Aggressive energy

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

I don’t mean this to be condescending in any way, but I suggest you simply refer to an acupuncturist who practices five element acupuncture. Acupressure is by no means acupuncture, same goes for estim. And acupuncture without significant training concerns those who spend decades exploring and working with the nuances of Chinese Medicine diagnoses and treatment protocols. You are not doing your patients any favors by trying to ride multiple horses at the same time.

Comment by Archived User

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I am not approaching this from the perspective of being the misinformed knight in shining honor. She HAS been to an acupuncturist without success. She has been to multiple doctors and practitioners without anyone taking the time to delve deeper into the root cause and send her in her way. She has made slight gains, but I won’t elaborate.
I have learned that in the medical world, there are different specialties to treat patients, and each speciality has different backgrounds and approaches within it. Acupressure is no exception. I was fortunate enough to study and learn a very holistic approach that addresses mind and body, including the often ignored eastern medical approach. I hope that you can appreciate this and in the future know that acupuncture is not for everyone. No one does their patients any good by overlooking these facts.

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

“I won’t elaborate…”. We’ll probably just agree to disagree then. But the fact that she saw “an acupuncturist” doesn’t invalidate my opinions of you stepping outside of your bounds as helpful as that may appear. While I do respect you trying to delve deeper, don’t validate your lack of training because others couldn’t help her. Acupuncture takes a very long time with large numbers of patients to even begin to comprehend - that along with deep personal training in the internal arts and other aspects of personal development. There are many acupuncturists who lack this training and skill as well, but at least in countries where it is licensed they generally have a fairly solid theoretical and clinical application base to work from. And it is definitely not a “fact” that Chinese Medicine including acupuncture and associated techniques from fully trained and licensed practitioners is not for everyone - it is your opinion.

What I will offer is this. When people have tried multiple practitioners (which is almost exclusively the case when they end up in my clinic and those of my colleagues) the problem is not what anyone thought it was. So you don’t even start recreating what others may have done. Now you may think you are doing that by “delving deeper into the root cause”, but one of the main risks in the more esoteric five element system particularly is the same risk common in western thinking that the mind/spirit is in complete control of the body. So you release the psychological pressure and all is well. It’s just simply not that easy. There is one system, not mind and body. Getting too caught up in ideas like aggressive energy are very prone to this error in thinking leading to poor clinical results. Note this doesn’t mean you don’t treat the root causes, that you don’t try to balance the psychological/emotional states of the person, or any of those possible misinterpretations. It simply means that the mind is not the dominant controlling force of a non-separate entity “the body”.

You probably don’t, but if you want to have a real discussion that could lead to some potential treatments, please begin with what her exact symptoms (i.e. not “aggressive energy”) are (what has changed and what hasn’t and over what time period of treatment). What exact points and techniques you are using and what historical information in brief and other signs you are using to validate your diagnosis in five element terms or in whatever terms are most comfortable to you.

I completely understand you feeling uncomfortable with this discussion and my responses and there is nothing wrong with feeling offended slightly. I know our systems of medicine are broken and we are all scrambling to do the best we can. But customization of techniques and branching out into new theories can only happen in my opinion when people are at the absolute pinnacle of the current understandings of their respective fields - not a hodge podge of what feels right to them. It’s too prone to non-critical thinking at that point and with limited verification from other masters in the field is too prone to poor clinical results. This matters to me incredibly and part of this comes from my work with cancer and more aggressive autoimmune conditions which I treated nearly exclusively for nearly the first 10 years of my clinical practice. When it is closer to a question of life or death (not just being one person who might make a persons life easier or leave them the same) you begin to take these issues quite seriously. Many practitioners just don’t have to deal with that very often if at all. This level of seriousness can greatly change a persons approaches and opinions.

Comment by Archived User

I would love to expand on her symptoms and needs, however you and I may not be the best team. How wonderful to know there is such a higher power in this universe known as an acupuncture practitioner. I thought only MD took that approach. Simple little people like me just muddle our way through this world taking on information which we ate ever so uneducated with. I have learned a lot from you. I will consult others who are more knowledgeable than I, but we are not a good blend.

Comment by Archived User

What do you mean by an aggressive energy response? Without knowing what is going on with her it is nearly impossible to offer any advice. It could be a few changes in her diet or some daily yoga could make a big difference, or not.

Comment by Archived User

I guess it's not an aggressive energy... it is Shen disturbance)))