Shingles can take any situation from bad to worse

Divorces, layoff’s, bankruptcies, traumatic injuries, world-wide pandemics or just about any kind of highly stressful situations are Shingle's favorite time to appear and make every kind of terrible situation even worse. Herpes Zoster just loves stress and the adrenal exhaustion, immune system fatigue, and breakdown of defenses that comes with it. These terrible times provide the perfect conditions for the dormant varicella virus from your childhood to come out from where it’s quietly hidden itself in the body and wreak havoc along the highly sensitive nerves of the skin. The end result is a particularly evil blistering rash that causes pain, burning, tingling, and intense itchiness along the pathway of the affected dermal nerve. While most rashes circumnavigate from thoracic vertebrae to the center of the chest on one side, I’ve seen shingles take different routes in my clinic, including the neck, face, lumbar and legs.

Causes and Risk Factors

As it’s estimated that around 90 percent of adults carry the dormant chicken pox virus, this issue can be quite common. According to the CDC one out of three adults will develop shingles at some point in their lives and the older you are, the higher your risk. Other shingles risk factors include, weak immune system, poor gut health, taking certain prescription drugs and having autoimmune diseases. While there is a vaccine you can take to prevent shingles, there are many steps you can take to strengthen your overall health to prevent your susceptibility.

Typical Lifetime Of A Shingles Nightmare

While the rash can take between 2 and 4 weeks to disappear, pain can continue for several weeks as the nerves recalibrate. Certain unlucky sufferers (especially those who don’t receive herbal care or Acupuncture)) can experience Postherpetic neuralgia which results in extreme skin sensitivity, tingling and burning that can in some cases continue for years.

Acupuncture is incredibly effective at preventing and shortening the duration of shingles

Over the years I’ve treated dozen of shingles cases and have found this medicine to be incredibly affective at dramatically reducing symptoms and duration while also preventing lingering neuralgia. In China, Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs have been the first choice for shingles treatment for thousands of years with many finding relief without the need of western antiviral medications. I use a combination of specific Acupuncture points, Moxa (heat therapy), and antiviral and toxic heat clearing herbs to eradicate the symptoms and the virus. Most patients experience relief after the initial treatment or two with resolution after a few weeks of bi weekly treatments. For those with extreme and stubborn symptoms, i’ve found local Traumeel injections to be incredibly effective at stopping pain and inflammation.

5 Steps you can take immediately to resolve your shingles quickly

1. visit your doctor or Acupuncturist and get on a western anti viral like acyclovir or valacyclovir, or Chinese Antiviral herbs or both.

2. Take 1,000 mg’s Vitamin C 3 times daily and 50mg’s of zinc daily.

3. Get a B12 shot, B12 helps promote faster recovery and pain reduction, I offer these in the clinic.

4. Ditch the sugar, fruit juice, caffeine, fried foods and carbonated beverages.

5. Increase your intake of green leafy veggies, vitamin c and B rich foods like orange and yellow fruits, eggs and fish and drink tons of water.

Debilitating fatigue, unmanageable anxiety, bloating, breast tenderness, nausea, severe insomnia, irritability, depression and mood swings are just a few of the not so fun symptoms associated with PMDD. While this extreme version of PMS is only thought to affect between 3-8% of menstruating women, I’ve already seen a number of these cases here in Durango in the past few months and have been blown away by how well this issue responds to Acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

What in the world Is PMDD?

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is like PMS on steroids. If you were to take all the usual unpleasant premenstrual symptoms; the mood-swings, sleeplessness, gastric distress and fatigue and multiplied them by 10 then added to that a giant heap of anxiety and joint pain, you’d begin to get a sense for just how sucky this disorder can be.

For some it can include nausea and vomiting so extreme that they actually lose weight prior to their periods, for others, migraines and joint pain and for almost all there is a profoundly debilitating sense of anxiety throughout the week or two leading up to menstruation.

What’s a girl to do about it?

• Get Acupuncture: I know, shocker that the Acupuncturist is suggesting Acupuncture for this issue, but Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are actually incredibly effective at treating the root of this issue which is often stress.

