How to Get the Most Out of Your Acupuncture Treatment

10 things to get the most out of natural medicine 

and your acupuncture treatment:

1. Be a little early for your appointment so you can take some deep breaths and relax or meditate. 

2. Have all your paperwork completed.  This is especially important for your first appointment.  This ensures that your time with your acupuncturist is spent helping you get better rather than having to focus too much time filling out paperwork.

3. If you have questions about your paperwork and medical history questionnaire, it is best to ask.  This helps open the lines of communication and to make sure that your acupuncturist is up to date with all your health information.

4. Take notes before and after the actual acupuncture.  If you keep a notebook or folder of your growing understanding of yourself and your health, you can make more connections and progress.  Taking notes is also really helpful for tracking allergies and following through with dietary and herbal programs.

5.  Become an equal partner in making yourself healthy.  No matter how great your doctor or acupuncturist is, they will never be as good at providing health as your own body.  Your body is a limitless self-healing system that you are in charge of.  Deferring control to someone else leads to frustration and ultimately to ill health.  Make decisions with your health care advisors.

6.  Be committed and patient while your body heals.  Do not expect to be healed immediately with natural medicines.  Sometimes symptoms do go away right away, however, many times it is a much more complicated process.  Pharmaceuticals are generally designed to repress or suppress symptoms…not to heal.  True healing takes time and effort and sometimes you may go through detoxification or “healing” symptoms in order to do so.  Communicate these to your acupuncturist – often your treatments can be altered to minimize this effect.

7.  Drink lots of water!  You should drink a lot of fresh, purified water in general but it especially helpful to drink an extra couple of glasses after your acupuncture treatment.  This helps to quickly eliminate any stored toxins that have been mobilized from the treatment.  These toxins can cause headaches, fatigue, nausea, and “the crankies” among other symptoms.  Also make sure you let your acupuncturist know if your bowels are sluggish so that you don’t reabsorb toxins from a slow digestive tract.

8. Do not frantically switch from remedy to remedy.  Many people who try to get better self diagnose and frequently switch between supplements trying to find a magic cure.  This is not how natural medicine works best!

9.  Have fun!  Dragging your feet through the process only makes it more difficult.  Your healing journey can be fun and interesting and it can be invigorating if you decide to make it so!  It does not have to be about punishing yourself for past lifestyle mistakes!

10.  If there is something your acupuncturist is doing wrong or you don’t like or understand, talk with him/her about it.  Having an open relationship with your health care professionals is a great way of getting the health care that you want and deserve. 

© 2007, 2008 Katie Blair