Patient: Female, age 46
Element: Water
Number of years coming for treatment: 23 years
Number of prior treatments: Comes every 6 weeks or so
Main complaint: Cushings' syndrome (cancer of the pituitary gland), which was successfully treated some 9 years ago. It remained undiagnosed for many years, and the extreme weight gain and general fatigue which it caused was ascribed to the after-effects of pregnancy and childbirth. Has had very traumatic emergency treatments and surgery at various stages of her illness, but is now symptom-free, although receiving various forms of medication and replacement therapies. She attributes her recovery from what is a very serious and debilitating form of cancer very much to the frequent acupuncture treatments she has had throughout, which included my treating her in hospital before and after surgery.
Problems today: Recovering from bad flu: “My immune system doesn’t feel good.” Otherwise very happy with the way her work is going and very optimistic about the future.
Treatment given: (No moxa because of the risk of the recurrence of very high BP as a result of her pituitary gland tumour)
1 AEPs of Bl and Ki (Bl 28 and 25)
2 Bl 38 (for general tiredness)
3 Bl 66, Ki 10 (winter seasonal treatment)
At the end of treatment: When patients have had as much acupuncture treatment over as many years as she has, there will be less detectable changes than in patients who are just beginning treatment, where the most startling changes will be seen. Treatment for such a long-standing patient tends to gently reinforce the energy of the elements rather than effect major shifts. I did note, however, that her cheeks looked pinker.
Time of next treatment: She will have another treatment in about 6 weeks from now.
Proposals for next treatment: Bl 38 again, Ki 25 or 27 (both storehouses of Kidney energy)
III 38 (Bl 43) is an excellent way of enriching the blood, and is one of the rare examples of a point which can be used repeatedly with an increasing number of moxas at each treatment (I go from 7 to 11 to 14 to 21 and by increments of 7 up to 50) It can be used for any patient suffering from the after-effects of radio- or chemotherapy, or any patient who is weakened by prolonged medical and surgical treatment, as this patient is. Patients can be given this treatment frequently, such as two or three times a week, and this will help them avoid some of the nasty side-effects of such radical and debilitating treatments.
ReplyDeleteThis patient needs every help she can get to ensure that her blood is as rich as possible in view of her medical history. Since I cannot use moxa because of the risk of increasing her BP, and therefore its effect is weaker than it would be with moxa, I like to use it frequently to help her take as much as she can from this point. I hope that explains my reasons for using this point. It's good to ask though! That's how we all learn.