• Up your B vitamins: B12 shots along with specific methylated B vitamins help synthesize brain neurotransmitters to quell anxiety and enhance energy levels.

• Meditate: Download your favorite meditation app like Headspace or Calm and take a seat.

• Calcium and Magnesium: Add these super nervous system soothers to your supplements.

• Aminio Acids: I can help you find the right amino acid to help bring your personal serotonin, dopamine and cortisol levels into balance.

You don’t have to look far to find a couple enduring the heartache of infertility. For those who have struggled to get pregnant it can be an incredibly lonely and exhausting endeavor, made all the more frustrating when reproductive tests come back normal. Over my 12 years of practice I’ve had the honor of working with many couples who have turned to Acupuncture to help them conceive. I’ve worked with those undergoing IU and IVF as well as other western fertility enhancements in addition to those trying to conceive naturally.

Did you know that many of the nation’s fertility clinics highly encourage their patients to undergo regular Acupuncture throughout the duration of their fertility treatments. Many fertility clinics even have Acupuncturists onsite in order to enhance the success rates of their IVF and IU treatments. Acupuncture has been shown through several medical trials to encourage the success rate of conception in these procedures by at least 30%, so it’s no wonder that Western Fertility doctors are such big fans of Chinese Medicine.

Three Ways Acupuncture Enhances Fertility

Enhances Blood Flow: Acupuncture has been shown to enhance blood flow to the uterus and ovaries which in turn helps the endometrium develop and thicken, making it more receptive to an embryo.

Balances Hormones and Menstrual cycle: Acupuncture balances the endocrine system, by stimulating the release of neurotransmitters and endorphins. Beta endorphin levels regulate a woman’s follicle stimulating hormone or FSH which are necessary for the growth of follicles and eggs in the ovaries. Acupuncture has also been shown to have a dramatic effect on insulin resistance in the case of PCOS where by improving insulin resistance it normalizes reproductive hormones and ovulation.

Reduces Stress: And, most importantly, Acupuncture helps to reduce the most common culprit in both male and female infertility; stress. While many of my patients come to me with western diagnosis of PCOS, poor sperm mobility or morphology, ovulation issues or luteal phase defect, many come to my office after undergoing tests that have found nothing wrong with their reproductive health. We seem to constantly overlook the profound impact stress can have on our fertility. When men and women are under constant stress, the hormone cortisol is released in the brain, altering its neuro-chemical balance and changing hormone levels. These changes can disrupt the very delicate pituitary balance that is key to the reproductive cycle.

Increases the possibility of IVF success: by improving diminished ovarian reserve markers.

Acupuncture also helps with these fertility culprits:

Thyroid issues: Hashimotos and hypothyroidism can play a major role when it comes to infertility and Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can play a major role in thyroid health and healing.

Spasmed tubes: Can be relaxed with treatments to assist with ovulation.

Frequent miscarriages: by increasing progesterone, Acupuncture has been shown to promote and sustain implantation, resulting in better birth outcomes.

5 Simple ways to increase Fertility right now

1. Ditch the vitamin I. that’s right fellas, Ibuprofen has been shown in a 2018 Danish study to significantly disturb testosterone production when taken twice daily for more than two weeks at a time. So if you’ve fallen into the habit of popping an ibuprofen or two post bike ride, ski or climb, it’s time to kick that habit fast. Frequent NSAID use in women can also greatly diminish ovulation.

2. Ditch the smokes; smoking reduces sperm production, mobility, morphology and maturation.

3. increase your intake of antioxidants: green tea, wild blueberries, dark chocolate, pomegranates, you can also supplement with vitamin c, E and pycnogenol.

4. COQ10; has been shown to stimulate sperm mobility, and reduces the effects of aging on female eggs resulting in higher egg quality. discontinue taking once pregnant.

5. Take a prenatal vitamin and eat healthy diet of fresh fruits and veggies and adequate ammounts of protein while ditching the trans fats.

We're regressing to our sexy prehistoric selves, click by click.

