Acupuncture for Post Natal Depression and Recovery from Spinal Surgery

Joel Fellman of http://altMD.com offered some very compelling questions regarding Acupuncture and Health Care during Pregnancy, Childbirth and Post Birth for the mums in addition to suitability for Infants, Children and Adolescents.

Your post ‚More On Acupuncture, Pregnancy and Childbirth‚ is interesting.

As you may recall, at Serono we were aware that Acupuncture was quite helpful for infertile couples in many cases. It seems to me that the pregnancy array – from not being pregnant all the way to giving birth is really the place for Acupuncture.

Would you say that many women would also benefit from Acupuncture for stress relief plus many other reasons past the birth event?

While raising a newborn, infant, child, and teenager ‚etcetera? Is Acupuncture a missed opportunity for women in general and part of the continuum of care for health and wellness?

Or is that saying too much at this point in time and too simplistic??

Thanks again, Alan!

Talk soon‚ Joel

Thanks heaps for your insightful reply and very relevant questions Joel.

25 years of clinical experience definitely confirms for me that judicious traditional acupuncture can provide huge impetus towards better health in people of all ages.

There are many examples and in some cases video on this blog of positive clinical outcomes for children of all ages and adults of all shapes and sizes.

http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/category/clinical/pre-and-post-natal

http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/category/infant-acupuncture

Your question regarding acupuncture and stress relief for new mothers using Japanese acupuncture is extremely tantalizing, however, I will do my level best to keep the answers relevant and concise.

According to Traditional East Asian medical physiology and philosophy, from conception to birth the child or children require an enormous amount of energy and nourishment from the mother to go from being a twinkle in the eye to a fully mature fetus.

In Traditional East Asian medicine the energetic impetus for this growth is provided by what we call the mothers kidney energyand in some instances, depending upon her constitution, lifestyle and general health this scenario can cause a significant energetic imbalances in new mums.

In Traditional East Asian medical physiology the kidneys provide the energetic basis upon which all metabolic and physiological functions depend.

In addition once the child is born a majority of mothers provide the sole nourishment, keeping production up to speed is the responsibility of spleen/pancreas meridian/organs.

Hence when there is an imbalance as a result of a combination of any of the above factors the affect can be extremely diverse and widespread.

Often appearing to be totally unrelated from an orthodox Western medical perspective, the symptoms are often intimately related when viewed from an Traditional East Asian medical perspective

Keeping in mind that I am doing my level best to keep the answers relevant and concise, I will not extrapolate to the enth degree regarding these functions, suffice to say. that in my experience most mums presenting with post natal health difficulties suffer from a significant imbalance in either or both of these functions, an imbalance reflected by various symptoms .

Including:

Post Natal Depression of varying degrees and severity.

Exhaustion.

Irrational fits of anger and an extremely short fuse.

Lactation difficulties, both quality and quantity.

And the list goes on‚

Regarding the suitability of Traditional Japanese Acupuncture for infants and children, my experience has shown that our medicine can provide an extremely effective adjunct to orthodox medical care, in many cases providing essential relief where orthodox medical applications are hamstrung in their ability to do so without the use of powerful and sometimes unsuitable medication.

I am not saying that acupuncture can replace pharmaceuticals only that in many instances there is huge potential to reduce dosage and dependence.

As always I believe all questions are most appropriately answered via clinical outcomes.

The ability to walk the talk not just talk the talk is of the utmost importance.

Certainly any modality that can reduce our culture’s dependence upon long-term medication for behavioral problems has to be a positive!

Sarica’s Story So Far.

Part.1 http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/debilitating-lower-back-dilemmawhat-would-you-suggest-to-this-patient

Part 2. http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/youve-gotta-know-when-to-hold-and-when-to-fold

Part 3. Japanese Acupuncture Treatment for Post Natal Depression and Spinal Surgery.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Many thanks to Tatiana Rubio who specializes in treatment for pregnancy, childbirth and infant acupuncture, for making her clinic space available for this treatment and some excellent camera work!

I recommended Sarica pursue a consistent and committed daily to thrice weekly treatment regime tonifying Ki.3 – Liv.3– GB.40 plus 7 – 9 cones of Tonetskyu or Rice Grain Moxa on ST.36 for the next 6 months.

Below is an email I recently received from Sarica.

I love her dedication and also the power of gentle traditional acupuncture to significantly help folk in her situation.

hi there, alan,
so good to hear from you…you’ve been big on my mind, as i’m deep
with appreciation for your help, care and guidance, so i appreciate
your checking in on me. i’ve been faithful with the self-treatment,
including the moxa, and the biggest thing i’ve noticed is that my
brain and spirit are returning. i’d really been struggling with
fighting negativity, and that has improved tremendously. also, my
energy is more sustained, though i’m not pushing too hard with
exercise–just doing about half of what i think i can, and that keeps
me from feeling shaky and overdrawn afterward. finally, i feel like
i have a lot more control over my frustration and anger–i’m not
owned by it as i was, and that is improving my relations with and for
the kids day by day. honestly, i can’t thank you enough :).
how are you? so looking forward to seeing you again–that was too
short! and i do hope to practice with you next time around…
you take care, now!
love,
Sarica

Warning!!! Not every Post Natal Depression patient presents with Liver Yang Deficiency Syndrome in the same way that not every Liver Yang Deficiency Patient presents with Post Natal Depression.