Grace (I’ve changed her name to protect patient confidentiality) came for acupuncture treatment a few weeks ago because she was anxious and couldn’t sleep. When she was 12 years old she underwent a shockingly painful and hugely traumatic medical procedure. It wasn’t a necessary operation in that it didn’t save her life or make her more comfortable but it was required for all girls in her culture, to make her marriageable and clean. It was an operation that has had long term physical and emotional consequences for her.
Grace told me she is now 33 years old and she hasn’t slept through the night since. In fact she woke up every hour. Understandably she was generally exhausted, anxious and depressed. She relied on medications to keep the physical pain and the emotional turmoil manageable but nothing was allowing her to sleep well. As usual for the first acupuncture appointment we sat and chatted about her medical history, her life then and now, her hopes and fears, her understanding of what Five Element Acupuncture (5EA) could do for her and how we might achieve that. I then did what I do with all patients. I looked at her tongue, I took her pulses in both wrists, I lightly palpate around her belly button and I lightly pressed certain acupuncture points called Mu points. All the time we chatted and Grace gave me feedback on how things felt as I lightly palpated her acupuncture points and channels. I started to get to know her and how her body and Qi were working and she got to know me and how I worked in the treatment room. I’ve probably met dozens of women who have undergone the various procedures encompassed by FGM (female genital mutilation) after all I was a family lawer in the West Midlands for many years and I’ve treated many other Muslim women with 5EA. But I’ve never met a patient who has so obviously suffered so devestatingly from the consequences and at first I was unsure what to do and what should we tackle first. But in the end I did what I always try to do, I ask myself what my patient’s priorities are for improvements in the quality of their lives over the timescale they identify and then treat what I see. There is much research about how to treat sleep disorders with acupuncture. You can read about a recent example in Sleep Medicine Volume 37, September 2017, Pages 193-200. Although I always take on board the most up to date research, I consider each person I treat individually and then I decide what treatment is best just for them. In Grace’s case we kept it simple. And these first few simple 5EA treatments have made such a difference. After the first treatment Grace reported sleeping through the night for the first time since she was 12 years old. After a few more treatments anxiety, muscle tension, niggly aches and pains, stomach and period pains have all reduced and Grace says she feels ‘relieved’ and ‘unblocked’ in her body and her mind. Nothing will reverse the trauma Grace has experienced but she is now sleeping through the night for the first time since she was 12 years old, She has amazingly healthy genes (from a Chinese medicine perspective she has strong Jing), her mother is 85 and her Gran 104 years young. Living a good, long life as healthily as possible both physically and mentally is a priority for her. Hopefully her acupuncture treatments and her newly acquired sleep pattern have helped with that.
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I'm sitting on the balcony listening to and watching dawn rise over the SanLucia valley in Gran Canaria. What a pleasure. But I was awake early so am having that modern worry that I've not had 'enough sleep'.
So I'm pleased that Western science has caught up with Chinese medicine and it's only taken a couple of thousand years. Nobel prize scientists have just discovered that not only do we are whole beings work on a circadian rhythm but that our very cells have inbuilt clocks. Apparently in the past decade, scientists have shown that clock genes are active in almost every cell type in the body. The activity of blood, liver, kidney and lung cells in a petri dish all rise and fall on a roughly 24-hour cycle. Scientists have also found that the activity of around half our genes appear to be under circadian control, following undulating on-off cycles. From the 2nd century BCE a book called 'The Yellow Emperors Inner Classic' was giving advice about how important regular sleep is (and regular other things such as eating and working) in accordance with the cycles of the days and seasons, was to a long and healthy life. In the 17th century Li Yu in a book called 'Collected Works of an Old Man with a Bamboo Hat' (what a fab title) says sleep can regenerate energy, improve health, invigorate the digestion and strengthen the bones and muscles. In fact regularity is the secret of health. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine has always recognised the importance of the time time of day for the functioning of the organs which is why you will always get advice from your acupuncturist about when it's best for you to eat, sleep, work, rest and play. I'm just concerned that sometimes I'm not that good at following the century old advice. But today, when I think about it, my body has told me that I've had enough sleep and I'm actually waking up in accordance with the natural rhythms of the day. The cacophony of cockle doodle doing seems to suggest that anyway. |
About
Gaynor Hollis is a Classical Five Element Acupuncturist with a thriving practice in Birmingham. She is interested in all things healthy and life style related not just Chinese and Japanese acupuncture. Archives
February 2020
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