Bonnie Koenig, LAc

Acupuncture can be of benefit to those looking to stop smoking. Most studies find that acupuncture is primarily beneficial in the short run, rather than the long term outcomes.

I use a protocol that has been very successful for a friend of mine. I suspect that one of the main reasons it is effective is that I will not treat someone who does not expressly want to quit. To this end, the potential patient must be the person contacting me. They can not be forced to come see me by a partner or friend. The patient will tell me exactly why they want to quit. If they are not doing it because they feel they need to quit then I will not treat them.

This reduces my statistical failure. The main reason this is successful program is that I will only accept patients who are committed to stopping the habit of smoking. They are not there because of a partner who is telling them they should, but rather because they want to. This allows the acupuncture to be effective in the way it was meant to be effective.

Acupuncture can reduce (but not eliminate) cravings. It can help with the anxiety and irritability. It can help with the sleeplessness. It cannot take the cigarette out of the patient’s mouth.

In working with patients to stop smoking, I typically use an herbal formula that will continue to help reduce cravings. This is something they can take home with them and use after the treatment.

There are many good reasons to stop smoking, however if you haven’t embraced the need to stop smoking, acupuncture cannot help you effectively stop for any amount of time. It is only when you are ready that we can offer you some assistance with your smoking cessation.

Subhuti Dharmananda, of ITM in Portland has a study here.

Health Care Information also offers some information.

There is also some general information here.

Most people tend to think of acupuncture for pain related conditions, however it can be very beneficial for other problems, including the inability to fall asleep, stay asleep or wake from sleep feeling refreshed. It can help with excessive dreaming and nightmares as well.

As with all conditions how quickly acupuncture will help depends upon how long the insomnia has gone on. For those who have suffered intermittently for years, it may take several treatments before the patient gets more than one full night of sleep after a treatment. For people who have had a recent onset of insomnia, one or two treatments may result in several weeks of good sleep.

Most patients I see for insomnia come in for other problems.They notice an improvement in their quality of sleep as we progress through the course of treatment for their original complaint. In some cases, I add needles to help with the insomnia. For patients with complex diseases like fibromyalgia and for women going through perimenopause, the inability to sleep is but one symptom in a complex array of symptoms. It can often be one of the first to improve and is often one that I’ll work on the hardest.The ability to get a good night’s rest can work healing magic on any number of other symptoms, including the pain of fibromyalgia, the emotional rollercoaster of perimenopause and even for the outlook of someone who is deeply depressed.

No acupuncture treatment is guarranteed, however, the vast majority of patients find some level of improvement in their sleep the night after their first acupuncture treatment. Some get a full night’s rest. Others get 5 to 6 more hours than they normally would have. The most severe cases of insomnia should try and schedule appointments two or three times a week to begin with, so that their body becomes used to regular sleep. As they begin to sleep better, then appointments can be stretched out over longer periods of time.

The Medical Acupuncture Online Journal has several studies of acupuncture used to treat insomnia.

Very often when we are trying to eat healthy or when we are trying to loose weight we forget about good fats. We want to include things like olives and all natural almond butter because having some good fats in our diets will allow our bodies to feel more satisfied.

You might want to try having a salad with a bit of fattier dressing on it next time you find you’re craving sweets. See if the extra richness of the dressing cuts the need for that chocolate chip cookie. You might find that the salad is more satisfying. Dressings are not typically the best fats, but are often an easy way to add them if you are in a restaurant.

Really need a hit? How about some apple slices with a bit of almond butter on them! You get the sweet and some good fats and even a bit of protein. That should really satisfy a hungry body!

I think using positive thinking and affirmations are great health tip. What you think about and focus on is often what happens.

I say this with a caveat. It’s not so easy just to keep repeating, “I am healthy” or “I am thin.” In both cases, we often find ourselves denying the affirmation as quickly as we think it. It can help to listen to the denials and perhaps give your subconscious a way to take steps to overcome the problems associated with creating the desired outcome.

Still stuck? Then maybe the affirmation is too far off for you. Try thinking, “I am thinner today than I was yesterday.” If you have been staying on your diet and exercising, this could be an affirmation you can embrace. You might find the pounds melting off.

Similarly, if you are suffering from a chronic and long term health problem, focus on what you can do that day and congratulate yourself. Be grateful it was day when you could brush your teeth if that doesn’t happen every day. If it does but nothing else does, then focus on the fact that you can always brush your teeth and then focus on the next step you may want to take, like spending a half an hour standing up or sitting up (depending upon your level of disability). See if that works a bit better than a general overall, I am healthy affirmation.

Affirmations work by reprogramming our minds to think more positively.Sometimes our subconscious programming is so strong that it will take time for the good outcomes to manifest. As we see challenges to our affirmations, it’s good to look inside and see if maybe there is more work to be done.

So in using affirmations, remind yourself that you are a wonderful and successful person, no matter what the outcome of your affirmations. Â They are tool to help, but not a magic wand.

