When you’re coming off hormonal birth control

Treatment room full of patients seated or reclined under red blankets in lazyboys. Standing practitioner covering patient with red blanket.

Oct 05 2018

by Lisa Baird

Given how hard people have had to fight for the right to control their own fertility, it feels complicated for us to raise concerns about any kind of hormonal birth control. We’re addressing this topic anyway, because we see so many patients whose health is impacted by hormonal birth control—often, in ways they didn’t expect and aren’t prepared for. We have seen community acupuncture help people dealing with unwanted side effects of various different kinds of hormonal contraceptives, including the Pill (during and after taking the Pill) Depo-Provera, Nuvaring, and hormonal IUDs.

Posted in Reproductive Health

Help with UTIs

A practioner needling a patient's ankles; two patients visible in the background in recliners covered in yellow sheets.

Aug 28 2018

by Lisa Baird

There are many reasons why folks get UTIs; hormonal changes, new sexual partners, antibiotic treatment, diabetes, BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), etc. We also see some people who get UTIs whenever they get stressed-out and run-down. But whatever the reason, we have seen community acupuncture reduce the pain, urinary frequency, and general discomfort associated with UTIs.

Posted in Reproductive Health

On distal needling, aka “Finding the switches”

A balding man stands in the sunshine with a huge smile waves to the camera. Ocean and rugged coastline behind him.

Jul 09 2018

by Lisa Baird

People ask us all the time why we’re not putting needles into where it hurts. (“You know it’s my knee that’s sore, not my elbow, right?”) This is a totally fair question! The answer is that we use distal acupuncture: placing needles away from the site we’re treating instead of close to it. Distal points are below the knee, below the elbow, on the head and at the ears. It’s a safe, efficient and very effective way of practising that’s been used for thousands of years.

Posted in About the Clinic

Jaw Problems

A practitioner sets a needle into a patient's wrist as the patient reclines in a lazyboy. Two other sleeping patients are visible in the background.

Mar 31 2018

by Stef Cordes & Lisa Baird

The temporomandibular joint (also known as the TMJ) is a hinge connecting the jaw to the skull. There’s one in front of each ear. They […]

Posted in GCA Updates

Acupuncture for Cravings?

A seated practitioner works on a patient's feet while the patient relines in a lazyboy; several other people sleep in recliners in the background.

Mar 08 2018

by Stef Cordes & Lisa Baird

Acupuncture is widely known as an effective support for quitting smoking. We see good results with using acupuncture to treat all kinds of cravings, including food cravings.

Posted in Recovery

Hormonal Transitions

9 recliners in a semi-circle, each with a patient resting under red blankets. Practioner seated on a small black stool giving a treatment to one patient.

Jan 25 2018

by Stef Cordes & Lisa Baird

Hormonal transitions are a natural part of life and something almost everyone goes through. They can also be quite difficult! Community acupuncture can help.

Posted in Reproductive Health

Community Acupuncture for Nightmares

A row of three people reclining in lazyboys, covered with red blankets, with a practitioner seated on a stool glancing down at an acupuncture needle in her hand.

Aug 27 2017

by Stef Cordes & Lisa Baird

Acupuncture is great at treating stress, anxiety, and the impacts of trauma, and whether they are causing, aggravating or are the result of nightmares, acupuncture will likely help. We have treated numerous people for their bad dreams and usually see the nightmares get significantly less frequent, less severe, or even disappear completely.

Posted in Symptom Relief

Acupuncture and Cancer

Jul 30 2017

by Stef Cordes & Lisa Baird

Acupuncture is a useful complementary therapy for cancer. Acupuncture treatment can help with side effects of cancer treatment such as nausea and vomiting, hot flashes, pain and inflammation …

Posted in Specific Conditions

Acupuncture for Numbness

In the foreground, a practitioner treating a patient with a needle in the forehead, in the background, another practiioner viewed from behind with a red blanket under one arm. Two other sleeping patients also in the background.

Jul 04 2017

by Stef Cordes & Lisa Baird

Acupuncture is well-known as a treatment for pain, but less so as a treatment for numbness. While it’s perhaps not as distressing as extreme pain, numbness can still interfere with someone’s ability to function and enjoy their life. We’ve seen acupuncture be very effective for treating many kinds of numbness…

Posted in Symptom Relief

Help for Inflammation

A practitioner setting needles into a patient's knee with a supply cart and three other sleeping patients in the background.

May 30 2017

by Stef Cordes & Lisa Baird

Inflammation is a natural reaction to physical trauma or injury, and a key part of the immune response to heal wounds and fight infection. Unregulated or “out-of-control” inflammation, however, can contribute to serious health problems. Fortunately, acupuncture can treat both body-wide inflammation including allergic responses (asthma, sinusitis, and colitis for example) as well as more local inflammation like tendonitis or a sprain that just isn’t getting better.

Posted in Symptom Relief