Notes for the following treatments:

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Abbreviations used: CV/GV = Ren/Du, HP (Heart Protector) = Pericardium (P), Aggressive Energy (AE).
All points needled using tonification technique except for certain recognised protocols, such as AE drain.
Moxa cones applied before treatment except where contraindicated.
Number of cones and needle depth taken from JR Worsley's Point Reference Guide.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, December 30, 2011

Putting this blog on hold for the moment

I have decided that I have now written as much as I need to about my approach to treatment as it relates to specific point selections. In particular, I hope it is clear to any reader of this blog how important I think it is not to focus too much on individual point selections but to concentrate instead on understanding the elements and their officials. Anybody interested in my thinking here can read the following entries on my other blog:

16 Nov 2010: Think elements, not points,” and “The cumulative effect of points”,   
29 July 2010: Find the element and the points will look after themselves
14 Jan 2011: Further insights into point selection 

Combined with a reading of my Handbook, these provide enough insights for people to get a flavour of the principles underlying my approach to point selection. 

I think it is therefore now time for me to leave readers to work out their own approaches, with, I hope, the words, “The simpler the better” engraved on their hearts. I am not closing this blog completely, because there may be occasions in the future when I wish to share a particularly interesting treatment with you, but I will no longer be doing this on a regular basis.

I would like thank a reader, calling himself, mysteriously “Hamilton loves acupuncture”, for prompting me to think about the future of this blog by asking me for more. The “more” will now mostly be built around my other blog, which is much wider-ranging than the rather narrow focus of this treatment blog, and therefore more stimulating for me to write and, presumably, for people to read.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

A typical treatment day

I am giving below the treatments I did today on three of my patients.  I think they are a good representation of the kind of treatments I do.  And I hope everybody reading this will note how simple they are and, I think if you were to ask my patients, how effective.  Another one of my mantras is “the simpler the better and the fewer points the better”.  In this way we do not overwhelm the elements with confusing signals, but, like the magic bullets Western medicine is always desperately seeking for its drugs, we direct a concentrated amount of treatment straight at the guardian element.  That is why we should always consider command points to form the heart of all our treatments, not, as some practitioners tend to think of them, as a kind of add-on after apparently more complex points.

Two patients were Fire (Inner Fire) and one was Metal.

I find it interesting that it is often my Metal and Inner Fire patients who are most aware of the value of their treatments;  each of these are able to sort and evaluate properly in their differing ways.  They recognise the need for regular treatments and know when they need a treatment, but like to space their treatments differently.  Patients 1 and 3 like to come on average once every 2 months, whilst Patient 3 only gets in touch when she feels she needs to.

Patient 1          Fire (Inner Fire)          GV 12, SI 11, SI 3, Ht 9
Patient 2          Metal                           Lu 1, Co 1, Lu 8 (she felt it was already autumn, and I always give seasonal treatments which relate to how the patients are experiencing a season).
Patient 3          Fire (Inner Fire)          SI 9, SI 4                    

Monday, August 22, 2011

Patient 32 Metal Treatment 4

For this patient’s first three treatments, see Blog of 12 August 2011

Patient’s comments since I saw her last week:
“Now I feel detached and can see all the things that have happened to me in the right way.  I am assessing my life.”

Treatment given today:

1      Windows:  Co 18, Lu 3
2    Co 4, Lu 9
This was a simple, but, in its very simplicity, a very beautiful treatment.  The patient looked glowing as she left, and we decided between us that her next treatment could now be in two weeks, as she feels so good. 

Proposal for next treatment:   Bl 39 (44) or Lu 1

Two points about today’s treatment: 
a.  When to use Windows: I mentioned at the end of my last Blog on this patient that I was considering doing Windows very soon for her, because “she is already “seeing” a lot”.  It is interesting how often a patient mentions the word “seeing” when their element starts to be in control and is helping them put their life in perspective.  This is most likely to happen with Metal, which is the element above all that wants to see things in their true colour, to assess their true value.  And, significantly, this patient used both the word “see” and “assess” here.

