Ilana Harms Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine, Inc.

Is My Doctor Even Listening to Me?

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Has this ever happened to you?

You’re sitting at the doctors office and everyone is buzzing around you, barely making eye contact. The nicest person you interact with is the Medical Assistant who takes vitals and then tells you the doctor will be in shortly.

The doctor eventually walks in, sits down at a keyboard and begins to ask you a series of questions you’ve already answered, peppered with personal questions that may be wildly inappropriate – such as “how is your husband” when you’ve been married to your wife for over 5 years and your relationship is clearly documented in your chart – and when you finally have a moment to share your own questions and concerns, they’re ultimately dismissed as “normal.”

[sidenote: common and normal are not the same thing. Having diarrhea 2-4x/day may be common for certain populations, but it’s not normal].

Acupuncture for PCOS

Recently, I’ve had a number of discussions with folks who have been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) who are trying to navigate how to manage their condition.

PCOS can manifest a variety of symptoms and each person has their own presentation which makes it challenging for a one-size-fits all approach, like the one taken by most MDs.

Books I Devoured in 2022

In 2022 I managed to read 39 books which is a pretty impressive feat considering I was finishing my doctorate, studying for (and passing) my licensing exams, and starting a business. Whew!

Read on to see my favorite books of 2022.

What Can Licensed Acupuncturists Do (in California)?

The state of California has deemed Licensed Acupuncturists Primary Care Providers. This means that you can see a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac.) without a referral from an MD or other provider. This is great news because it means you can find the right Acupuncturist for you and you are not limited to your Doctor or Health Insurance network (though you may have to pay out of pocket if you see an L.Ac. who is not in your network and/or does not take health insurance).

While many folks who are unfamiliar with Acupuncture may think that all we do is create human pincushions (sometimes it’s true :)) we have a wide variety of tools in our toolkit to partner with you to meet you health goals.

Let’s explore further…

Should I get Acupuncture if I’m not injured or sick?

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The short answer is YES!

I was chatting with a guest at my daughter’s birthday party when they casually asked “I’m pretty healthy and have no complaints, why would I get acupuncture?” and it kind of caught me off guard.

Having spent the last handful of years living and breathing Acupuncture & Integrative East Asian Medicine (EAM), I had to take a step back and remember that most of us grew up in a health and wellness system that is focused on treating something that is wrong rather than preventing something from going wrong in the first place.

So, why should you (or anyone) get periodic Integrative East Asian Medicine treatments if you do not have an injury or illness?

What to Expect during your visit – Part 2 the Follow-Up Visit

Once I’ve had an Initial Visit with a patient (see this post for more information about Initial Visits), then we move to Follow-Up visits on an agreed-upon cadence that the patient has autonomy and control over.

What I love about Follow-Up visits is that they allow for deeper exploration and treatment for the chief concern as well as constitutional issues that may need to be addressed. I typically recommend a set-series of Follow-Up visits to address the patient’s initial chief concern and then we adjust as new things come up or we need to move into maintenance mode.

What to expect during your visit – Part 1 the Initial Visit

Every patient relationship starts with an Initial Visit. These appointments are approximately 75 minutes, which is longer than Follow-Up visits, and allow for full discussion of the patient’s primary concern as well as exploring their overall health and constitution.

One of the things I love most about practicing Integrative East Asian Medicine is that I am able to look at the whole person, not just the symptom(s), to get to the root cause of the issue and provide sustained relief as opposed to a temporary fix.

During an Initial Visit, I discuss the patient’s chief concern and then ask a series of whole-body questions to get a sense of the patient’s constitution and any other factors that may be contributing to their chief concern. I then look at the patient’s tongue and feel their pulse — this information is so informative within the East Asian Medicine paradigm that some practitioners don’t even ask the patient’s chief concern, they only look at tongue/pulse and treat from there, it’s that accurate!