I don't mean to get dramatic, but we as a computer, tablet, Iphone addicted culture are beginning to show kyphosis of the spine as a society!  Add that to the rapid decline in social skills derived from device addictions and we're not far from becoming a population of knuckle dragging, grunting neanderthals with Apple watches and Fitbits.   Like the Black Rhino, the Amur Leopard, and the leatherback turtle, our neutral spines are becoming a vanishing species, save your posture from reaching woolly mammoth status and leave a legacy of lovely, lengthened front myofascial lines for future generations. 

The front myofascial line...

connects muscles from toenail to temple, following a course that closely resembles the stomach meridian in Chinese Medicine.  By complementing the back line, the FML works to keep us structurally balanced and homo sapianly upright. When our posture resembles that of a question mark our FML is shortened, resulting in structural compromise and energetic imbalances to the stomach meridian.  The stomach meridian plays a key role in our digestion and metabolism, specifically when it comes to foods that are harder to break down, like grains  (hmm... maybe that's why cave men ate paleo).  

The desk job isn't the only thing poaching your front line...

Though a life time of hunkering over your computer like quasimodo is usually the culprit of the vanishing front line. Excessive strengthening of your external abdominal muscles via sit ups and crunches can create a shortening and tightening of the superficial fascia and deep iliacus and psoas muscles. This tension can result in neck pain and psoas issues including groin and low back pain and digestive disorders. Eat like a cave man because it's trendy, and might make you skinny (kidding!), not because you've squeezed your stomach meridian into oblivion and can no longer digest toast.

Save your front line from extinction

Tight quads, low back pain, digestion issues and lateral neck pain all respond incredibly well to Acupuncture and Moxibustion (the burning of mugwort near specific points to warm and lengthen the fascia). Unfortunately, unless you've decided to ditch your desk job for that dolphin training career you've always dreamt of, ergonomic changes to your desk environment coupled with conscious alignment and a consistent and responsible yoga practice are crucial to maintaining your structural health.

Leave the sit ups to your paleolithic ancestors, Access and tone your core by practicing abdominal exercises that strengthen the deep muscles of iliacus and psoas and by embodying the breath. Schedule a Private Yoga class with me to learn more.

Lastly, lose the devices and get outside with your kids, there's a beautiful, un-clickable world out there, enjoy it while you're still standing upright.

And why can't my health practitioners stop talking about it?

After years of flinging this mystical myofascial word around in the office and at the studio, it recently occurred to me that the majority of my clients have no idea where or what their myofascia is and why I can't shut up about it.  Therefore, I've decided to compose a series of newsletters detailing the different myofascial lines, how their imbalances can manifest in your body and how Acupuncture and yoga can help. So, fasten your seat belts folks, for numero uno in a series of 6 newsletters where we will tackle the big question, what is myofascia?

Were you aware that you have super powers?

 
Well, maybe not in the way that you're thinking, but underneath the skin, your entire body is held snuggly in what resembles a spiderman suit. This web of myofascia surrounds and supports all of your muscles in a flexible yet strong silk threaded sweater  that resides just beneath the skin.  This web of tissue comprises your very own spidey suit and forms as a highly intelligent and sensitive network of microscopic cords which connect every part of the body to each other via tensegrity.  This tensegrity or interconnectedness is what gets all of your health practitioners and body workers so excited.  It means that just Like a snag on a sweater, damage to a single area of your fascia can affect distant areas in the body, sometimes even after years.  

When fascia gets in a kink it can be a real drag

Healthy fascia is soft and supple, but prolonged sitting in cars, desk jobs, over exercise (without stretching) and physical trauma can cause the fascia to become inflamed and lose its pliability, turning our fishnet body sock into a tangled up superglue nightmare. Over time, the  result can be an endless feeling of stuckness and pain experienced in a variety of places, from headaches and neck pain to sciatica, tight or torn hamstrings, hip issues and plantar fasciitis with numbness and tingling, breathing difficulties, inflexibility and very poor posture.  
 