The other element which needs to “see” things properly, and revels in doing this, is the inner aspect of Fire, the SI and Ht aspect.  The Small Intestine’s role is to assess what is appropriate for the Heart, and it is no coincidence that it is the only official to have two Windows, SI 16 and 17.  These two, the Metal element and Inner Fire, will appreciate having their Windows opened more than any of the other elements or officials.  So it is likely that we do these points quite frequently for them to help them in their task of sorting (SI) and assessing, then letting go (Lu and Co).  Here the Small and the Large Intestines have similar work to do, but at different stages of the process of taking in and eliminating.

There is no point deciding to do the Windows if you feel the patient is still very much “in the dark” about where they are going in their life.  Some light must be filtering into the dark spaces where we wander when our life is troubled before we are ready to be able to cope with the very bright light which Windows can cast upon us.  We may find that we do the Windows too soon, and nothing much happens, and then we need to wait a little, and do them again a little further on, when treatment has helped the patient move forward enough to value this extra light thrown on their life.  As practitioners, our own Windows need to be wide open to assess when to do or not to do the Windows for our patients!

b.  Spacing of treatments:  When I start spacing treatments more widely, I always tell patients that, if they feel treatment is not holding (and Metal, more than any other element, is very clear about this), they should phone for an earlier appointment.  You don’t want to give a patient the feeling that you may be banishing them from the practice room as you extend the times between treatments.  It is always a somewhat delicate question as to how to space treatments, and we can get it wrong sometimes, either by making them too frequent for too long (the most common error – perhaps consciously or unconsciously a practitioner’s eye on their own finances comes into play here!), or by spacing them too widely too quickly.  Some practitioners have told me that they may be relieved to do this, particularly in the case of what they might consider “difficult” patients, i.e., patients with whom they have failed to develop a good relationship.  It is always good to review our own particular way of spacing treatments, and look carefully at what our reasons for doing this are.  Each patient will demand a different schedule of treatments, some needing weekly treatments for a long time, others, as with this patient, feeling happy to go out and confront their life on their own, with less frequent support from their practitioner.
 

Monday, August 15, 2011

Patient 24: Update &Treatment 5

See Treatments 1 & 2 for this patient given in my blogs of 19 & 25 Feb

Even though this patient reported some very big improvements from the first two treatments, she said that the pain in her wrist and the trouble with her eyes had recurred after treatment 4, and decided that she wanted to discontinue treatment.  I felt that I had not been given enough time to help her, but understood why she made her decision.  I was therefore rather surprised when she phoned me again last week to say that she was delighted to report that her wrist was virtually pain-free, and that she would like another treatment to build on this improvement.  I was happy to offer this, as I was dissatisfied with treatment ending is this unsatisfactory way, as I always am if I feel that I have somehow not done my best.

I am listing below treatments 3 & 4, and finally today’s treatment:

 Treatment 3:   

1                    Co – St block  .
2                    AEPs of Wood
3                    Li 4 (transfer from Metal to Liver) I could have added GB 37, as I did in treatment 2, but after a few treatments the two sides of an element will feed each other.  In the first few treatments it is good to give each yin and yang official some attention so that neither feels deprived!

Treatment 4:  This was the treatment when the patient reported that the symptoms had recurred and she had decided to discontinue treatment.

1                    SI – Bl block again
2                    Li 14 (Gate of Hope)
3                    GB 41, Li 1 (spring seasonal treatment)
I was very glad that I had been able to fit in her seasonal treatment before she stopped treatment.

Treatment 5 (today):

1                    TH-GB block (TH 22, GB 1)
2                    GB 20
3                    Liv 4, Lu 9 (transfer from a strong Earth through Metal to Wood)  I chose this treatment because it involved inserting a carrier needle into Lu 9 at the wrist, and I felt this would encourage energy to flow over the wrist.

She looked very pink and glowing as she left, and was delighted with the treatment.  

