Animal acupuncture

I've been receiving lots of requests to treat animals this year, mostly dogs but also a few cats, horses and even two goats! Although the feedback from the treatments has been positive, I realise I could be providing a much better service with some further training..
..so I've enrolled to do a post-graduate certificate in Animal Acupuncture and I start in two weeks. I can't wait!
Watch this space for updates on how my studies are progressing and details of what conditions I'm able to treat and how you can book in for treatment.
Bye for now,
David.

My 22nd birthday present to myself, otherwise known as Arncha. My first ever animal patient!

Update: Spending 5 days in Byron Bay hanging out with a bunch of horses and learning with a great group of students was hard but someone had to do it! 

I learnt so much about horses - anatomy and where the acupuncture points are, general handling and management (how to not get kicked!), and common horse diseases and their treatment.

It was a nice environment to learn in, Byron Bay and surrounds is always a great place to visit, and the lessons were held on a property with plenty of trees and grass. Myself and 5 other students spent our time treating 20 different horses that are utilised by a local tourist operator offering rides on the beach.

Tom is an excellent teacher having had 18 years experience with treating animals and has plenty of knowledge to share.  I'm really looking forward to going back again next year to learn more.

I'll have the full diploma completed midway through 2015. Until then I'll be available for animal acupuncture treatments at student prices ie. by donation only.

Best classroom ever!

Painkillers make a million headaches worse

This article initially appeared in the Bellingen Courier Sun on Wednesday 20th March 2013.

Painkillers 'make a million people's headaches worse':
Acupuncture can be used for prevention.
Research from the UK

A million headache sufferers who take common painkillers on a regular basis are actually intensifying their pain by making their brains ‘immune’ to the drugs’ effects, UK doctors have recently warned. They are aggravating their symptoms by relying on medications like aspirin, paracetamol and ibuprofen on an almost daily basis. Instead of taking these over-the-counter drugs to combat symptoms when they flare up, sufferers should try treatments that help prevent headaches in the first place - including acupuncture - according to official advice from the British National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).It has recently launched a new guideline this week to help doctors better diagnose and treat different types of headache, which can be difficult to tell apart.


Dr Manjit Matharu, a consultant neurologist who helped develop the NICE guidelines, said: “Patients with frequent tension-type headaches or migraines can get themselves into a vicious cycle, where their headaches are getting increasingly worse.”Taking normal dose aspirin, paracetamol or anti-inflammatory painkillers like ibuprofen for 15 days or more a month could lead to these headaches, he said.


Taking opioids like codeine, or other powerful painkillers like triptans, ergots or combination analgesic medications for 10 days or more a month could also exacerbate headaches or migraines, he said.
Dr Matharu explained that frequent use of painkillers desensitised the brain to their effects, "and that leads to more pain". Patients who thought this was happening to them should consult their GPs about preventative medication, he said.
There was strong evidence that the drugs propranolol, topiramate and gabapentin worked to prevent migraines, he advised, but preventing tension headaches was more difficult. “Acupuncture is the only treatment that we’ve got a good evidence base for.” The eastern technique was “often not taken seriously enough”, claimed the neurologist, but trials showed it had a real beneficial effect.


Alchemy in Bellingen’s resident Acupuncturist, David Whitmore, agrees, “tension headaches usually respond quite well to acupuncture treatment. Research shows half of the patients who try acupuncture have a larger than 50% decrease in headache frequency, and in clinic I often see the severity of any remaining headaches decrease as well. For such a small rural area the residents of Bellingen shire have access to a large range of experienced and professional Acupuncturists so there is every opportunity to treat headaches naturally and successfully.”

New Acupuncture & Shiatsu College in Bellingen

As an Acupuncturist I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of health care professionals in the Bellingen area. It's a great place for professional development because my peers offer so much in the way of experience and expertise. Bellingen is a hub of natural medicine and I've often thought it would be a great place to study from. Now, thanks to Matthew Sincock, Bellingen is set to have it's very own Acupuncture & Shiatsu college.