Tom Meyers and Ida Rolf

You can't talk about myofascia without sighting the brilliance of these two.  Dr. Ida Rolf, developed and introduced the therapy of Structural Integration as a way of correcting the health issues resulting from poor posture. She understood the importance of a neutral spine, core strength and the vital role supple fascia play in proper alignment.  Tom Meyers took things further, by outlining in great detail (details that make it difficult to keep your eyes opened when reading his manuals) the different pathways these myofascial trains take and their relationship to the body. 
 

The unsticking of you

Don't let you super hero underwear get into a bunch.  There are a variety of ways to help your fascia recover it's limber and sleek self.   Acupuncture can help rehydrate fascia by activating the trigger points (pulls in the sweater) that refer pain to other parts of the body.  I work with the myofascia every day in my office by releasing  muscle tension and increasing blood flow to the affected area.  I can also help by recommending diet and supplement prescriptions to aid in reducing inflammation.  There'll be no time for slouching either, as you'll be expected to take an active role in your recovery.  I'll give you insights into your own postural habits and strategies to rectify those imbalances with specific therapeutic yoga poses tailored to meet your needs.

I have a bit of an obsession with travel, especially to developing countries where we love exposing our girls to different cultures, unique foods and inevitably, the occasional food-borne illness or pathogen.

We just got back from a family trip to Indonesia and I thought I’d share a few of my travel first aid kit must haves.  While some of these would be appropriate for any kind of vacation, we tend to frequent more of the underdeveloped areas where hygiene and medical services are a bit lacking, hence the heavy gastrointestinal theme.  So, without further adieu, I give you:

Durango Acupuncture Clinic’s officially unofficial and ever-changing list of travel first aid kit must-haves.

1. Probiotics: Because digestive issues happen, especially with travel.  These help prevent travelers diarrhea and keep you regular while also bolstering the immune system.  I prefer spore based as they don’t require refrigeration and can survive extreme temps as well as your digestive system. 🥘

2. Activated Charcoal or MegaIGG imunoglobulins:  Chances are that if you’ve ever visited a developing country you’ve encountered some sort of dramatic gastro-intestinal funkiness that resulted in you visiting a number of traumatically disgusting bathrooms (there’s a truly terrifying bathroom in Hanoi I had to take my then 8 year old to that haunts me still).  Activated charcoal is great for absorbing a wide range of toxins, viruses, and bacteria, stopping gas and diarrhea in their tracks and MegaIGG is even stronger. 🚽

3. Oil of Oregano capsules:  Protects against food poisoning from pathogens like  E. coli, staph and salmonella. As one of nature’s strongest antibiotics it can prevent colds and flus and is great to dose yourself with for your plane ride.  You can also break a capsule to apply on insect bites as it has powerful antihistamine properties, I used this on nasty Bott fly bites in Belize and they worked incredibly well. Lastly, this is my go-to herb for killing parasites, so if you’d like to return from your travels alone, this is your friend. 🦠

4. Melatonin or ortho sleep: Got a 14 hour flight in economy coach? A hostel mattress that feels like an ironing board? A 10 hour death defying ride on a night bus with seats seemingly designed for children?  Either of these sleep inducing and nervous system calmers is your favorite bed companion. 😴

5. Berberine: Ice cubes in a margarita in Baja sent me packing with a gastric little friend who just wouldn’t evict, 2,000 mgs of Berberine daily helped to send her packing. Excellent for bacterial or viral induced diarrhea. 😷

6. Digestive enzymes with HCL: Tonsai tummy; a gastrointestinal nightmare experienced by most of the climbers visiting Tonsai Thailand is the love child of food-borne bacteria.  We credited this ailment to the fact that soap is non existent in the bathrooms of any of the kitten and chicken infested outdoor restaurants and guest houses which meant that little if any hand washing was taking place.  HCL increases stomach acid resulting in better digestion and the killing off of potential food born pathogens when taken with meals. 🤢

7. Thieves essential oil:  On our flight back from Tokyo a few years ago, one of our daughters was seated in front of a man with the most disgusting hacking cough, Fortunately, I doused us all head to toe in Thieves essential oil.  Let’s face it, a 12 hour plane ride is akin to bathing in a Petri dish of germs, and thieves essential oil is excellent for protecting you from other peoples funk. 😊

8. Arsenicum album 30c:  Because, as mentioned before, diarrhea happens, ditch the Imodium as it will only make things worse, instead, opt for homeopathic arsenicum.  This stuff works incredibly well without stopping you up for good. 💩

9. Grape Fruit Seed Extract: Ten drops of this magic sauce in water two to three times daily can kill off viruses and bacteria both prophylacticaly and once the damage is done. This is also great to add to the rinse water on camping trips to help kill off any bad bugs.

