Here at Mama Lounge we LOVE acupuncture, but we realize it remains very mysterious to most of the population. So we decided to address a few common acupuncture FAQ’s that come up in the clinic:
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The number one question is, “Does it hurt?” But in the process of answering that, we should also consider this common declaration, “I’m scared of needles.”
Most people have experience with hypodermic needles which are actually serrated, tear the skin, and cause pain & bleeding. Acupuncture needles are the width of a piece of hair and slide between the layers of the skin. There is no bleeding involved. Pain is a relative factor. We note patients who don’t feel a thing, and others who have to breathe deeply with the needle insertion to make the experience pleasurable, but in the end we do make the experience pleasurable and deeply meditative.
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What happens to the body during acupuncture?
It feels like floating, which is the place where your mind shuts down and healing can happen. The technical explanation is that it switches our nervous system from sympathetic dominance into parasympathetic mode, a state in which the body can relax, digest food, enjoy sex and reproduction. Most people spend very little time in this state which is why boosting it can feel so balancing.
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How do you feel afterward?
Different treatments achieve different results. You might feel energized, sedated, hungry, like you have to go to the bathroom! Basically when we remove that top layer of chatter/ friction/ stress, the body’s true state is revealed and we’re always curious to find out- are they exhausted underneath? Peaceful? Uncomfortable? This is where the diagnosis deepens and the treatment becomes an invitation to go deeper and affect real change in the body.
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For those who believe in evidence-based medicine, is there evidence that acupuncture works? Another variation on this question would be, “isn’t that witchcraft/woo woo sorcery?”
Yes, there is now evidence in western research papers that acupuncture works. There has always been evidence in the literature, but much was written in Chinese and required translation.
Is it woo-woo? I don’t know. We don’t hear a lot of that here in San Francisco. It’s pretty common vernacular amongst a very well educated, open-minded & successful demographic. Doctors, IVF clinics, your girlfriends at work, all recommend acupuncture. I’m from the midwest so am certainly familiar with the reactions I get in places where acupuncture is unfamiliar. I see a lot of things happening in healthcare that could be called woo woo witchcraft; moving hearts from one body to another, injecting people with heavy metals to prevent disease, eating eggs without the yolks, coffee enemas, stapling someone’s stomach! In acupuncture, we’ve found a medicine with zero side effects that helps connect people to their true state of calm and bliss, and improves the body’s ability to cope with stress. It really depends on what version of what story you choose to believe, and what healing looks like to you.
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What’s the difference between acupuncture and acupressure?
Acupressure is manual therapy, or the massaging of acupressure points. You can do it at home! The results are notable, but fleeting. Acupuncture uses the needles, or punctures the skin. It’s a stronger therapy and the results can last for days, weeks, or longer depending on multiple factors.
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I am suffering from ______, can acupuncture help? In other words, are there conditions that acupuncture is known to treat and conditions that acupuncture cannot treat?
Most important to note, acupuncture is not emergency medicine. That’s best left to an Emergency Room. Having established that, it becomes a hard to question to answer because we always approach our treatments as treating the person and their internal environment, not the condition. It’s customized care. You could line up 5 people with hypertension who all look very different and lead very different lifestyles, and we would treat them all differently. The “condition” or “complaint” of a client is a just a symptom to us, and we use the needles to access the entire energy field of the body. As this starts to balance, and flow freely, kinks disappear, symptoms unravel, emotions may dislodge, pain alleviates, reproductive organs come to life. We believe when you can open to the vital energy always available to you, the body will find it’s way to harmony. “Conditions” are an plea from the body, begging you to pay attention to where you’ve become disconnected from your vitality.
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My insurance does not cover acupuncture, why would I pay out of pocket?
Good question! We used to take insurance for many years and it caused a lot of discord in a small business. Our staff was overwhelmed with processing, and there was disconnect in the understanding of how to approach treatment since insurance companies were dictating what could be treated and allotting a certain number of visits per client. These often didn’t match up with what the client needed. The choice to eliminate insurance became an easy one when we realized that they wouldn’t reimburse for women’s health conditions and we are primarily a women’s health clinic at Mama Lounge.
Our clients and our staff are now receiving better care, and enjoying honest, straightforward transactions without having to play within the boundaries of insurance mandates. From the perspective of a small business with a concern for building trust with our clients, and being paid fairly to do what we do and raise our own families, I feel it’s the only healthcare model that can function with honesty and transparency at this point in time.