Opening in February 2012 under the umbrella of the Australian College of Eastern Medicine, the Bellingen campus will offer subjects in week long intensive modules at North Farm, a beautiful venue in a stunning natural landscape.

Teachers include Matthew Sincock and yours truly, with others to be confirmed.

Check out the college website for info on,

• upcoming workshops
• Diploma of Acupuncture
• Diploma of Remedial Massage (Eastern)
• Diploma of Shiatsu

Financial assistance for prospective students is available from the federal government in the form of Austudy and VET-HELP.

Sunday Telegraph's List of the Best Acupuncture Clinics in NSW

This article first appeared in the Bellingen Shire Courier Sun on September 14th 2011.

Best Acupuncture Clinic in Mid North Coast

Alchemy in Bellingen was recently named one of the best places to go for Acupuncture in NSW by the Sunday Telegraph's Body and Soul magazine. The top 13 clinics throughout NSW were listed with Alchemy being the only centre nominated on the Mid North Coast.

"This colourful centre offers acupuncture among a range of services, including naturopathy, homeopathy, massage and herbal medicine. Practitioner David Whitmore uses acupuncture to regulate nerves, blood vessels and the lymphatic system. Other related techniques used include moxibustion (burning herbs held over acupuncture points), deep tissue massage and cupping. Acupuncture involves the insertion of very fine needles into specific body points and works by helping the flow of an energy force called qi (pronounced 'chee') to circulate freely around the body. It can help address health problems including acute and chronic pain, reproductive challenges, skin conditions and psychological issues."

David studied Traditional Chinese Medicine in Melbourne under one of Australia's foremost Chinese Medicine doctors, Professor Lun Wong. David went on to further training in Sydney in the areas of pain relief and spinal & sports injuries. Since moving to Bellingen two years ago, his clinical focus has expanded to include mental health and women's health. 'It has been a great two years here in Bellingen, easily the best part of my professional life.' says David, 'I'm lucky to practice from a fantastic health centre with friendly staff, beautiful rooms, and patients who work hard on their health. That makes my job a pleasure!'

Chinese Medicine for Colds and Flu

I originally wrote this article for Lifestyle Investor Magazine. Thanks to editor John Shirley for permission to reproduce it here. Quotations below in italics appear courtesy of Food for the Seasons by Professor Wong.

Poor health causes 12 million days of reduced productivity in Australia every year. How many of those days are yours?

Winter absenteeism from influenza costs Australian businesses millions of dollars every year and the cost of presenteeism (turning up to work when you are sick) is estimated to be even more. There are, on average, 85 deaths and over 4000 hospitalisations recorded due to influenza illness each year in Australia, making it a significant issue economically, personally and socially.

In the course of studying and practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine, I’ve been lucky to learn a few tricks when it comes to treating and preventing colds and flu. After all, traditionally in China, preventing colds and flu was very important. There was no access to the life saving medical treatment we have at our disposal here in modern Australia. Preventing colds and flu was the most effective strategy the Chinese had to avoid the potentially life threatening outbreak of the virus.

The following remedies, ideas and tips have been handed down for countless generations in China, each generation refining, improving and expanding on what was passed down. The result is an effective arsenal of strategies that you can use to prevent and treat upper respiratory tract infections.

Of course common sense prevails – don’t try to treat any health problems that are better left to trained professionals.

Prevention

If you are dying of thirst, is it not too late to start digging a well?

A healthy strong immune system is necessary to prevent infectious disease. The body’s ability to resist infection depends on many factors. Some of which, like our genes for example, aren’t really under our control. The factors we can control are discussed below.



Diet
Traditional Asian ideas in regard to diet are fundamentally the same as our modern Western understanding. There are some interesting differences.
• Eat warm, cooked foods. Avoid cold, raw foods. (See this post for more details)
• Eat 50% grains, 30% vegetables, and 20% is left over for everything else – meat, fruit, dairy, nuts, oils etc.

