What to Expect

Your First Visit

During your first visit, you will receive a complete medical history and examination. You will be asked about your current state of health, childhood illness, which may be applicable to what is occurring at present, family history, etc. You will be asked to compete a health history intake form, to read over an informed consent, and sign an office procedures form. Your case and its prognosis will be discussed, a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) diagnosis will be given, and a treatment plan presented and discussed. If both you and your practitioner are in agreement about your treatment, you will be scheduled for a series of treatments and on-going evaluations.

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The Diagnosis

A diagnosis is determined in the same manner as in Western medicine; that is, the practitioner performs a review of the major organ systems, asks about the signs-symptoms and history of the illness, asks about familial tendencies, takes pulses, performs palpation of various parts of the body as required, examines the tongue, and uses whatever sensory information that can be gathered such as odors, skin color, etc.

In the United States, TCM practitioners, for the most part, do not request laboratory tests, diagnostic imaging, or other invasive procedures. The practitioner bases a diagnosis solely upon what the patient reports and what is observable. There are two separate aspects of the diagnosis:

1. The first is what is called a disease category such as cough, cold, headache, etc. The distinguishing characteristic however of TCM is that this simply points a practitioner into a general direction.
   
   
2. The second and most important part of the diagnosis is that of the patterns involved. A pattern is a collection of signs and symptoms that have an experiential basis gathered over 2,500 years of observation. These patterns reflect the entire health status of a person creating a whole picture of what is occurring within a particular person. This identification of all simultaneous patterns allows a TCM practitioner to treat a person as a complete and unique individual, thus allowing a treatment plan to be formulated to the specific needs of the patient.

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Treatment

Treatment may or may not be given on the first appointment depending upon the condition itself. During a regular visit, treatment with acupuncture usually lasts approximately 1 hour and herbal visits may last up until ½ hour. In the beginning, if a condition is very severe, acupuncture may be required 2 - 3 times per week and then taper off to once per week until the condition is resolved. Regular visits (or tune-ups) are usually required to prevent reoccurrence and to stay healthy.

Results

In most cases, some results can be expected to occur within 8 - 10 treatments. Long-enduring conditions, which are the ones seen by most acupuncturists in this country since we are the practitioner of last resort, tend to take longer.

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