This is one of those happy cases with a somewhat unexpected result.  I had
assumed up till now that treatment had not helped, and was delighted to find that it
had.  On looking back at her notes, I realised that the seasonal treatment had
obviously done the trick, but that Wood’s natural impatience to get out there and get
going had prevented her from persisting with treatment.  Her specialist had told her
that the pain was related to the pisiform bone, over and through which the SI
pathways passes, and this problem in the SI may well have had led to the need for
clearing a SI-Bl block several times.

She said that her eyes were still very runny, but perhaps the TH-GB block I needled
today will help them, too.  She will come back in the autumn for a follow-up
treatment, and she is happy to do that.

You could say that her Wood element could not “see the wood for the trees”.  For an element which is all to do with vision, it is surprising how often it cannot see what is right there in front of it.  

I felt very happy at the end of this treatment, for it is an outcome such as this which
makes my work worthwhile, and confirms for me the power and efficacy of very
simple treatments directed straight at an element.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Patient 32 Metal (Treatments 1 - 3)

Patient: Female, age 24

Element: Metal: I think her official is Lung, not Large Intestine. She has no problem letting go, but quite a few problems in taking in, literally in finding “inspiration”.

Number of treatments: Today is her third treatment. Treatment 1: AE drain and source points of Metal. Treatment 2: Entry/exit block Co-St, Bl 37, Co 11, Lu 9.

Main problem today: Feels quite uncertain about her future career. Is an artist, and feels unsure about what direction her studies will take her. Is from another European country, and does not know yet whether she wants to settle in England, although has a long-standing English partner.

Patient’s comments since I saw her last week:
“I have started to paint again in the last week. I was frightened to look at my work because I couldn’t see what I needed to do, but I found myself re-evaluating what I had done, which I couldn’t do before. A really lovely moment when I realised that I wasn’t so stuck.”

Treatment given today:

1 AEPs of Metal

2 Lu 10, Co 6  JR always said that Lu 10 is the most spiritual point in the body, and I tell my patients this and watch their reaction. Metal without exception reacts with a look of wonder and delight, indicating “So I am worth having this most spiritual point, am I?”. If I have not got the right element, and the patient is not Metal, there are different reactions. Fire looks fairly, but not overly, pleased (Outer Fire) or puzzled (Inner Fire, SI trying to sort out what that means), and Earth indifferent. I have used these reactions to help me change elements.  We have to use every little indication we can!.

At the end of treatment: She said that the rather uncomfortable and bloated abdomen she had come with now felt warm and relaxed.

Time of next treatment: Next week

Proposals for next treatments: Bl 39 (42) and Lu 8, or possibly Windows. Normally I would wait a little longer before doing Windows, but she is already “seeing” a lot, and will welcome the Window points.

See Blog of 22 August for Treatment 4.






Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Patient 31: Description of an emergency treatment

This blog discusses whether and when it is appropriate to give what can be called emergency treatment to somebody who you will only be able to treat once or twice.  A Japanese woman, now living in Thailand and a friend of a patient of mine, was in London for 5 days, and wanted very much to have some treatment.  There would be time to give her only two treatments.  I always have to think carefully about whether such little treatment does more harm than good, and each case will be different.  I would have to condense into the three or so hours I could give her what normally is spread over many weeks.  And then there is the added question-mark about the patient’s guardian element.  In the short space of time available to me how likely is it that I will be able to home in on the right element and understand her needs enough to be able to help her?

I decided that I would accept the challenge in this patient’s case for several reasons.  She is herself an acupuncturist and has been very interested in learning about five element acupuncture.  She therefore understood without my telling her that what I would be offering her would be different from the normal slow unfolding of treatment, and was prepared to accept that.  She was also desperately unhappy at the moment, having lost a beloved father recently, and just uprooted herself and her family to move to a new country.  I could hear on the telephone from the despair in her voice that at the very least she would benefit from those simple but profound treatments, the AE drain and possibly clearing a H/W imbalance.  Having decided to see her, I resolved to do the best I could in terms of finding her element. 