If immunity is weak, cut down on salt. Wei Qi (the body’s protective Qi) has an upward moving energy and salt’s downward energy can overwhelm our Wei Qi resulting in lowered immunity.

Digestive system function
When our digestive system is not working at 100% then all that good food you are putting in isn’t being absorbed properly and your body can be malnourished and unable to do your tasks properly. Warm cooked foods, appropriate exercise, and meditation are the tools needed to improve a weakened digestive system. Individually prescribed body treatments (such as acupuncture and massage) and herbal remedies are also applicable.

Honey in warm water before bed will ease a dry throat and a dry cough and assist with dry constipation.

Physical activity
Appropriate exercise (don’t over-exert, emphasis on good posture) is a great way of improving your general health and therefore your immunity. The Asian exercise systems (yoga, martial arts, tai chi, qi gong) have all been developed to train students in the art of appropriate exercise and are a great way to be truly healthy in mind, body and soul.

Mental health
The new scientific field of psycho-neuro-immunlogy has developed out of research that shows a happy and peaceful emotional life is essential to a healthy immune system. Stress and other emotional states such as anxiety, anger, fear and sadness are a normal part of life, but when these emotions are strongly felt and long lasting they render us sitting ducks for infectious disease. Traditionally in China, appropriate exercise and meditation were the tools used to improve mental health. Individually prescribed counseling, body treatments and herbal remedies were also used to treat patients with mental illness.

‘The Wind is an arrow of a thousand diseases.’
The common cold is often caused by an invasion of cold wind. Cold wind usually enters the body when you get cold. Prime targets are exposed necks and lower backs.


Sometimes the preventative approach doesn’t work and then its time to bring out the big guns...

Treatment 
According to the traditional Chinese understanding of medicine, febrile (feverish) diseases are caused by sudden changes in the weather and extreme weather patterns. This makes sense with our modern scientific approach in terms of bacteria, viruses, and fungi being able to proliferate when the weather conditions suit, or being carried on the wind during rough weather to new localities where the residents don’t have any immunity to the new microbes. These external events create a challenge for your body’s immune system to defend against. If your general health is good and therefore your immune system is good then this challenge is met without too much drama. If your immune system is weakened for any reason then the external pathogen enters the body and a battle begins…

Part A: the first 24 hours
The main emphasis of treatment at this stage is to raise your body temperature so that the virus is inhibited and its effects are negated. It is important to conserve your energy, you’ll need it to fight the virus.

For a sore throat, peel a potato. Juice the peel and apply externally to the throat.

Chinese Army marching remedy.

The following remedy, for the initial stages of flu-like symptoms, was passed down to me seven years ago by a doctor of Chinese Medicine who had been using it for 60 years. He learnt it in the Chinese army during the Sino-Japanese war (1937-45) but it has probably been in use for much longer than that.

• Start with a hot drink – ideally a herbal tea with fresh ginger, peppermint, and the white part of a spring onion (click here to see recipe). If not just use hot water.

• Apply Tiger Balm (or a linament/balm that smells similar) to the upper back, chest and anywhere else that aches, taking care to avoid any sensitive areas (mouth, nostrils, eyes etc.).

• Rug up with many blankets. Lie down in a warm room, avoid exposure to any draughts. You should be warm enough to start sweating within 20minutes of lying down, if not drink more hot water and wrap up with more blankets.

• Once the sweating begins let it continue for an extra 5 - 10 minutes. Get up, dry off with a towel, and put on fresh dry (preferably warm) clothes.

• Lay back down and stay warm (without sweating) for at least one hour. Take it easy for the rest of the day. If you still have an aversion to cold or wind, and you don’t feel weak and tired you can repeat the whole sweating procedure again.

A cold with a runny nose may be treated with lemon in warm water because the lemon is astringent (which should ease the runny nose) and warm. If your nose is blocked and your tongue is pale, try cinnamon and honey, as the cinnamon will warm you and the honey should loosen the blockage.

