At my clinic, I commonly see patients who complain about axiety problems. Modern society creates complicated situations and accordingly this can cause more stress. Therefore the modern human is prone to have anxiety disorders and or attacks. Here is a typical case of an anxiety attack. I’d like to explain how acupuncture and herbal medicine are working together to minimize anxiety in this patients case. You will also be able to understand the Eastern Medicine approach to mental health issues.
This patient was in her mid-40’s. She had family issues, but she was generally a very healthy individual before her anxiety attacks started. One early morning, she suddenly woke up with strong feelings of apprehension and dread. Her heart was pounding and she began to feel pain and cramping in her stomach. These are typical symptoms of an anxiety attack. While she was being treated by western medicine, she also wanted to try natural forms of treatment and decided to visit my clinic.
Energy is constantly flowing throughout the human body. This energy flows through channels in your body, these channels are called meridians. Each meridian is connected to an organ. For example, the heart has a meridian, the liver has a meridian and the lungs have a meridian. Each meridian controls the function of its organ, it also dominates specific emotions. For example, the liver meridian dominates anger, so the liver meridian becomes hyperactive if the body feels anger. The liver meridian flows from the toe, to the uterus, breast, throat, eyes and finally through the head. Therefore, anger can cause menstrual pain, headache, dizziness, redness of the face and eyes, as well as dry mouth. Eastern Medicine does not seperate the mind from the body.
We must then ask, which meridian dominates anxiety? It is the gall bladder meridian. It is responsible for making decisions and judgments, as well as providing courage and initiative. The gall bladder meridian also has an influence on ones quality and length of sleep. If the gall bladder is deficient, the patient will often wake up suddenly and or very early in the morning and will be unable to fall asleep again. Patients who are timid, indecisive and easily discouraged by slight adversity, are said to have a weak gall bladder. It is the weakness of the gall bladder that causes anxiety disorders and attacks.
I regulated my patient’s Gall Bladder meridian with acupuncture treatments and prescribed herbs formulated specifically for the patient, including Chai Hu, Huang Qin, Long Gu, Mu Li, etc. After the second treatment, she no longer suffered from anxiety attacks, she stopped waking up with sudden stomach cramps and the feeling of dread. She received four more acupuncture treatments to strengthen her gall bladder and soon her meridian returned to a normal state. She suffered from anxiety for a short period of time and visited my clinic right after the symptoms began.