The two treatments I was able to give her are a very good example of how I approach emergency treatment of this kind.  I started the first treatment by carrying out a short diagnosis of about half-an-hour.  The more experienced I have become, the more quickly I find I can pinpoint the important aspects of a patient’s life. 

She is a woman of 35, married, with two children, and has just moved to Thailand from Japan where her husband has been relocated.  After this initial half-hour, I knew a great deal about her present life, the difficulties of having a much older husband, of living in a different culture, her relationship with her children, her feelings of inadequacy at not having her own career, her very close relationship with her father, her grief at his unexpected death and her hopes for the future.  I also had details of any medical conditions (none, except high BP, for which she was on medication).  I also did a brief physical diagnosis (Centre Pulse, Akabanes, BP, which was high, so no moxa). 

I basically now knew a lot about her and in particular about how she approached each of the different aspects of her life, which would help me in trying to decide upon an element with which to start her treatment.  The only sensory pointers I could get related to her emotion, which was a mixture of fear and joy, and her colour which seemed to have a bluish-black tinge.  I opted first for Water, although I kept the possibility of Fire at the back of my mind.

Treatment 1 (2 hours):
1                    AE:  none.  I was surprised to find there was none in view of her obvious desperation, but this only goes to confirm that the presence or absence of AE can never be predicted.  A person apparently surprisingly well can have lots of AE, whilst, as here, a desperate patient can have none.
2                    H/W:  As I had suspected from the start, the desperation had led to a H/W imbalance.  She looked much better after this cleared.
3                    CV 14:  I could also have chosen Ki 24 to resuscitate her spirit, but felt that treatment directed at the Heart (CV 14 is the Alarm Point of the Heart) was what she needed more.
4                    Bl 64, Ki 3:  Source points of Water.  There was no change in her colour, and by then something about Water did not satisfy me.  Instead, I was seeing increasing signs of joy/lack of joy lurking below the surface, particularly after the H/W cleared and her cheeks flushed.  I therefore decided to change to Fire.  This is not what I would do in normal treatment.  Chopping and changing elements in the same treatment only serves to confuse both the practitioner and the patients’ elements themselves.  It is always much better to stick to one element at a time in any one treatment, wait to see what its effect is (don’t expect major changes from one treatment on an element, in any case), and give yourself the chance to see exactly which element is responding over time.  There is never a hurry.  The elements will tell us what they need if we give them time.
5                    TH 4, HP 7: Source points of Outer Fire.  After this there was at last some observable change, that of her colour, which became pinker, and she looked more relaxed and much happier as she left. 

She phoned me two days later and told me she felt much better.  Her voice now definitely had an excited, laughing tone, reinforcing my feeling that she was Fire. She said, “I can’t wait to have my next treatment”.

When she came back a few days later for her second treatment, she told me that when she got home after her treatment, “I felt as if I had many tubes in me and they kind of moved around and drained.  I cried and cried for my father.  Now I feel good.”  She was pressing her hand to her heart as she described where these “tubes” were.  I think this is a very graphic description of a H/W imbalance clearing, and the effect on her heart of treatment on the Heart Protector.

Treatment 2 (1 hour):
1        Bl 38
2        TH 6, HP 8 (summer seasonal treatment)

She left looking very happy and cheerful, and I felt happy and cheerful, too. The always risky business of giving such short-term treatment had, in this case, proved successful.  Luckily this patient will be coming back to London in the next 6 months, and will be able to continue her treatment then.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Husband-wife imbalance

Please see my sister blog http://norafranglen.blogspot.com/ for a detailed answer to the comment sent to me about my blog of 23 June:  Patient 29 Treatment 4, asking how I had diagnosed a Husband/Wife imbalance before taking the pulses.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Patient 29: Treatment 6 & 7 (Wood)

Patient:  Male, age 25

Element:  Wood

Number of prior treatments: Five  (see blogs of 15.5.11, 19.5.11,  27.5.11 &  23. 6. 11 for previous treatments) ,

Treatment 6
Observation of patient at the start of treatment 6:   
“I felt positive after the last treatment.”  I felt his eyes looked better and less clouded over.