Part B: If the cold sets in
Stay warm, rest, get plenty of sleep, eat only plain, bland foods (eg. rice with steamed veg and ginger). If you can’t be gentle with yourself during this time due to work commitments then go to Plan C.

In winter, get rid of phlegm with kohlrabi. For a dry cough, use seaweed.

Plan C: If it gets worse, won’t go away.
Seek treatment with a health professional, the good ones know how to prevent and treat colds and flu so won’t be scared of you arriving and spreading your germs around!

To gain strength after sickness, you’ll want more concentrated energy. Choose easy to digest, but concentrated foods such as lentils, beans and root vegetables – cook together in a pot with a lid for longer than usual time.

Bellbottom Article

 The following article initially appeared in the April 2011 edition of Bellbottom - a Coffs Coast magazine celebrating and supporting the local creative arts scene.

Thanks to Bellbottom editor Maggie Quirk for permission to reproduce the article here.

Locally grown seasonal food - its good medicine!

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, good health relies on living in harmony with the seasons. This includes adapting our clothing, behaviours and eating patterns. Aligning ourselves to the seasons can help to protect us from infections, aches, pains, and upsetting emotions.

In Australia, we find ourselves intuitively aligning with ancient philosophy by eating root vegetable soup and ‘hibernating’ in Winter. Summer finds us enjoying salads and socialising.

Food grown locally is one of the simplest ways to stay healthy. Local food is like a medicine; imbibed with the nutrients needed to see you through the different characteristics of each season.  eg. Mushrooms grow in damp weather and according to Chinese medicine have a drying quality which is ideal to harmonise us with Bellingen’s climate.

The following dish is an Autumnal staple in China, and the ingredients can be sourced locally in this season. The soup builds milk supply in nursing mothers and is useful for rectifying oedema and fluid retention. Papaya can encourage bowel movement and treats some types of rheumatism.

Freshwater fish with papaya

Serves 2

200g whole freshwater fish fillets

300g papaya, skin removed (between firm and ripe is best for this recipe)

Cut papaya into pieces of similar size to the fish pieces. Place fish and papaya into a saucepan and cover with water at double the height of the ingredients. Gently simmer until the now milky liquid, is reduced by half. Serve in a bowl with rice.

Recipe courtesy of Food for the Seasons - Professor Wong (Red Dog Books)

The Hazards of Salads

I originally wrote this article for Lifestyle Investor magazine March 2011.
Thanks to the LI magazine editor, and old friend, John Shirley for permission to reproduce it here in full.

Salad receives a dressing down:

are salads a wise investment in your health? 

Surely salads are good for you? If I eat more salads wont I be healthier, smarter and more successful?

Not so, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the grand-daddy of all health therapies. In fact many Chinese people won't even consume a single lettuce leaf with out first dunking it in a steaming bowl of broth.

With an unbroken lineage of written records dating back well over 2,500 years, TCM is uniquely placed when it comes to giving out health advice. Countless generations of Chinese medical practitioners have written down their observations and the results of their treatments for the benefit of the following generation. Over such an extended period of refinement the Chinese have been able to develop a system of medicine that is safe, effective and great value for money. TCM is a system that has seen its fair share of health fads come and go and it reminds me of a wily old investor - TCM is sure of itself and doesn't get taken in by the latest fashions.

Emphasising salads and raw fruit and vegetables as a ‘super-healthy must-do’ is one such health fad that a modern day TCM practitioner comes face to face with on a daily basis. We advise our patients to avoid or minimise raw fruit and veg, especially if there are any digestive or immunity issues or if the patient has low energy levels. The idea that an excessive consumption of salads and fruit can be detrimental to health runs counter to all modern ideas about diet, according to which, by eating raw vegetables and fruit, we can absorb all the vitamins and minerals contained in them. However, excessive consumption of what Chinese Medicine considers to be cold-energy foods and raw foods (such as salads, ice-creams, iced-drinks or fruit) weakens the digestive system. From the Chinese point of view, the digestive system prefers warm cooked foods and excessive consumption of the above foods will be very difficult to digest and may cause:

·       tiredness

·       weight gain

·       low immunity with frequent low grade infections

·       diarrhea or loose stools

·       poor appetite (eating out of habit or for fun only, not actually 'starving' for food)

·       feeling cold relative to others

·       abdominal pain.