Lastly, beware of Monkeys, the pictures above are of my daughter being bullied by monkeys in Indonesia.

Other travel tips:

*Always book an aisle and a window seat when traveling with family or friends in the hopes that the middle seat will be empty, whoever has that seat will be happy to trade.

*Bring a sarong: it’s a skirt, it’s a towel, it’s a blanket on a hyper air conditioned flight, it’s a picnic blanket, it’s ahead scarf, instant sun screen and a sanitary bed sheet for those questionable budget lodgings.

*Bring a plug converter, after lugging it to the most remote areas all over the world and never needing it, we found ourselves in desperate need of one in Indonesia, of course, we’d left ours at home.

*Bring a reusable water bottle, trash has become a real problem in most developing countries and there’s a real push to limit plastic water bottles, we were happy to notice that nearly everywhere we stayed had water stations for us to fill up at.

*Don’t mess with monkeys

Forget every misconception you’ve ever had about Cannabis, forget the preconceived notion that Medical Marijuana is simply an excuse for people to get high without being hassled. Leave your stereotypes of bong rips and the Grateful Dead at the door because the Cannabis that we are about to dive into has nothing to do with the munchies or macrame and everything to do with cutting edge pharmacology. Scientific and clinical studies increasingly show exciting new potential for this incredible and ancient medicine and its significant benefits for those who suffer with severe neurological disease, auto-immune issues and chronic pain. The Cannabis discussed here can have profound and life changing implications in the treatment of your Mother’s Parkinson’s, your brother’s anxiety and your son’s autism. It can hold the key to getting off those dangerous opioids for your back pain and offer serious relief for your friend’s arthritis.

The medical benefits of Cannabis are already profound despite the recent discovery of phytocannabinoids that its difficult to capture them all in one blog post, therefore, bear with the length of this post and stand by for future articles on specific health benefits. For now, let us begin with the endocannabinoid system.

Endoca-what?!

You’ve heard of the nervous, vascular, and lymphatic systems of the body, but have you ever heard of the endocannabinoid system?  The Endocannabinoid system was only recently discovered by scientists in Israel in 1982 and has been found to play a vital role in maintaining a state of homeostasis.  It basically acts as a thermostat for most of the body’s other systems, including immune, nervous, endorphin and vanilloid systems (controlling pain receptors), and works to keep them in balance, much like Acupuncture.  This video does a great job of explaining it. https://www.facebook.com/pg/MeganlottAcupuncture/reviews/?ref=page_internal

So where do the CBD’s come in?

Over the centuries, THC; the one psycho-active component of cannabis has received all of the attention for its mind altering high.  However, scientists have only just discovered the over-looked and incredibly powerful phytocannabinoid; CBD. CBD works by indirectly stimulating the endocannabinoid system and by binding with receptors in the brain like serotonin which directly influence depression, gene expression, anti-cancer and osteoprotective effects.  CBD’s act as self regulatory adaptogens, helping to bring the body into harmony. There are at least 111 different phytocannabinoids that we know of in Cannabis yet we’ve only discovered 10% of their pharmacological effects.

what pharmacological effects DO we know of?

So far, clinical and laboratory tests show CBD’s to have the following benefits:

Anti-cancer, anti-proliferative, anti-emetic (nausea and vomiting), anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anti-diabetic, anti-psoriatic, anti-diahreal, analgesic, bone stimulant, immunosuppresive, anti-ishemic, anti-spasmodic, vasorelaxant, neuroprotective, anti-epileptic, anti-tumor, anti-psychotic, axiolytic and that it turns white fat into brown fat.  

Other phytocannabinoids found in the plant have the additional effects of; appetite suppression, antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-microbial, analgesic, all while increasing a state of well being, euphoria and pleasure.  