Treatment given:
I decided to do some points on the Gall Bladder around the eye and head, to reinforce the good energy passing through the eye:

1                    GB 2 
2                    GB 14     
3                    SI – Bl block (again):  I noticed that there was a build-up of fluid on the corner of the eye, and he told me that he had had rather runny eyes all week.  It is unusual to need to re-do entry/exit blocks on several occasions close together, but I think the fact that I have found this block again confirms that there is some trouble with his eyes.  It’s always good to clear a block, because I feel that I am letting good energy flow where it is most needed, to the blocked meridian (this time the Bladder).
4                    GB 34, Li 5

At the end of treatment:  My relationship with the patient is getting warmer and easier each time we meet.

Proposals for next treatment:  Re-check SI – Bl block, just in case I have not cleared it. 

Treatment 7 (one week later)
Observation of patient at the start of treatment 7:  
He walked into the practice room much less heavily, and seemed generally happier.  His eyes had not been so runny until the last 24 hours.

Treatment given:

1                    SI-Bl block again, SI 19 – Bl 1 
2                    GB 3 - strengthening around the eye again
3                    GV 12 Body Pillar:  I felt he could benefit from this point, which I see as straightening the back.  He sits rather slumped over.
4                    Bl 42 Spiritual Soul Gate – to strengthen his spirit.  The point is at the level of the AEP of the GB, and therefore I see this as having a direct relationship with the Wood element.
5                    GB 39, a centre of energy, according to my point book, Liv 3

At the end of treatment:  He closed his eyes after the treatment, and looked as if he could fall asleep.  He was pleased to be offered the chance of just lying quietly on the couch for a further 10 minutes.    
Proposals for next treatment:    GB 25 or Bl 39

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Patient 29: Treatment 4 & 5 (Wood)

Patient:  Male, age 25

Element:  Wood

Number of prior treatments: Three  (see blogs of 15.5.11, 19.5.11 &  27.5.11 for Treatments 1, 2 & 3)

Treatment 4

Observation of patient at the start of treatment 4:   
He appeared extremely depressed and despairing as he had just come from a visit to the specialist which had left him feeling hopeless as there was no further treatment they could offer him.  He has to continue reducing the level of his steroid medication because of the likelihood of harmful side-effects.  Reduction in the steroid dosage in the past had led to a further deterioration of his sight, and he is extremely frightened that this will happen again.

Diagnosis:  Husband/Wife imbalance, made just by looking at the patient, and then confirmed from the pulses.  This is basically the Heart giving up, in this case quite an understandable reaction to his visit to the consultant.

Treatment given:

1                    Clearance of Husband/Wife imbalance (Bl 67, Ki 7, Ki 3, Liv 4, SI 4, Ht 7)
The H/W had cleared after needling Bl 67, Ki 7 according to the pulses, but I still completed all the points.  I find it often clears once the threatened disconnection between Metal and Water has been removed by re-establishing the flow from the right-hand pulses through from Metal to the left-hand pulses on to Water, and therefore to the Heart.  The patient looked much less desperate after the H/W had cleared.
2                    Liv 14 (Gate of Hope – for obvious reasons for its spirit)
3                    Liv 4 (transfer from Metal to Wood), GB 37 (transfer through from Liv to GB to help both sides of Wood)
You will notice that I needled Liv 4 twice, and some people have queried if this is alright to do.  In reply, I always tell them an anecdote from when I was a student.  We were treating a patient with a H/W imbalance, whose element was Fire (SI – Inner Fire), and needled the usual sequence as described above.  JR Worsley was supervising the treatment and said, “Now do the source points of the CF (i.e., SI 4, Ht 7).”  I asked him, “But isn’t that repeating the same treatment?”, to which he replied, “You are using the points for two quite different reasons, the first time to clear the H/W imbalance, the second to strengthen the CF (guardian element), and put it back in control at the end of treatment.”

