You want to do WHAT?
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of treating a gentleman that has been surviving the effects of a stroke for nearly 30 years. When he was 29 years old he had a massive stroke as he was diving off a spring-board into a pool. He did not discover acupuncture for nearly 28 years. He has been coming to the Acupuncture school nearly every week for the last two years and has been making steady progress.
He is a willing, interesting patient to deal with, but is always willing to try a new technique.
I think I might have surprised him with my request.
The acupuncture school, The Asian Institute of Medical Studies, has a class for first year students to observe a practitioner and see how she or he operates after graduation. I have done a few of these classes and it has been a good experience for me; and from what I gather it has been good for the students as well. The school gets patients, either new or return patients and the students watch as I ‘do my thing.’
Enter this fine gentleman.
He comes in to the room, with a cane and a smile. He has not been in "Observation Theatre" before, but as I said he is a willing guy. So we are going through the questions. He slurs his words, but is able to communicate if you listen to what he is saying.
I asked him to stick his tongue out. His tongue deviates sharply to the left; by that I mean that the last 1/4 of his tongue is turned at least 45 degrees to his left. And his tongue quivers while extended.
I talked to him about what I wanted to do. He listened to me and said "You want to do What?" I had explained to him that what I wanted to was to bleed the sublingual veins under his tongue. After we talked it over he said "OK."
I bled the left vein then I needled the right vein with VERY STRONG STIMULATION. I never took my hand off the needle (because it was in his mouth!!!) as I stimulated the needle as strongly as he could stand. When I took the needle out of his tongue he said CLEARLY "You’ll never do that again!!!" Then he looked around for a minute and we could see this look of wonderment in his eye’s as he realized that he was speaking clearly. I asked him to stick his tongue out again. It came calmly out and straight forward.
By the time he left the clinic that day he told us he was going to ask for that treatment again.
He has and he is speaking more clearly these days.
He is a willing, interesting patient to deal with, but is always willing to try a new technique.
I think I might have surprised him with my request.
The acupuncture school, The Asian Institute of Medical Studies, has a class for first year students to observe a practitioner and see how she or he operates after graduation. I have done a few of these classes and it has been a good experience for me; and from what I gather it has been good for the students as well. The school gets patients, either new or return patients and the students watch as I ‘do my thing.’
Enter this fine gentleman.
He comes in to the room, with a cane and a smile. He has not been in "Observation Theatre" before, but as I said he is a willing guy. So we are going through the questions. He slurs his words, but is able to communicate if you listen to what he is saying.
I asked him to stick his tongue out. His tongue deviates sharply to the left; by that I mean that the last 1/4 of his tongue is turned at least 45 degrees to his left. And his tongue quivers while extended.
I talked to him about what I wanted to do. He listened to me and said "You want to do What?" I had explained to him that what I wanted to was to bleed the sublingual veins under his tongue. After we talked it over he said "OK."
I bled the left vein then I needled the right vein with VERY STRONG STIMULATION. I never took my hand off the needle (because it was in his mouth!!!) as I stimulated the needle as strongly as he could stand. When I took the needle out of his tongue he said CLEARLY "You’ll never do that again!!!" Then he looked around for a minute and we could see this look of wonderment in his eye’s as he realized that he was speaking clearly. I asked him to stick his tongue out again. It came calmly out and straight forward.
By the time he left the clinic that day he told us he was going to ask for that treatment again.
He has and he is speaking more clearly these days.
posted by Michael Clifford, L. Ac. | 9:47 PM
2 Comments:
What a great story! But did you really get blood from the man's tongue? If not, why did you call it bleeding?
Yes I actually got some blood. Not a lot, maybe 5 drops. Dark, stagnant blood.
He is still speaking about that treatment and the changes it brought...
Pretty cool.
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