Acupuncture

By Simm Gottesman, C.A.
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

The theory of traditional Chinese medicine is totally different from that of Western Medicine and has a unique system of its own: Acupuncture is an important component of Traditional Chinese Medicine and can help prevent and treat diseases by stimulating certain points on the body with needles, pressure and or heat and electricity.

The principles of acupuncture have been used for over five thousand years in the Orient and have also been used more recently in various European countries; with America being the last of our major countries in the world to accept and use its principles.

American doctors have been visiting China, Japan, Korea and other countries through the years and have benefited from their research and literature on the subject. Unfortunately, their information has not been shared with the general public, leaving it with various misconceptions about acupuncture. The word acupuncture seems to elicit a negative response from most Americans, due to the very fact of the lack of proper publicity and information regarding acupuncture.

There have been instances when I have disclosed to people the fact that I am a certified acupuncturist and their response, very seriously, was: “You’d better stay away from me with those needles. I’d rather remain ill or live with my pain, rather than get stuck with needles. I can’t stand needles.” Of course, this is the reaction of a person who has never seen an acupuncture needle.

Unfortunately, the most publicized part of acupuncture is those mysterious “needles.” Whoever was responsible for translating the concepts describing the tools and their usage into English from the Chinese language committed a great injustice to a very powerful ancient healing art. Acupuncture “needles” should have never been called “needles.”

They are not similar to the classic hypodermics such as we know, which are used by western medicine for the purpose of administering drugs. They are not hollow and they do not inject chemicals or drugs into the body. Most acupuncturists never see even a trace of blood from their patients during the insertion or removal of the needles. It is fortunate that no one thought to call these “needles,” “acupuncture wires” or “acupuncture rods,” instead.

The fact that they are called needles, seems to deter so many people from asking what acupuncture can do. So many western minds can’t seem to get past the image of the “human pin cushion” and therefore, out of fear, limit their own awareness and personal potential for health, wholistically…so what’s the point of these needles? What can they do? Why are they used so extensively in other parts of the world? There must be a reason why the most heavily populated country in the world has preserved and continues to practice this healing art, which is thousands of years old; using it in their modern, present-day hospitals in conjunction with contemporary western medicine.

You may ask why our western doctors are not practicing acupuncture extensively, on a wide scale…It takes time! It takes only five seconds for a doctor to write a prescription for a drug to subdue our pain, while an acupuncture treatment takes time. This appears to be one of the main reasons why it is not so readily accepted by our medical profession in the West. Consider also that there are over a thousand acupuncture points on the body that can be used as treatment points. The theory that our bodies can heal themselves is a foreign concept today. Western minds believe that without the intake of drugs there is no cure. If you have a qualified, expert acupuncturist, treatments are time-consuming and individually-designed for each specific person.

Our Western minds are designed to believe that we can share the drugs prescribed for our particular illness with others. Believing that our bodies and illnesses are all basically the same…”Do you have a sore throat? Here, why don’t you take my medication. It’s what my doctor gave me last time I had a problem with a sore throat.” Acupuncture doesn’t work like that. Each person is considered unique. What causes back pains for two different people is possibly caused by two very different factors, and they are not necessarily treated in the same way.

Acupuncturists believe that our emotions are deeply and intimately connected to our physical bodies and this relationship is, in many cases, a causative factor in many illnesses. An acupuncturist treats wholistically and the whole person must be considered. This approach and method would be far to time consuming for a Western doctor to practice, especially in a hospital, considering our established, present-day system used in institutions devoted to health.

There is a definite electrical flow of energy in our bodies. An example of this is seen when, for instance, “ghosts” or images of people are seen through laser photography when pictures are taken in empty supermarkets, theatres, or public places when the occupants of these sites have already left. The Chinese call this flow of energy in the human body “QUI” (pronounced CHI). This QUI circulates in the human body and helps keep all organs functioning and interacting in balance when the body is well. The QUI has a distinct pattern outlined by acupuncture points which are divided into “meridians.” These meridians can be manipulated and stimulated to help relieve pain, by causing the body to produce its own natural pain-killing substances known as “endorphins.” Also, acupuncture can relieve symptoms of organ and nerve problems. Knowing where the acupuncture points are and where meridians are located in their inter-relationships is what makes it possible to unlock flows of energy and wake up certain body functions needed for healing.

The acupuncturist cannot foresee the length of time involved specifically, in regard to a complete cure anymore than the Western doctor can. An acupuncture treatment can last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the individual patient’s needs. The number of acupuncture treatments needed is also an individual requirement, depending again, on the severity of the patient’s problems. Some of my patients have become better immediately after one treatment, with others requiring several treatments.

One patient called me back a few days after her first treatment, almost hysterical. “What did you do to me! The pain in my legs is gone and the skin rash has disappeared!” I explained to her that I really didn’t do anything to her; that her own body healed itself. I was only the catalyst which helped her body begin the healing process. Inertly, I imagine she assumed that I had used some type of sorcery, since her mind could apparently not accept the fact of her rapid recovery. She was unsuccessful for quite some time in seeking other types of cures which did not alleviate her condition.

Some people, although they are consciously not aware of it, are suffering from a deeply-rooted psychological problem, do not want to be helped and prefer to be ill. This is the type who will normally begin acupuncture treatment and give up before complete treatment or before they begin to see and feel the results. The person with the ultimate control over our bodies and our health is ourself, so when I am asked how long will it take to get better, I usually answer with the question: “How long did it take you to get sick?”

