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Thursday, January 25, 2007
Can acupuncture help? I gave it a try
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“You look good on the outside. Not as good on the inside.”
Not exactly the words you want to hear from the examination bed, but this was my life Wednesday on the Badie Tour.
I stopped by Dragon Acupuncture & Herb in Duluth at the invitation of Jessica Lee, a licensed acupuncturist. We met a year or so ago at Donnie’s Country Cookin,’ a pretty good restaurant off Steve Reynolds Boulevard. Her brother and sister-in-law run it.
Lee had told me she was a licensed acupuncturist, and that one day, she’d open her own place.
Well, she has. So I paid a visit.
She gave me a cursory look-over as soon as I stepped inside Suite 106 - the way I walked, my posture, my skin tone and eyes. For the physical exam, she checked my pulse, my eyes, and squeezed my extremities.
By applying pressure to acupuncture points in my left leg, she correctly diagnosed that my right shoulder is a recurring source of pain. For that, three fine needles were inserted in my told her I got headaches every now and then, so she put a needle in my right leg, too.
Then she felt my stomach. “Stagnation,” she said, suggesting a poor digestive system. And for that, she inserted a needle in my right leg. She also took a chunk of moxa punk, a dried herb, put it on paper, placed it on my stomach, and set it afire.
She warned me that the burning herb would smell like weed. Whew. She was right.
The process of burning herbs on or above the skin at acupuncture points is called moxibustion. It’s typically used in conjunction with acupuncture. After that first treatment, I got a second one that lasted about 50 minutes.
She took five moxa punk cones, lit them and put them in a burner. She taped the burner to my upper belly. The heat from the combustion penetrated my body, which is supposed to unblock or redirect my Chi (energy).
“This is for your stomach, kidneys and all the (weak areas) in your system,” said Lee, a naturalized citizen who studied at the Tai Hsuan Foundation College of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in Honolulu.
“It can help you avoid bad Chi, defend against disease, make stronger the immune system.”
Some people believe in this Chinese medicinal practice. Other don’t. It’s up to you.
But I interviewed some of Lee’s patients who swear by it, say that it helped them and can treat anything from attention deficit disorder to hemorrhoids. That at $40 per treatment, it’s worth it. (The hour- and-a-half treatment I had costs $50.)
For 14 years, Marius Gavrila of Buford had suffered from acid reflux. Eventually, the medication he took daily stopped working. His sister suggested he try acupuncture. He made an appointment with Lee.
After several treatments, his bowel problem has vanished.
“I’m back in the gym,” he told me. “I got my strength back. I feel really good.”
Before I left the clinic, Lee let me poke my head into an examining room where a Korean man lay. Needles pierced the inside of his mouth. A stroke had left the left side of his face off-center. Thanks to acupuncture, his face is almost back to normal.
Am I healed?
It’s too early to say. Lee said I’d need a few more treatments to say definitively. I left Dragon Acupuncture & Herb feeling lighter and livelier, happier, though.
And Lee promised that (on Wednesday night) I would have a sound night’s sleep.
If that happens, I’ll be a walking testimonial.
Dragon Acupuncture & Herb is located at 3365 Steve Reynolds Blvd., Suite 106 in Duluth. Jessica Lee and Long He Jiang are the doctors. Your first consultation and treatment is free. Hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Details: 678-417-7877.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or email: rbadie@ajc.com.
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