This was when I realised for the first time how our intention dictates the effect of a point.  If somebody is using a point to have an effect at a physical level, then that is what its effect is limited to.  If another practitioner uses the same point, but with the intention of helping the spirit in some way, then the point will have an effect at this deeper level.

At the end of treatment:  The patient went away with a lighter step, and again looked much more relaxed as he left.

Proposals for next treatment:  Re-check H/W, just in case I have not cleared it.  Add something to strengthen his spirit, such as CV 14.

Treatment 5 (one week later)
    
Observation of patient at the start of treatment 5:  
I was relieved to see that he no longer had the look of desperation that he had had the week before.  In his own words, “I did feel much better straightaway last week.  As I walked out of the practice room I had a light feeling in my chest here (he put his hand over CV 14, the level of the Heart as he said this).  I felt much happier all week.”  He said he was not experiencing the usual fear that the reduction in his medication usually caused, and the sight in his eye had not so far been affected.

Treatment given:

1                    Re-checked for H/W on pulses – no H/W as my observation of him had already confirmed for me.
2                    GV 14 (Great Hammer)  - Important to strengthen the GV line, the backbone of a person both physically and spiritually, and particularly its importance in maintaining good energy flowing to the head, and thus helping the eyes through strengthening the Gall Bladder pathway.
3                    GB 20 Wind Pond – For much the same reason as GV 14.
4                    Liv 6 (described as a Centre of Energy)
5                    GB 42

At the end of treatment:  I noticed that the patient’s feet and legs had a better colour, and were markedly less cold than when he first came.  His skin looks healthier all round.  Again he left quite jauntily, walking briskly, and very happy to return next week, as though he himself is beginning to realise that the treatment is helping him.

Proposals for next treatment:  Continue to strengthen his spirit, possibly with CV 14 or an Outer Bladder point, like Bl 37 or Bl 39 (42 or 44).




Friday, May 27, 2011

Patient 29: Treatment 3 (Wood)

Patient:  Male, age 25

Element:  Wood

Number of prior treatments: Two  (see blogs of 15.5.11 & 19.5.11 for Treatments 1 & 2)

Feedback after treatment 2:  He felt that treatment was making him “feel better”, and was happy to continue coming.  The relationship between us is definitely warmer.

Treatment given:
1                    AEPs of Wood (Bl 18, 19)
2                    GB 37 Bright and Clear, VIII 5 Insect Ditch.  I chose these not because they are junction points but because I felt that to see things brightly and clearly was exactly what he needed.  They are also command points, and I wanted to stay at the command point level to complete the treatment.

At the end of treatment:  I noticed during treatment that he closed his eyes quite a lot, as if they were tired, which they must inevitably be if he is straining to see all the time.  I suggested that he should take time during the day to rest his eyes by closing them, placing his palms over them, so that no light is allowed in, resting his hands on a surface like a table to make sure that his arms don’t get tired, and sitting like that quietly for up to 10 minutes.  This is a way of helping the eyes which I learnt from the Bates method, and is extremely restful for tired, strained eyes.  I also suggested that it was important that he gave himself time during the day to sit quietly in this way, rather than trying to cover up at work how much his sight has deteriorated.  Again, the more we allow our body to heal itself, the better this is.   

He looked much more relaxed as he left, with a better colour and brighter eyes.

Time of next treatment:  In one week.    

Proposals for next treatment:  Liv 14, Gate of Hope, or Bl 38 (43). These are points I suggested last week for this treatment, but I decided instead to use the AEPs.  It is interesting why we decide on a point or points rather than others.  There is no particular reason why AEPs were a better selection today rather than Liv 14 or Bl 43, just that I preferred them.  A lot of our point selection is done because we like the thought of a particular point.  Unless there are clear indications for a specific treatment, such as H/W or entry/exit blocks, it is usually difficult to pin down exactly why we choose one point over another.  As I have often said, the choice of individual points, and the order we do them in, is nowhere near as important as ensuring that the points are on the right element!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Patient 29: Treatment 2 (Wood) (see blog of 15.5.11 for Treatment 1)

Patient:  Male, age 25

Element:  Wood

Number of prior treatments: One

Feedback after treatment 1:  His partner remarked that he “looked better”.  He himself said that he had noticed he felt generally lighter and a bit more optimistic.  I thought his face looked less flushed, and his eyes looked clearer.
  