I love treating foot pain. I had a patient once who was going in for surgery for plantar fasciitis with in a month. He was in for shoulder pain as well but I did some things for his foot. He had surgery on the other foot for plantar fasciitis and had had mixed results. It never completely got better but it didn’t hurt as bad. After the first treatment, he took his grandchild to the zoo. He walked around for four hours with no pain at all. He canceled his surgery and we continued to work on his foot pain. We finished the course of treatment for his shoulder and each time I also did some treatments for his foot. At the end of that course of treatment, I never saw him again for his foot pain, although he visited for shoulder pain periodically.

The relief people feel from acupuncture is amazing. It’s one of those conditions that no matter how long it’s gone on often reacts very quickly to certain acupuncture treatments. I was taught a different method of treatment than the cited studies used, but I have been at least as successful in treating most foot conditions. The studies focused specifically on plantar fasciitis but I’ve had good luck with a variety of foot conditions.

Nerve pain is the most difficult to cure and the one time I was completely unsuccessful was when I treated a young runner with a neuroma. We did get some pain reduction in the foot but the nerve pain running up the leg when running was rarely relieved. On the occasion when we did get did relief from the nerve pain, the local pain in the foot worsened. After 7 visits, the patient terminated treatment.

I do not use needles in the bottom of the foot. I do use some on the tops and sides of the feet. I find that the bottoms of the feet are very sensitive but their thick skin requires a fairly good poke and such a treatment makes people very uncomfortable. I frequently use a specialized heat technique on the painful area of the foot and then use needles in other areas of the body (including the tops of the feet) to treat the foot pain.

Acupuncture Today and the Medical Acupuncture Online Journal each have a summary of a study (it appears to be the same study) on using acupuncture to treat foot pain

Many times if we start getting sick, we just push through because there’s so much to be done. Did you know, if you take the time to rest before you are really sick, you can increase your chances of either fighting off the bug or at least minimizing it’s impact?

At the first sign of illness in addition to adding in any supplements you may take, allow yourself some extra time to rest and maybe take a nap. Your body can use it.

We all struggle with exercise. I think the optimal amount is about 4 or 5 hours a week. I’ve been doing yoga which I love. I also walk regularly and I ski. It’s taken me awhile to get to the place where I can fit exercise in regularly. I’ve done this by making a regular commitment to it. Moving to North Bend where I have a commute, has made sticking to my commitment harder.

I bring a yoga mat to work so that I can do some stretches in my office between patients. I also try to walk at least around the block when I have a break. This keeps the energy moving and flowing. I don’t count those short walks as exercise, but every little bit helps. Remember, movement is good. We don’t move our bodies enough. Even a short walk at a break can help. Who knows? You might enjoy it and then find you have more time to start moving.

I want to have an area where I can leave tips and tricks on creating a healthier life.

I have a hard time sticking to diets and remembering to not eat certain things. A friend was a junk food junkie. She wanted to clean up her diet. Instead of trying to restrict her junk food, she just made a big bowl of veggies in the morning and said she had to finish that that day. She could eat anything else she wanted. This made her eat less junk food because she was less hungry AND she got more vegetables. If she really wanted something that was junk food, she was free to eat that and with no guilt.

Try it. Set out your fruits and vegetables and make sure you eat them before bed. If you can, cook them up to take to work with you and then you can nibble all day, which is what my friend did. Then see how you feel.

Fibromyalgia is one of those diseases that is becoming fairly common. Two people with the disease can present very differently. Some have fixed pain all the time in certain areas. Others find that their pain moves from place to place.

Acupuncture and acupressure can be very effective in treating fibromyalgia. I prefer acupuncture because that’s my main training. I do have a few fibro patients who benefit more from the acupressure. I find that those who are particularly nervous about treatments and those who are typically the people who benefit the most from acupressure.

Fibromyalgia isn’t a disease that comes on quickly. It won’t leave quickly either. I see a lot of my fibromyalgia patients for long periods of time. However, many of them come in for acupuncture maintenance, so although I might have seen them for three years, I might only see them once a month or once every two to three months. They’ll come in more frequently when they have a crash.

I talk to each patient to find out what their optimal quality of life is. Is it being completely pain free? Is it just being rested enough to have more good days than bad? There is no right answer. I treat until people get what they are hoping to get from acupuncture on a practical level. I say that with the caveat that the farther someone is from health coming in for their first treatment, the more treatments they’ll need to feel better. We work from there.

I have one fibromyalgia patient who hadn’t skied in ten years who skied last winter. She continues to see me about once a month to once every six weeks. She usually has a crash about September and we treat weekly for a three or four weeks until she feels better again. Then she’s able to pick up her more normal life, which I get to hear about the next month!

The challenge for me with fibromyalgia patients is that many are very sensitive to needles, but I tend to find lots of points that I would like to do. It’s always a puzzle of what three to six points are most important today–which will help the most today AND keep us on track for long term healing. Fortunately, I’ve always loved puzzles.

You can read more about acupuncture and fibromyalgia here. A Mayo Clinic Study can be found here. Acupuncture Today has an article here.