CHINESE MEDICINE: Veterans Administration Funds Treatment

VETERAN’S AND CHINESE MEDICINE

Recently, a new patient came in who had back surgery a year ago through the Veteran’s Hospital in San Francisco. He had been suffering for many years from an injury and the doctors decided to fuse his entire lumbar area together in order to give him relief. They fused L1-L5 together and supposedly wrapped the muscle over the top in order to give him some mobility.

It is my experience that many patients I have treated who have fusions along the spine area have a Kidney deficiency as a result, and have lost the strength of this organ. They’ve also done very little to build this organ back up.

In Chinese medicine the treatments and the herbs used to treat this deficiency are extremely important because they not only help to alleviate pain, but they also build kidney energy over time so that future surgery can possibly be avoided.

In all my years of practice I have found that fusions along the spine are very difficult to heal from since the spine is built to be flexible and moving. It seems that even when there is a fusion in one location along the spine, trouble occurs along a different area of the spine in order to compensate for this lack of movement. However having said all this, there is relief for many who have had this type of surgery.

The patient who walked into my office came in with severe pain and was unable lie down to sleep without experiencing cramps and spasms throughout the night in his lumbar area, and also down one of his legs. Prior to his fusion he had developed chronic degenerative joint disease in both of his hips and also in his lumbar region. One of his hips had been replaced, but the joint disease created a rubbing of bone on bone, and the doctors decided it was best to take the pressure off the spinal column by doing the fusion.

I must say that in several cases in my clinic, I have put patients on a protocol to help reverse this degenerative disease formation, including women who have low bone density tests. I have been able to reverse this process through acupuncture and herbs.

This patient was also taking five different medications including sleep meds, pain meds (ox codeine), and heart medications. In addition, his diet was not serving him and he was drinking five cups of coffee per day. To treat someone like this is always a challenge for me ,but the amazing thing was that the Veteran’s actually prescribed him six physical therapy/acupuncture treatments, which they would cover. This patient needed relief fast and his willingness to take his own health into his own hands proved to him that he could achieve astounding results.

As an acupuncturist I can recommend and even give Chinese herbs and alternative plans of treatment but I cannot alter medications given from western doctors. Through my suggestions, this patient is no longer on sleeping or heart medications since we have found alternative formulas which have positive results. I put him on alternative products, which not only allowed him to sleep 5 hours, but also took away his spasms and a lot of his pain.

He is only drinking one cup of coffee in the morning and has improved his diet and takes herbs to strengthen his back. Here is his testimonial: “For over a year I have suffered from severe cramping of my lower back muscles, a complication from lumbar spinal surgery. Even taking large nightly doses of prescription sleeping pills, I could only sleep about 3 hours before the pain whole me up. But after only 2 acupuncture treatments and a week’s use of the corresponding natural supplements I was sleeping 5 hours without sleeping pills at all. Now, after 6 treatments and the supplements daily, I have eliminated 3 of my 5 daily prescriptions drugs and I haven’t had any cramping in over a week. I’m convinced; I recommend acupuncture (in general) and Marcy Basel (in particular) to anyone dissatisfied with the AMA results.”

I feel strongly encouraged that the Veteran’s Hospital in now acknowledging alternative medicine to their patients, and paying for these treatments at the recommendations of their own neurosurgeons and doctors. This is a breakthrough for Chinese Medicine.

Please take advantage of this, as a veteran, if you have had problems. There are alternatives herbs, which can be taken instead of the western medications, which have no side affects and still can perform as well.

Marcy Basel can be reach at 707-824-8747 or e-mail: marcybasel@aol.com