clinic: April 2010 Archives

            By: Billy Shonez Singh, M.S., L.Ac., Dipl. C.H. (NCCAOM)

                                          www.zenohs.com  ©2010

A 69 year old woman came into my office in October 2009.  Her main complaint for the past eight years has been multiple joint pains in her body due to Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Since her diagnosis, she was placed on thirteen different medications.  Four of them were for treating joint and muscle pain associated with her main complaint.  The other four of the medications were used in lowering her cholesterol and her blood pressure.  The side-effects of the medications were headache, bone pain, jaw pain, muscle weakness, swelling of the ankles and feet, and joint pain- among other things.  The last five of her medications were unrelated to her main complaint but were used in treating the side-effects.  She described her joint pain as severely sharp and stabbing variety located in her neck, lower back, knees, feet, shoulders, wrists, and fingers.  The pain would get exacerbated by damp, cold, and rainy environments as well as walking up a flight of stairs.  In addition to this, I noticed that she had swelling along the fingers and toes.  The swelling was due to the inflammation in the joints and had fluid build-up (edema) in both her ankles.  In her previous history she mentioned that she was a pack-a-day smoker but quit smoking fifteen years ago.  Lastly, she consumed two to three cups of coffee a day.  After treating her with acupuncture for seven months at once a week intervals, we both noticed dramatic improvements in the signs and symptoms.  The swelling in her fingers and toes had decreased.  Her ability to walk with more fluidity and speed was noted as well without any stiffness and debility in her knees and ankles.  It was also indicated that her handwriting appeared less rugged and more fluid after the swelling was alleviated in her fingers and hands.  In any case she now visits me every other week for maintenance-style treatments.  After all the progress we had witnessed together, here is what she had to say:

                         "I have been suffering with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis for about eight years.  After researching alternative methods of pain management I came across Billy Singh's web site and was impressed by his credentials.  I have been seeing him for acupuncture treatments for several months with excellent results.  The treatments have given me great relief from the inflammation in my knees, feet, and shoulders. 

            I am thrilled with the results I am getting from the treatments and would highly recommend them as a compliment to conventional medicine."

-          Janet M.

In my humble opinion, after getting a testimonial like this, all I can say is that I am sorry but decrease in severity of signs and symptoms of a disease is one of side-effects of East Asian Medicine.

Billy Shonez Singh is a licensed acupuncturist and a board certified Chinese herbalist by the NCCAOM.  He is currently practicing in Westbury, NY.  His primary focus with East Asian medicine is stress, pain management, diabetic complications, and treating chemotherapy side-effects. 

                         By: Billy Shonez Singh, MS, L.Ac. (NCCAOM)

                                        http://www.zenohs.com ©2009

            There have been many misconceptions about acupuncture that many people in the Western world have inferred. When I see and hear all of these misconceptions, it causes me to start rolling my eyes in disbelief. So it is time to set the record straight.

The first misconception is that it is used for dealing only with stress.  Now this statement is misleading because while certain people do use it for stress, it is not the only reason.  We do look at stress as being the cause of some diseases but not all of them.  If you look at certain diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome or chronic fatigue syndrome, the root cause is stress.  However, certain conditions that acupuncture can treat such as sinusitis or diabetes, the root cause is not stress obviously.  Usually the cause of certain diseases can be environmental, genetic, dietary, or psychological.  Another misconception that caught my attention a couple of years ago was on Oprah Winfrey's talk show with Dr. Oz.  The subject on her show was about acupuncture and the acupuncturist treating Oprah was asked, "Do you need to be sick in order to receiving acupuncture?" The practitioner's answer was, "no."  Now, I find this to be not only a misconception but a dangerous answer to give because there are cases from East Asia that shows that acupuncture to be a useful medical tool.  Furthermore, the World Health Organization states that acupuncture is useful in the treatment of immune system issues up to the side-effects of chemotherapy.

Next is the subject of health insurance covering acupuncture treatments is another misconception.  Health insurance companies are only going to cover diseases treated with acupuncture by a medical doctor who is a certified acupuncturist.  I must say again that medical doctors practicing acupuncture have only three-hundred hours of acupuncture training.  Whereas, licensed acupuncturists are not covered by health insurance companies despite having two-thousand hours of training than certified doctors practicing acupuncture. 

Lastly, a misconception is that acupuncture is considered unscientific by the Western allopathic community.  Furthermore is that they feel that acupuncture is more of a mystical, intuitive, and an exotic art form of medicine.  The misconception of East Asian medicine being unscientific is also based on false postcolonial assumptions that date back to the 18^th and 19^th centuries regarding Eastern cultures by European imperialists according to Edward Said, the author of Orientalism.  What people fail to realize is that the Western medical viewpoint grows out of the scientific model.  The majority of individuals unfortunately fail to realize that science is a point of view without any more purchase on truth than the world views.  This gives Western medicine an air of certainty which it does not necessarily deserve anymore than acupuncture and East Asian Medicine does.       

            This concludes some of the many misconceptions about East Asian Medicine that have been circulating within the country.

Billy Shonez Singh is a licensed acupuncturist and board certified Chinese herbalist by the NCCAOM.  He is currently practicing in Westbury, NY.  His primary focus with East Asian Medicine is stress, pain management, diabetic complications, and treating chemotherapy side-effects.