Health Topics

For many women, hormonal and sexual functioning are uneventful and a great source of joy and fulfillment. Other women experience pain, irregular cycles, emotional fluctuations, difficulty conceiving or carrying pregnancy to term, discomforts during pregnancy, labor, childbirth and postpartum, perimenopausal symptoms, and benign or malignant changes in their breasts and pelvic organs. Some biomedical treatments can be helpful; others, however, may have worrisome side-effects. Many women can safely integrate holistic approaches with their conventional care to reduce discomforts, improve their well-being and enhance the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy. We consider your medical work-ups and diagnosis carefully and complement them with insights from our Chinese medical and natural healing perspectives. Holistic nutrition, supplementation, herbal therapy, homeopathy, acupuncture, yoga, and stress management are useful components of this treatment strategy.

Women experience health challenges that are often related to underlying metabolic, endocrine or autoimmune disorders. Common among these are polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, diabetes, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Raynaud’s syndrome, celiac, and other allergies and food sensitivities. These are complex conditions that manifest differently in individual patients, impacting their quality of life to differing degrees. All have in common that they often respond suboptimally to pharmaceutical or surgical management. Many women find that natural healing approaches can substantially improve their well-being, and that personalized strategies focused on reducing inflammation, supplementing nutritional deficiencies, eliminating exposure to harmful substances, and deep relaxation achieved during acupuncture are the keys to getting their lives back on track.

One of the most well-known effects of acupuncture is the powerful pain relief it can provide. The ancient understanding of pain as a manifestation of energetic stagnation allows us to focus on restoring free flow in the body’s energy pathways to alleviate pain and promote healing. Modern acupuncture techniques can resolve trigger points, reduce inflammation in the tissues, and promote healing at the cellular level, for example to reduce surgical scars or speed the healing of fractures. Acupuncture is often combined with physical medicine such as electrical stimulation, heat therapy, manual manipulations, massage and strengthening exercises like qigong. Acupuncture has none of the negative side-effects of opioid pain medication, steroid drugs, NSAIDs or antidepressiva used for pain relief. A series of treatments over the course of days or weeks is generally needed to achieve lasting improvements.

New Yorkers live and work in a stimulating, fast-paced environment. The competing demands of our careers and personal lives can outstrip our physical and emotional resources to cope with stress, and overwhelm our capacity to relax and function well. Our resilience and health will suffer sooner or later. We experience anxiety, depression, insomnia, and indigestion. We may also develop unhealthy responses like overuse of alcohol and stimulants, abusive behavior towards ourselves and others, or withdrawal from our communities. Acupuncture and other supportive therapies, including homeopathy, herbal medicines and certain natural supplements, can be powerful tools to relieve stress and restore healthier functioning, both physically and mental-emotionally. Meditation is a practice universally useful to calm and focus the mind. Patients already receiving psychotropic medications can benefit from acupuncture in their quest to feel more stable and positive. And these strategies, when used for prevention, also have profound advantages for people striving to stay healthy and productive.