It’s hardly a picture of health! I can’t see how anyone could turn tiredness, weight gain and frequent infections into a wealthy lifestyle!

Modern science can shed some light on how the Chinese point of view may indeed be correct.

Raw fruit and veg has three main drawbacks

1.     Your body's energy is wasted trying to break open the cellular structure of fruit and veg,

2.     The nutrients inside each cell of the fruit and veg remain locked up inside and are unable to be utilized,

3.     Germs and toxic residues are more likely to be present.

The cellular structure of plants is different to animals in one key aspect - the cell wall. Animal cells have a thin malleable membrane enveloping the internal cellular bits and pieces (AKA organelles). Plant cells have the same membrane plus a thick rigid wall made from cellulose or fibre. This thick wall is hard for the human digestive system to break down (cows can do it but they have four stomachs!), mostly it ends up passing straight through and acting as our intestinal tooth brush. The nutrients from fruit and vegetables (vitamins, minerals and other phyto-chemicals) are contained within the thick walls of their cells. To split open the cell wall allows the nutrients to spill out and to be absorbed from our intestines and into our bloodstream. Chewing your salad breaks open a small percentage of the cell walls, chewing thoroughly will break open even more. Your digestive enzymes will split open some more cell walls but even after all that effort in chewing, and then producing and secreting enzymes there is still a large amount of nutrients that pass through your digestive system in an unzipped state depriving your body of the nutrients it requires. A good example of this is the undigested corn kernel whose nutrients laugh at you from your toilet bowl, "haha you can't get me"!

To get those cheeky nutrients out of their cell walls and into your bloodstream where you can use them is simple – heat up the cells until they pop open – its called cooking!

Just watch the poor veggies wilt as you steam them. The rigid cell walls break open and the structure of the whole vegetable wilts as a result. All of those nutrients you spend your hard earned money on become freely available.

The main criticism of cooking fruit and veg is the break down of vitamins and other nutrients due to the high temperatures involved. It's a fair criticism, and so it seems we are damned if we cook and damned if we don't! However, the net gain of nutrient availability from cooking outweighs the loss of nutrients from high temperatures, especially if your food is cooked on low heat for a long time. Many traditional cultures, including the Chinese, hold this method of 'slow cooking' to be the most beneficial for peoples health.

The other drawback of raw fruit and veg is the increased likelihood of germs and toxins being present. Parasites, bacteria and other micro-organisms can exist in and on the fruit and veg we eat. On top of that is the possibility of a toxic residue from chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Most people wash their fruit and veg but it's far more effective to cook your plant-based ingredients in order to remove microbes and toxins. The heat from cooking will destroy 99.9% of all germs, and can transform many different toxins to make them either gone or less damaging.

So consider maximising your intake of warm, cooked fruit and veg if you feel

·       low in energy

·       sluggish, heavy

·       slow to 'start up' in the morning

·       bloated or uncomfortable after you eat

If you love your salad and fresh fruit and can't bare to give them up - don't stress out - you can make them less damaging and more digestible by

·       having small amounts, preferably at then end of a warm meal

·       use a salad dressing that includes vinegar and some warming spices such as ginger, pepper or coriander,

·       chew your fresh fruit and veg very thoroughly

·       visiting a Chinese Herbalist for an individualised prescription of digestive helpers.

A diet made up of mostly plant-based foods - prepared by cooking - provides us with an optimal chance of longevity and a high quality of health. The perfect platform to build up your wealth.  

David Whitmore 

B.App.Sci., Adv.Dip. TCM