Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2007 > July > 08
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Being needled never felt so good
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been five months since I had my first acupuncture treatment from Dr. Jessica Lee of the Dragon Acupuncture and Herb clinic.
Since that time, I’ve gotten a dozen or so e-mails from inquiring minds interested in knowing if the treatment helped put a damper on my sleepless nights and other ailments.
Well, let me say unequivocally and without hesitation that Dr. Lee sent me to dreamland. Every time she treated me, I slept like a log for a good three, sometimes four, consecutive nights. Must have been the moxibustion —- a process in which she burned moxa punk, a dried herb, in a container on or above my skin at various acupuncture points. Could have been the needles, too. Either that, or I just came to expect something good would happen and willed myself to sleep well after visits to the clinic off Steve Reynolds Boulevard.
Apparently, several readers either gave Lee a try or wanted to after my column ran on Jan. 25. An AJC Gwinnett News reporter is confident that Lee’s treatments helped her carpal tunnel syndrome.
Can’t say that for everyone, though.
Peggy Linkous of Sugar Hill saw Lee for three treatments for a bad left hip. It’s still bad. She has to have hip replacement surgery soon. She found no fault with Lee, though.
“I explained the problem to her, but I don’t think she realized how serious this could be,” Linkous said. “The treatments didn’t work, but I wish they had. It’s getting worse. She’s an excellent lady, though, and we thoroughly enjoyed her.”
Unfortunately, Lee’s leaving Gwinnett. Opportunity has come a-knockin’.
A colleague has invited her to join his neurology practice in New York City.
“He’s well-known,” she told me. “Been in community 23 years. He’ll get his patients to trust me.”
Lee’s been telling her clients the news of her departure. They don’t like it, but they understand. Some have asked her to recommend other practi- tioners in the area, something that makes Lee uncomfortable.
“I’m hesitant to do that,” said Lee, who studied at the Tai Hsuan Foundation College of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in Honolulu. “I can’t do that. Every acupuncturist is so different and you just don’t know.”
Seems like every time I talk to Lee, she’s either going to a seminar or returning from one. Last week, she’d just gotten back from San Diego, where she got certified in iridology, the scientific study of the eye’s iris.
Practitioners believe the patterns, structures, colors and degrees of lightness and darkness in the iris can help identify weak and strong areas of the body. Lee, who’s been studying the ancient science for years, plans to put it to use in the Big Apple.
The Dragon Acupuncture and Herb clinic will close at the end of this month. Lee plans to sell her herbs at half-price, so now may be the time for you to stock up.
For her, the decision to relocate is bittersweet. Family’s here. Her practice is barely a year old. She’d made inroads into the non-Asian community.
“Of course, I’ll miss my clients,” she told me.
And this one client will surely miss her.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
