Friday, July 24, 2009

Acupuncture and PCOS

PCOS seems to be one of the culprits of infertility these days, not to mention a major risk factor for other serious diseases including insulin resistance, heart disease, and obesity. Even with all of the big time fertility drugs out there, many women put their bodies through a lot of hormonal fluctuations only to wind up getting IVF. Often twice. A small pilot study shows acupuncture and exercise are promising for decreasing the sympathetic nerve activity which is a hallmark of PCOS.

Acupuncture and exercise may bring some relief to the one in 10 women of childbearing age who suffer from a common endocrine disease called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Women with the condition have elevated levels of androgen hormones—including testosterone—and often develop ovarian cysts, irregular menstrual cycles and infertility. A key feature of the disease is an increase in the high muscle sympathetic nerve activity. This regular constricting of blood vessels, which normally occurs during the body's fight or flight response to danger, can increase a woman's chances of developing diabetes and high blood pressure or having a heart attack or stroke.

"The findings that low-frequency electro-acupuncture and exercise decrease sympathetic nerve activity in women with PCOS indicates a possible alternative non-pharmacologic approach to reduce cardiovascular risk in these patients," researcher Elisabet Stener-Victorin of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said in a news release


Saturday, July 11, 2009

Jing is On Twitter!

I decided twitter was more fun than Facebook, so feel free "Tweet" me.

The 2-D communication is starting to get out of hand though.  One of my clients believes we are going to completely loose the ability to communicate with each other in person and that we all need to get Miss Manners to re-write the rules of etiquette. 

News updates lately have been more of the same. Acupuncture is still good for back pain, chemo side effects, your pets, and combined with exercise for PCOS. I have been reading several "show me the proof" blogs from a lot of folks who have never tried acupuncture and would decry the existence of DNA if they could go back 60 years. In the meantime acupuncturists are trying to lobby for inclusion in national healthcare coverage which should make my practice quite interesting should it go through. As I am up to my neck in my practice, teaching, and preceptorship I am out of time for organizational activity.  

I just know some good research will be up any day now!

Monday, July 06, 2009

Honor Flight Network

Honor Flight is an organization dedicated to helping every single veteran in America, willing and able to get on a plane or a bus, visit THEIR memorial. Since America felt it was important to build a memorial to the service and the ultimate sacrifice of her veterans, the Honor Flight Network believes it's equally important that they actually get to visit and experience their memorial.

 

Honor Flight will continue do whatever it takes to fulfill the dreams of our veterans and, very importantly, our senior heroes travel absolutely free. With the continued support of grateful Americans, by the end of the 2009 flying season in November, HFN will have transported more than 42,165 veterans of World War II, Korea and Viet Nam to see the memorials built to honor their suffering and sacrifice to keep this great nation free. Check out their website at http://honorflight.org and the Bluegrass chapter at http://honorflightbluegrass.org

 

In celebration of Independence Day, Jing Acupuncture will donate 10% of all July sales to the Honor Flight Network. We are generally open by appointment only, but you can visit anytime during the day on Mondays and Thurdays. Whether you are interested in acupuncture, herbal therapy, or health gifts including herbal teas, books, or pain relieving liniments, stop in and get healthy while giving back!