Life Balance Acupuncture

What to Expect

First Visit

 

The office visit begins with a comprehensive intake asking detailed questions about your chief complaints and all body systems. This will take approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Then the practitioner will feel your pulse and look at your tongue which is beside the intake our main diagnostic tools. The acupuncture treatment will last between 20 and 30 minutes. We use fine disposable and sterile steel needles which will be inserted into acupuncture points. You might feel a slight prick with insertion. At first, patients often tell me “it is weird!” You might feel a dull achy sensation, cold or warmth, pressure, traveling of energy alongside the channel, an electrical sensation etc.  Sometimes the sensation can be quite strong. In that case, we manipulate the needle to decrease it. You should never feel discomfort but be able to relax. At the end of your visit we will discuss your treatment plan.  Depending on the severity or the complex nature of your complaints the first visit might last up to one and a half hour.

 

You will get the most out of treatments when you follow the practitioner’s recommendations, verbalize any concern you might have, and keep up with the treatment plan. Acupuncture treatments have an accumulative effect.  You might not feel much different after the first visit. On average it takes 3-5 treatments for you to feel a difference in pain level or a decrease of other symptoms. The older patients are and the more chronic a condition is it will require more treatments.

 

It is always helpful to wear lose fitting clothes so we can reach most body parts.

 

Don’t come with an empty stomach; it might cause a needle shock. Also, don’t take any recreational drugs or drink alcohol. Smokers, please come with fresh breath and clothes. It is advisable not to exert yourself after a treatment. Light exercise is okay.

 

The follow-up visit will last for an hour.

 

 

Needle shock

 

Very rarely a patient experiences a needle shock. It can be disquieting to the patient but is not considered harmful. Symptoms of a needle shock are: a feeling of faintness, chilliness, nausea, cold sweat, difficulty breathing. The practitioner will immediately pull the needles, raise your legs and give you water. In a few moments you will feel better. It is most likely to happen in situations in which the patient is very nervous about the needles, is extremely exhausted or fatigued, or is experiencing low blood sugar from not having eaten for a long period of time before the acupuncture treatment.

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