One treatment every two weeks.
At a glance
A highly stressful job had caused insomnia, chronic fatigue, brain fog, acid reflux and constipation. With treatment and home care she learned to manage stress well, and the stress-related symptoms stopped.
Presentation
A 47-year-old patient was a top-performing sales director at a large global company. She was busy and stressed all the time, and the stress had caused insomnia, chronic fatigue, brain fog, acid reflux and constipation.
Diagnosis
She had no strategies for managing stress, and her body was constantly run by the sympathetic nervous system (the “fight or flight” mode), which suppresses digestion, rest and repair.
Treatment
Treatment combined ear seeds, acupuncture, herbal medicine and home care:
- Ear seeds — Dr. LiChun Huang’s auricular medicine combination for stress
- For insomnia — Dr. Tan’s Anmian Five combination, which includes Anmian, ear Shenmen and Yintang
- For stress — Dr. Tan’s LR-8 (Ququan) and GB-34 (Yanglingquan), and at times his modified [Jueyin, Shaoyang] III/VI meridian conversion: [LR-8 (Ququan), LR-3 (Taichong), GB-34 (Yanglingquan), GB-41 (Zulinqi), TW-10 (Tianjing), TW-3 (Zhongzhu), HT-3 (Shaohai), HT-7 (Shenmen), PC-6 (Neiguan)]
- For acid reflux — RN-13 (Shangwan) and [SP-4 (Gongsun), PC-6 (Neiguan)]
- For constipation — [SP-15 (Daheng), ST-25 (Tianshu)], ST-36 (Zusanli), ST-37 (Shangjuxu)
- Herbal medicine — several formulas to shift the body from sympathetic to parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) mode and support its own healing
Home care:
- Turn off screens two hours before bed, to avoid the effect of blue light on sleep
- Daily meditation, including deep breathing, which helps the body enter parasympathetic mode
- Read the Dao De Jing and practise its principles in daily life
- Regular exercise, especially outdoors, which is important for managing stress
- Diet change: cut down on hard-to-digest food
Result
- The time it took to fall asleep dropped from over an hour to under 15 minutes
- Sleep changed from waking many times a night to sleeping through
- She went from waking up tired to waking up refreshed and energized
- The brain fog, acid reflux and constipation went away
Additional notes
This reflects an individual patient experience, not clinical trial data.
Results vary from person to person depending on the condition, its severity, and how an individual responds to treatment. TCM and acupuncture are not a substitute for care from your physician or another regulated health professional. If you’re dealing with a serious or urgent symptom, please see a doctor first.