriously and taken at the recommended doses not at extremely high levels.)

The Doctor asked us if we tend to generally feel hot or cold. The other girl medical student and I said that we tend to be cold and Farley said that he tends to be hot. Then, the Doctor even preformed acupuncture on us! I was nervous when he was getting ready to put the needle into my arm, but to my shock it didn't hurt at all. I've seen the needles before--they are amazingly thin, but I've never had acupuncture done before. It was astonishing how deep the needle went into my arm and how flexible the needles are. It was so painless that I completely forgot it was in my arm! When the doctor started to remove the needles, he said that in some people you want to remove the needle without covering the spot,from where you removed the needle, to let the energy out and in others you want to cover the spot to keep the energy in. The example that the doctor used was to help Farley cool down, he would remove the needle and not cover the spot, since Farley is exceptionally hot. I didn't think anything of it at the time because it made sense with what he was saying. However, after thinking about this, I realized that Farley was diagnosed as being exceptionally hot today and I am afraid it is going to go to his head!

All in all, I'd be happy to send one of my patients to an acupuncturist for treatment. If I do in fact go into oncology, I'd be especially interested since acupuncture has helped patients with nausea, vomiting and pain issues. It is not as easy to perform studies on the efficacy of acupuncture with modern medical studies, but it is an area of research that is growing. The National Institute of Health even has a division dedicated to this arena of research, which is known as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. They have a great website and have links to studies that are open and enrolling patients if you are interested.