How Can CBD’s benefit me?

Here’s the short list of possible health issues that may be helped by Medicinal Cannabis:

ADHD, Addiction, ALS, ALzheimers, MRSA and Staph infections, anxiety, arthritis, asthma, autism, autoimmune disorders, cancer, concussions and traumatic brain injuries, depression, diabetes, eating disorders, IBS, migraine, MS, nausea, neurodegenerative diseases; Parkinson's, Huntingtons, pain, PTSD, schitzophrenia, seizures, skin conditions; psoriasis, acne, dermatitis,stress,  insomnia and sleep apnea.

Where does Acupuncture come in?

Like Cannabis, Acupuncture is found to also have a direct effect on the endocannabinoid system and has been used for thousands of years to induce and maintain a state of homeostasis and balance.  In fact, Cannabis was once cited as an empirical herb in Chinese Medicine prior to it’s prohibition. Acupuncture and CBD’s compliment each other by enhancing and amplifying each other’s effectiveness.  

Hemp CBD’s

While CBD’s work best with at least a trace amount of THC (which acts like a key to unlocking cannabinoid receptors), as little as 0.3% or less can often do the trick, which makes hemp CBD’s so appealing.  You see, Hemp contains so little THC that it has zero psychotropic effect (it will not get you high), but just enough to help the beneficial plant compounds like CBD get to their desired receptors in the brain. This means that you can travel with Hemp products and take them without fear of suddenly getting the munchies or spending an hour examining your hand while contemplating every poor choice you’ve made in life.

How can I integrate CBD’s into my health plan?

Finding the right dosage, delivery system, strain and  ratio of phytocannabinoids can be incredibly complicated, though there have been no cases of overdoses with Cannabis, too little or too much of this potent medicine can result in diminished or sub-optimal effect.  Add to that the fact that the recent popularity of CBD’s has resulted in flooding of the market with some seriously inferior companies. Because hemp has been used solely for agricultural purposes for centuries, there are a number of producers who source their hemp from inferior agricultural strains which are very low in the potent phytocannabinoids necessary for medicinal purposes.  Additionally, there are several producers who source their hemp from farms which use pesticides.

Fear not, I’ve got your endocannabinoid’s back!

Durango Acupuncture Clinic is proud to offer a wide array of heavily vetted, vigorously tested organic and pure Hemp based CBD products.  I’ve undergone some serious research to find the most potent medicinal Hemp strains and easily assimilated delivery systems for this incredible medicine and am happy to help you find the right dosage and strength for your particular health challenge.  You can simply ask for suggestions at your next appointment or schedule a CBD consultation with me online. Should you require a stronger THC ratio, I can help to steer you toward specific strains and delivery systems at local dispensaries as well.  

What is Traumeel and why exactly are we injecting it?

Traumeel is a type of homeopathic solution comprised of plant botanicals and minerals used for decades to combat pain and inflammation. At Durango Acupuncture Clinic, I am able to deliver this special form of medicine directly into the affected muscle, joint, acu or trigger point. It works by reducing inflammation and pain and actually helps to accelerate healing as an alternative to steroid injections. For those with arthritis, nerve pain or spasms, Traumeel can be combined with other homeopathics including Zeel, Spascupreel and neuralgo-rheum. For intense pain, I combine Traumeel with lidocaine as well.

It’s easy to love Traumeel and I’ll tell you why:

1. Homeopathics are all natural, non-addictive and have zero side effects.

2. Traumeel has analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects and accelerates healing.

3. Injections are relatively painless and very affordable.

4. These can be used alone or added onto any Acupuncture treatment.

5. Traumeel can treat lateral epicondylitis.

6. Benefit minor pain caused by arthritis.

7. Can reduce muscle spasms.

8. Heal torn muscles and ligaments

9. Benefit sprains.

10. Help with Pelvic pain.

11. Aid in the healing of hip pain.

12. Treat sports injuries.

13. Traumeel is excellent in aiding post surgical recovery.

14. Can accelerate the healing of bone fractures.

Injections, painless? You’re kidding, right?