Treatment given:

1                    SI – Bl block (SI 19 – Bl 1)
2                    Co – St block (Co 20, St 1)
I was already on the look-out for these two blocks, since it was likely that there must have been some severe blocking of energy around the eye to cause the nerve damage.
3                    CV 14  For his spirit – to relieve some of the oppression he feels.
4                    GB 41, Li 1  His spring seasonal treatment.  The best of the year for a Wood patient (even better if we could do it in the middle of the night in Wood’s horary time!)

At the end of treatment:   For the first time I felt he was beginning to relate more easily to me, and I learnt more about his plans for the future, as if he dared think forward a little more.

Time of next treatment:  In one week.    

Proposals for next treatment:  Liv 14, Gate of Hope, or Bl 38 (43) which, as I heard JR Worsley saying once, “goes to every cell in the body” (being at the level of the AEP of the HP, it is related to the body’s blood supply and distribution).  It is a marvellous point for absolutely everybody because of this, since the quality of our blood supply underlies all our efforts to restore balance.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Treatment of the three major blocks

I have just given three different treatments over the past few days, each involving one of what, in five element acupuncture, we call the three major blocks.  I am listing them in order of their importance.

Treatment 1:   Internal and External Dragons (IDs and EDs)
This was for a very disturbed patient who talked in such a confused manner at our first meeting that I could not follow the thread of anything she said.  I first started with IDS, but moved to EDs when the IDs didn’t clear the block.  This block is what we call Possession, too loaded a word, I think, and I wish I could think of a better one which removes from it something of its stigma.  It is merely one stage removed from obsession, and is a form of dissociation where the spirit finds shelter from some trauma or intolerable situation by blocking itself off.

This can only be definitely diagnosed by the practitioner looking closely into one of the patient’s eyes (you need to hold the eyelids open and tell the patient to look at one of your eyes), and finding that we cannot establish any direct contact with the patient’s spirit.  This will be shown by a pupil which remains fixed and does not flinch or move in any way, as eyes normally do when there is such close eye-to-eye contact.

This treatment is always followed by an AE drain, even though this may have already been done, even very recently.  AE can be concealed, and often is, by possession.

Treatment 2:  Husband/wife imbalance
All the pulses of the right side are stronger in quality than those on the left, most obviously revealed by depletion in the Ht/SI pulse, indicating a dangerous weakening of the energy of the Supreme Controller, the Heart.

Treatment 3:  Aggressive Energy
This was in a patient who returned for treatment after 2 years and after having gone through a very difficult year.  I found AE on the AEPs of Lu, HP and Ht, and it remained on the needle in the Ht AEP (Bl 15) on the left for much longer than on the other needles (1½ hours), indicating a dangerous attack upon the Heart.

All three treatments were rounded off by command points, of course.

I am always awed by what amazingly simple means (a few needles placed in a few points) such powerful effects can be achieved.  At the end of these treatments, all three patients seemed as though reborn, not too powerful a description for the lifting of the weight bearing down upon their spirits.

(Details of the procedures and points to be used for all these three blocks are given in my Handbook of Five Element Practice)

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Patient 29: Treatment (Wood)

Patient:  Male, age 48

Element:  Wood

Number of years coming for treatment:  New patient – treatment 1

Number of prior treatments: None

Reason for treatment:  Losing sight in right eye as a result of optical neuritis for the past 4 years.  Only possible Western medical treatment is high doses of steroids, which are temporarily slightly effective in holding back the nerve damage, but are becomingly increasingly less effective.  Because of the dangerous side-effects he has to keep on reducing the dose, and has to wait for a time before re-starting.  Has been told that the condition is irreversible, and is very worried because the left eye is now starting to be affected.  The steroid use has led to a great increase in weight which he cannot lose despite strenuous efforts.
  
