FAQs

Your first treatment session will include a diagnosis. This will allow me to work out the best treatment plan to suit your needs.

I work in a holistic way. This means understanding you as a complex being, as well as your symptoms and your medical history. The focus will be on finding out how I can help you to get the most out of this powerful system of medicine.

You have probably noticed that when you are stressed or overworked you are more likely to become ill. Conversely when you are on top of the world, your health is rarely an issue. For this reason, finding out what makes you thrive, as well as how you can avoid stress is a vital part of the treatment process.

You will experience no more than a momentary dull ache, followed by a pleasant tingling sensation.

Both during and after treatment most people describe a feeling of relaxation and invigoration.

Everyone responds differently to treatment, but you can expect to see significant improvements within the first five sessions. You may even see dramatic changes after just two or three sessions.

If your condition is long standing it may take a little longer. The aim is for lasting benefit, not just short term improvements.

Initially, you will need to come once a week, with each treatment building on the previous session.

Once your condition has begun to improve the treatments can be spaced out to allow your body’s own healing mechanisms to take over. This phase will prevent your symptoms from returning and will ensure a continued improvement.

Soon you will reach the stage where you only need to come a few times a year as a preventative measure. You can continue to use acupuncture in this way to ensure that you maintain optimum health in body and mind.

Usually not. Acupuncture is a safe method of encouraging the body to promote natural healing and improve function.

When done properly, acupuncture rarely if ever causes serious side effects. Many people feel a brief stinging sensation, like a pinprick, during insertion of the needles. Others experience a dull ache around the needle after it goes in.

A side effect that I have seen in our own practice is the original symptoms worsening for a few days after an acupuncture treatment.  Sometimes other general changes in appetite, sleep, bowel or urination patterns, or emotional state may be triggered. These should not cause concern, as they are simply indications that the acupuncture is starting to work.  Acupuncture is smoothing out blocked Qi (energy) that is stuck in areas of your body. When a garden hose gets a kink in it, the water stops flowing. When you straighten the hose, the built up pressure makes the water burst out in the beginning. This is what can happen when you first have acupuncture.

It is also common with the first one or two treatments to have a sensation of deep relaxation or even mild disorientation immediately following the treatment. These effects should wear off within 24-48 hours.

Occasionally, few sensitive patients have serious reactions, such as dizziness, sweatiness, or nausea, these problems usually clear up on their own within a few minutes, without any lasting harm to the patient.

While Acupuncture is an extremely safe form of physical medicine, here are some rarely seen contraindications and risks.