It’s no wonder so many of us share a deep seated fear of needles, have you ever accompanied a child to a vaccination appointment?  I nearly fell out of my chair when I watched the nurse violently jab my daughter with a giant needle for the first time. I get it that kids are fidgety little creatures and that attempting to inject them with a full dose of anything is akin to giving your cat a bath on the impossible scale, but geez!  

Despite experiences, injections don’t have to hurt.

There is no jabbing at Durango Acupuncture Clinic, I use the tiniest needles I can get my hands on so that I can deliver an injection that is as smooth, slow and gentle as possible.  In fact, the most common comment I get after delivering a Traumeel injection is “was that it?” I’ve treated enough nurses to learn that they lovingly nickname the room where they give steroid injections, “the pain room”, i’m happy to say that there are absolutely no such rooms at this Clinic.  

How Therapeutic Injections can get you there faster

Injections skip the cumbersome and slow digestive process and deliver supplements more directly to the bloodstream where its benefits can have an intensified and more immediate effect.  Intramuscular injections are absorbed as much as 90% better than vitamins and minerals taken orally. Which is why I’m excited to offer an array of therapeutic injections in my practice.

A little something for everyone:

• Acute Pain: Homeopathic Traumeel, which is excellent for more acute muscle sprains and strains as well as sports injuries and as an alternative to cortisol injections.

• Chronic Pain: Homeopathic Zeel, spascupreel and neuralgo-rheum are perfect for arthritis, muscle spasms or nerve pain.

• Immune System: Homeopathic Engystol combined with b-vitamins are your natural answer to the flu shot.

• Fatigue: B12 as Methylcobalamin is the most easily assimilated form of B12 and is more effective when delivered intramuscularly than sublingually.

• Weight Loss: Lipostat, A unique blend of vitamins designed to help your liver break down and digest fats to enhance your diet and exercise efforts.

Cosmetic Acupuncture, a Vacation For Your Face!

Our faces tell the story of our lives,  the sunspots on my cheek bones tell of the 10+years I’ve spent playing in the high desert.  The creases between my eyes are evidence of trials and tribulations of being a mom, a home and business owner, and a wife, all of which can also be credited for the many smile lines that decorate my eyes.  The wear of our faces make us interesting, I’m sure that if I had led a different life, one without children, husband, adventure, risk, my skin would be perfection, but I where’s the fun in that?

This is what I love about practicing Cosmetic Acupuncture, because unlike Botox which aims to erase that story from the face, leaving it paralyzed, I get to preserve your story while erasing the stress of your face.  Have you ever noticed how great you look after a really amazing vacation? Aside from the sunburn, and the deficit in your bank account, your eyes are brighter, the tension has erased from your face, and your skin is glowing.  This is what Cosmetic Acupuncture can do for you.

By applying tiny needles, I can stimulate the release of collagen and elastin and relax the muscles of your face to fill in fine lines, release tension and improve complexion.  Each treatment is complemented by custom bodypoints aimed at balancing underlying health issues, including digestion and stress which affect the aging of our skin. All natural Astara and Isun products are used to cleanse, tone, hydrate and moisturize the skin, and every treatment includes microcurrent, towel steaming and hand and foot massage.   Many clients note an improved complexion and tightness of the skin after the first one to three treatments, but those who undergo the entire ten series report some or all of the following benefits:

Facial                                                                            Constitutional

* reduction of fine lines and wrinkles                       * enhanced metabolism/energy

* improved hormonal acne                                         * reduction of menopause symptoms* evening out of skin tone                                       * improved digestion

* firming of jawline and under eye bags                      * less sinus congestion, headaches

* slight lifting of drooping eyes                                     * increased mental clarity

* tightening of sagging                                                  * stress and anxiety reduction

* lightening of acne scars                                             * resolution of insomnia

* tightened pores                                                          * increased lymph circulation

Each 90 minute treatment is $110 or you can purchase a 10 pack for $950.  For the Month of October, I’m happy to offer a complimentary Cosmetic Acupuncture treatment with any local purchase of any Rodan and Fields regimen.