Acupuncture is a considerable investment of time and money toward healing pain and chronic illness. By following a few simple guidelines you can raise the odds that this investment will result in less pain, greater energy, improved mood and improvement in the illness being treated.

It is vital to follow these guidelines:

• Come to your appointments. Acupuncture works best when treatments are received at regular intervals. We are working on stimulating the flow of Qi and blood in your body. Once we get things moving we need to continue the momentum. By skipping appointments or going several weeks without treatment we will in effect be starting from the beginning all over again. If you absolutely must cancel a treatment, I require a 24 hour notice or I will have to charge you for the missed appointment.
• In order to get a full treatment you must be on time.
• Eat something 3 hours before a treatment. We are working on your Qi. If you have not eaten, your Qi will be low and the treatments will be less effective.
• If a healing reaction occurs please call to inform me. Occasionally after treatment a symptom may be exacerbated or a different type of symptom may appear. This is considered a healing reaction. If I know about this I may be able to lessen the likelihood of this occurring again. Do not be concerned if this happens to you; it is a part of the healing process. Healing reactions usually only last a few hours.
• Do not submerge in water, take a shower or swim for 12 hours. Keep warm and out of the wind. Refrain from alcohol or recreational drugs for 24 hours. During an acupuncture treatment we open the flow of the meridians. To prevent any adverse effects take care to protect yourself from unwanted influences.

My goal as an acupuncturist is to help you heal. This is more that just symptom relief. A deeper level of healing means that symptoms won't return once the treatments stop. To accomplish this goal I will develop a treatment plan and discuss this with you. It is difficult to predict exactly how quickly an individual will respond to treatment. It depends upon one's constitution, general state of health, diet and life style, including the amount of sleep and exercise one gets. The best results occur with good diet, adequate sleep, reduction in stress and moderate exercise. I can help to counsel you on these points.

Symptoms are usually the last to appear and the first to disappear. Usually many years of neglect of one's health lead to the occurrence of pain and chronic illness. I want to get you beyond just symptom relief in to a state of greater vitality, so that you can weather life's stresses and not have symptoms reoccur. It takes time to eliminate the cause of a problem but then results are more permanent. Symptoms may disappear then reappear and are not a safe measure of correction of a problem. A better indicator is the tongue and abdomen. Once balanced and free from Qi blockage you can safely stop treatment.