Expert: Heather Vandeburg L.Ac M.S.O.M. dipl.Ac - 6/9/2008

Question
QUESTION: A have ulcerative colitus and i am seeing an acupuncturist but it doesn't seem to be working.  i have been doing it  for a long time almost 3 months.  He doesn't speak english very well and he says that my body is weak. i am not sure what that means.  My cupping is fine except for the two red cirles on my chest.  Is that bad? I take this tea that is very dark and bitter with like 40 herbs do you know the general idea about what the hjerbs do.

ANSWER: Hi John,
It is too bad that your acupuncturist doesn't speak English well.  The cupping marks are normal they go away in a week or two.  Remember Gwyneth Paltrow and her cupping marks? If you have had the colitis a long time then it will take a long time to heal.  It take 48 days for the epithelial cells in the gut to turn over.  3 months is not a long treatment for this. The herbal tea is very powerful medicine.  There are sooo many Chinese herbs.  It would be hard for me to tell you what you are taking without knowing what is in the formula.  Is your TCM practitioner changing your formula at all.  Usually it is adjusted as you change.  If the herbs are very bitter there is probably a lot of damp heat clearing properties.  Huang Bai, Huang Lian, Huang Qin are a few herbs that are very bitter that he may be using.  If your are very qi deficient (weak) He will be using some boosting herbs as well. Did he change your diet? Diet is very important. NO spicy, fried or greasy food. I think you are in good hands.  Don't be afraid to ask more questions.  There has to be a way to communicate better.

Good Luck,
Heather Vandeburg LAc MSOM

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QUESTION: What things effect your chi?  Does getting surgery effect it and if it does would acupuncture be the only way to geet the chi back in balance.  how could you make the surgery effect your chi less is there a way.

ANSWER: Hi John,
Almost everything can effect your qi(chi).  Surgery definitely negatively effects the flow of qi.  Scar tissue impedes the flow of qi thru the body.  You can use acupuncture to bypass scar tissue or make the adhesions less.  I am not sure if qi gong or tai qi could be used to balance your qi after surgery. The less evasive the surgery( the less cutting there is) the less impact on your qi there will be.  The one point that is never to be acupunctured is the navel and most surgeries today cut thur the navel. So avoiding cutting the belly button would be a good idea as well.

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QUESTION: for one of the treatments he put like a cigar that was extremely hot on my navel for  15 minutes.  It was when I was bleeding alot and nothing seemed to help.  After a while the navel bubbled like cupping but alot bigger.  My navel still has scars but is this normal

Answer
Hi John,
He did direct moxabustion.  Moxa is the only thing ok for the navel.  Scaring moxabustion is a technique.  It's too bad that it didn't help.  We usually use burn cream to avoid scaring.  But blistering and scaring can be the result that he was looking for.  We don't tend to do it a lot in the states just because most westerners aren't used to getting scars.  Hope this helps.

Heather Vandeburg LAc MSOM