Treatment given:

1                    No AE.  I always find it interesting that there can be no AE, as here, when there is every reason to think that the officials might be under stress, and a lot of AE in patients who come with very mild symptoms.  There is no way of telling whether AE is there just from the pulses or from the severity of imbalance.  Pulses can appear to be very erratic and yet there is no AE.
2                    CV/GV (Ren Mai/Du Mai) block:  CV 1, CV 24, GV1, GV 28.  To be expected, particularly after the attack on the whole body/spirit caused by the high doses of steroids.  His pulses were completely empty.  Normally I would wait a few treatments to see if treatment on the patient’s element will bring up the energy, but in this acute case, with almost daily deterioration, I decided not to wait.  There was an immediate change after CV 1, his colour changed, he looked less desperate, and had a generally slightly healthier look, a difficult but subtle change to observe.
3                    GB 40, Liv 3
4                    TH 22, GB 1 (TH-GB block) – very likely to be there because of the build-up of stress around the eyes.
5                    Liv 14 – Lu 1 (Li-Lu block)
6                    Ki 24 (Spirit Burial Ground).  I felt that the great stress placed by his condition upon his spirit required this.
7                    Repeat of GB 40, Liv 3 (left side only) to complete the treatment at the command point level.

This represents a heavier first treatment than I would normally give, but it was warranted by the severity of the condition and the patient's state of mind.

At the end of treatment:   Much improved colour.  Where he had been a very flushed red, often an imbalance in Wood people, as a result of the weakness of Wood (the mother) affecting the child (Fire), he now had a markedly less flushed colour, with a slightly muddy green showing itself more clearly.  The smell had changed to a slightly healthier smell.  Altogether, he looked very different from how he had been before treatment.  He held himself more upright, walked with more confidence, and looked more optimistic.

Time of next treatment:  In 5 days.   He will have to come for frequent treatments, at no longer than weekly intervals for at least 6-8 treatments, probably longer. 

Proposals for next treatment:   Watch for other Entry/Exit blocks, particularly around the eyes (Co-St, and/or SI-Bl).  Something for his spirit, such as CV 8, finishing with spring seasonal treatment (GB 41, Liv 1).  It is a little late for the full effect of the onset of spring in the Wood element in nature to feed his Wood element, but there is still enough of that fresh Wood energy out there to draw upon.  A seasonal treatment is always the best treatment of the year, so I am squeezing it in to help him.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Patient 28: Treatment (Earth)

Patient:  Female, age 34

Element:  Earth

Number of prior treatments: One

Reason for treatment:   Three miscarriages, at between 3 and 12 weeks, in the past two years.

Treatment given:

1                    CV/GV (Ren Mai/Du Mai) block:  CV 1, CV 24, GV1, GV 28.   To be expected after the trauma of the birth of her second child two years ago.  Very protracted labour, very little help from nursing staff in the labour ward because they were under severe pressure, finally required forceps delivery, with resultant need for stitches which took some time to heal.  Birth traumas very often lead to a CV/GV block, even if there has been no surgery. A CV/GV block is also often the cause of infertility, particularly if there has been a previous Caesarian operation (literally a cut across the CV meridian), or any kind of sexual trauma.  In this patient’s case the CV/GV block meant that all her officials, including of course both CV and GV, have sufficient energy to allow an egg to fertilize but insufficient energy to keep the baby in the womb.  In cases of infertility, the officials have insufficient energy for fertilization in the first place.
2                    St 42, Sp 3

At the end of treatment:   She could feel an immediate change after the CV/GV block.  “I feel lighter”.  Better colour, and happier as she left.   

Time of next treatment:  One week.      

Proposals for next treatment:    Continue working on Earth.  She is starting to re-evaluate her life, particularly her relationship with her mother, and is beginning to understand that treatment could also help her deal with quite traumatic family problems in her childhood.  Since she has always been able to conceive very quickly, I am very optimistic that her next pregnancy will proceed smoothly.