Herb bashing, black box warnings

Health roundup: Herb bashing, black box warnings and Honey Nut Cheerios (satire)

by Mike Adams

All nutritional supplements have recently been found to be no good for anything. This is according to the latest research from all scientists, reported by all members of the mainstream media. The conclusions have been offered as a way to make scientific reporting more “time efficient,” because discrediting herbs one at a time was taking too long. So in the future, instead of declaring one particular herb to be useless (after ginning up some meta-data study that mysteriously excludes all the legitimate studies showing the herb to be effective), top medical journals, research scientists and even the FDA will just issue the blanket statement, “All nutritional supplements are no good for anything, trust us.”

In a related decision, the same group is said to be close to announcing that, “All prescription drugs are safe and effective at treating everything!”

Note to the wise: When you read disparaging news about herbs or vitamins in the press, just recognize it’s all part of the system of health oppression rigged up by the pushers of organized medicine. The more they can convince people that herbs or vitamins are useless, the more drugs they can sell.

FDA says, “We warned ya!”
An FDA panel has voted, with a slim margin, to require “black box warnings” on ADHD drugs following the deaths of hundreds of people who were taking them. If these drugs had been a Chinese herb, of course, the FDA would right now be issuing a nationwide ban and confiscating millions of dollars in inventory at health food stores all around the country. But since it’s a highly-profitable class of prescription drugs, the agency is resorting to warnings that are routinely ignored by doctors and patients alike.

The matter is made worse by the “duh factor” fact that people diagnosed with ADHD or short attention spans probably don’t have the concentration to read the black box warning in the first place.

Not everyone knows what the “black box” refers to in these black box warnings, by the way. The answer is that the black box is a COFFIN. Better yet, it’s the coffin in which you may find yourself if you continue to take drugs with black box warnings.

There is no drug too dangerous for humans that it can’t be excused by the FDA with a black box warning.

This warning is the FDA’s sneaky mechanism for allowing extremely dangerous (even deadly) drugs to stay on the market, earning billions in profits for Big Pharma while killing nearly 100,000 Americans each year. When people die from the toxic side effects, FDA bureaucrats can always claim, “Well, we did warn you.”

The FDA seems to have forgotten that its job is not to merely warn people but to protect people from dangerous foods, drugs and personal care products that present a genuine risk of harm to users. But the threshold of fatalities required for the FDA to actually outlaw a drug is apparently infinite. Vioxx alone, according to the FDA’s own drug safety scientist Dr. David Graham, probably killed more than 60,000 Americans by itself. And yet an FDA panel voted to put it right back on the market.

Health claims from sugary breakfast cereals

General Mills has launched a new promotional campaign that appears to be making outrageous health claims for Honey Nut Cheerios (a sugary breakfast cereal). Some of the ads say Honey Nut Cheerios will “help lower your cholesterol,” and the front of the cereal box screams, “New Pyramid Recommends More WHOLE GRAIN!”
Now I’ve seen everything.

Manufacturers of aged garlic nutritional supplements, which actually lower cholesterol more powerfully than prescription drugs, cannot claim any health benefits whatsoever without being raided by the FDA and having their inventory confiscated. But a sugary breakfast cereal, somehow, can make health claims that seem to ignore the fact that the product is made with at least three different forms of sugar. As listed on the ingredients label: sugar, honey and brown sugar syrup. It’s four if you count the modified corn starch.

Let’s face it, the commercial health messages plastered on grocery products are almost universally ridiculous. Health benefits are often claimed on single ingredients (like oats) even when those ingredients are bathed in a recipe of sugar, salt or even hydrogenated oils. Apparently, you could sell oats with crack and still make cholesterol claims for the combination. “Smokin’ Crack Oats™ Lowers Cholesterol While Getting You High. Protect Your Heart With Smokin’ Crack Oats! Made with 100% pure Colombian crack cocaine wrapped in all-natural whole grain oats!” (For greater effect, imagine Chris Rock shouting it.)

Simultaneously, the really healthy, nutritionally superior grocery products that actually demonstrate solid health improvements are outlawed from explaining their health benefits to consumers. Cherries, in particular, have been under attack by the FDA, which has censored the very reasonable health claims offered by cherry growers, such as the fact that cherries reduce arthritis pain and prevent inflammation of the joints. Today, if you live in the U.S., you live under a system of FDA tyranny that blatantly outlaws the truth about real nutrition.

I regularly notice examples of outrageous (but popular) grocery products deceiving consumers. Slim-Fast meal replacement powder, which is positioned as a weight loss product, has sugar as its top ingredient. So-called “natural” Doritos is made with yeast extract, an ingredient classified as an excitotoxin by Dr. Russell Blaylock, and one that always contains MSG according to a number of health researchers. I once saw a Quik strawberry milk product, made primarily with table sugar, that actually claimed to be good for kids’ bones because it contains some calcium.

There is almost no combination of sugars, chemicals and artificial colors that food companies can’t hop up with some minor nutritional ingredient in order to make FDA-approved health claims on the front of the package. Manufactured and processed foods, it seems, all have the right to advertise they’re extremely healthy. But unprocessed, unrefined, wholesome fruits and vegetables right out of the garden cannot be marketed with any health claims whatsoever without running the risk of an FDA lawsuit.

And that, friends, is the current state of food politics in the United States: Foods that harm consumers are marketed with FDA-approved health claims, while foods that prevent disease are have their health benefits silenced by the FDA. Thank goodness we still have Freedom of Speech, or it would be illegal for me to even report this.