Health Newsletter

Healing Takes Time

Patients always want to know how long-how many treatments will it take until they feel better. My honest answer is, "I don't know." People are used to quick results. If I take a painkiller, I may feel better in an hour or less, or with an antibiotic it may take several days. Acupuncture treatment may take a month or more until significant and lasting relief is achieved. Why bother, if I can get quicker relief with other means?

The first answer is that most quick treatments don't last. My digestion, my mood or my neck, may feel better quickly with medicine, but as soon as the drug is metabolized, I'm often right back where I started. I have to take another dose, and another, and the risks involved multiply the longer the medicine is used. The body itself hasn't changed. It's like doing your child's homework for him. He may get a good grade, but he hasn't learned the material.

Acupuncture and other natural approaches to medicine (which includes diet, exercise and herbal medicine) actually change the way the body functions-they help the body learn to do things better. Yes, this takes time. In chronic health disorders, the body doesn't get sick overnight. It develops over many months, even years. To feel better after a month or two of acupuncture treatment is actually very quick. And even better, the gains made generally last. One may require periodic 'tune-ups,' but the body seldom goes back to the way it was before treatment.

So, what kind of time frame are we looking at? Well, that depends on many factors, including the type and severity of the condition, how long you've had it, the general state of health, and how responsive one is to acupuncture treatment. A general rule, based on our 30 years of experience, is that about one-quarter will feel better after two or three treatments; one-quarter will feel better after 4-6 treatments, one-quarter after 7-9 treatments, and another quarter, unfortunately, won't receive lasting results from acupuncture treatment.

Some will only need one course of 8-10 treatments. Some will require further treatments to keep improving. Some problems are cure-able, and some only 'improve-able.' Generally, once we start to see stable results, we start to reduce the frequency from once a week to every other week, then once a month and finally, 'as needed.'

The process of healing, and enhancing the way your body functions, is fundamentally different than suppressing symptoms. No drug is added from outside. It takes time to coax the brain into sending improved signals, and to keep it up. It takes time for the anti-inflammatory or immune or digestive systems to re-learn how to function properly. It's natural to want quick results. People get tired of suffering with their symptoms. We understand, but we also understand the natural process of healing. It takes some time.

A patient with severe and chronic back pain came to our office a while ago. She had already had surgeries, and her surgeon didn't feel another was warranted. After six acupuncture treatments, she still had no lasting relief. Previously, every day was a 'bad day.' Then, maybe five or six days a week were 'bad.' Still in a lot of pain, she contemplated stopping the acupuncture, but her husband convinced her to continue. After three or four more treatments, the pain started improving by 50% or more, and after a couple more months she now only has a 'bad day' once every week or two.

Many people give up on acupuncture after four or five treatments, out of disappointment with the results. Would all of them have responded if they'd continued-of course not. But I'm sure many of them would have. True healing and repair takes time. And for some it takes longer than it does for others. But the body has a remarkable ability to repair when the right signals are sent-and when the results start to hold, and the person feels better, and feels their resistance strengthened, and knows the problem won't easily return-then they're glad they didn't give up too easily.

If I have pneumonia or bronchitis and my physician prescribes an antibiotic and after three doses I'm still coughing, I don't call him to say it's not working. I realize it takes a course of treatment and will take time. It's similar with acupuncture. It takes a course of treatment. But three times out of four, the body will respond.