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Weight lose case with an unfair result

By Archived User | Updated: Dec 31, 2021 | Published: Dec 31, 2021

Dear Acupuncturist colleagues,

I have a patient referred to me for weight reduction. However I had some similar patients with good result, but she has a little weight gain 4 sessions after his first treatment. I had better mention her diff diagnosis was correct (ST heat), and I had begun body and auricular acupuncture for this 38 years old woman 2 sessions per week.
Have you encountered with such a case ?
What do you recommend to proceed with this special case, as experienced acupuncturist physicians ?
Is it proper to stop acupuncture treatment (she has finished 5 sessions 2/wk) and/or perform some special protocols ?
Her acupoints are not very tender (except right ST25 and LI4), and has some somnolence in addition to ST heat symptoms. Her appetite has more increased after treatments too.
Initial weight was 85kg. Weight gain after 5 sessions was 1.5kg. Treatment was begun after menstruation.
ST25 group+SP15 group+ dai mai+RN4+RN6+ RN9/10/11/ 12+ST36/40/ 44+SP6/9+ LI4/11 plus auriculotherapy was used alternatively.
There is not any considerable emotional deterioration. She is a gyneacologist with a busy workload. Her appetite has not been reduced just in contrary to my other patients.
She had taken alprazolam and antidepressant two month ago, but has not any low mood while beginning of treatment. She continues alprazolam presently.
on an average estimation, when we are expecting to see positive results (reduced appetite and weight loss separately) for treatment sessions 2/wk ?
I will appreciate any recommendation.

Best regards,

Mehdi Hashemi MD, AP

Archived Comments

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Weight loss can be a tricky case because it is easy to confuse the diagnosis by expecting it to be something - most often by not looking deep enough. My guess with this patient is that there is more going on than just stomach heat. Given that the patient is female and has a very busy work life, I would guess that she is probably showing signs of KD yin deficiency and/or SP qi deficiency.


Either way, weight issues can be attributed to lifestyle choices (poor food, lack of exercise, etc.), but also thyroid issues, metabolic disorders, addictions, etc. If you do not properly diagnose the underlying factors you will get poor results with the treatments. That said, with correct treatment, most patients should experience some weight loss within one month (we treat once a week, but that is just preference). Some, however, it will take up to 3 months to get a significant change (this is usually the case when there is thyroid involvement, or other systemic issues).


We often use the following points for weight loss:


Huatuo of T7, ST 21, GB 13 (on the right side), LI 18, huatuo of C2 (on the right side), GV 22, Yiming, TH 17 - plus points based on their overall Chinese Medicine diagnosis.


Comment by Archived User

Dear Chad,

How much weight loss/percentage of total weight (approx.) as well as reduced appetite do we expect to get after correct treatments (1month-3month after beginning) ?

How do you also use auricular therapy for weight loss ?

Thanks & Regards,

Mehdi Hashemi

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Safe weight loss, the kind that has a greater chance of staying off is on the order of 1-2 pounds/week. When we work with people we will often see larger amounts in the first 3-5 months of treatments, perhaps 15-20 pounds in some cases. This degree of weight loss, however, cannot be maintained and will usually come back without the patient making appropriate dietary and lifestyle adjustments.

Personally I rarely use auricular therapy for weight loss (or anything else), but many do and there are good protocols for related issues such as endocrine imbalances and addiction issues. We generally use medical qi gong (tong ren therapy), acupuncture, and occasionally herbal medicine. If we use herbs it is our "Certainly Slim" formula which in our experience is quite safe compared to many herbal formulas and has a good track record of efficacy, particularly if people are putting in the effort as well.

Comment by Archived User

Chad,

Your explanation is logical and useful enough. Thank you.

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