Acupuncture reduces anxiety naturally and effectively. The following anxiety acupuncture case series discusses four patients with different health issues (IBS-d, Neck Pain, Depression & Infertility) who all found relief for their debilitating anxiety.
Case #1: IBS-D and Anxiety
A woman came to our clinic with chronic diarrhea, urgency, and abdominal cramping. She had the condition for years. It was accompanied by severe anxiety, worse at night, interfering with her sleep. We treated all of her complaints with acupuncture. The first treatment yielded no improvement, but she reported 10 percent less cramping, bowel dysfunction, and anxiety after the second session.
This improvement was a positive sign – in Chinese medicine, if a pattern starts to improve, it most often indicates that the patient will get better. We have a policy at our clinic that if no progress is made in four treatments, we refer the patient to a different form of medicine. In 90% of cases, patients do have a positive response within the first four treatments.
Our patient continued to improve with each additional treatment. After five sessions, her IBS-D and anxiety were 50% better. Following her tenth treatment, the cramping, urgency, and loose stools were 95% resolved, and her anxiety was gone. These benefits were long-lasting – a six-month check-in revealed that she was still feeling good.
Case #2: Neck Pain and Anxiety
Our next patient in this anxiety acupuncture case series was a dentist in her mid-thirties. She came to the office complaining of chronic neck pain with accompanying anxiety. Her job was extremely demanding, both physically and emotionally. She felt that her anxiety resulted from working a demanding job while juggling family life and chronic pain.
Acupuncture works well to resolve all types of neck pain (muscle tension, pinched nerve, arthritis, etc.). Our goal is to resolve the pain, not just provide short-term relief. We can accomplish this by treating the underlying root issue responsible for the pain. For example, acupuncture rehabilitates tight neck and back muscles when treating chronic muscle tension, allowing them to function like they used to – before the chronic tightness set in. This “reeducation process” is safe, natural, and relaxing and can be accomplished in as little as four to eight treatments.
Treating anxiety, on the other hand, involves addressing imbalances at the organ level. In the case of our neck pain patient, her anxiety involved a Heart and Stomach imbalance, which we call a “Gui Pi” pattern. There are eight different pattern imbalances responsible for triggering anxiety, and it’s the practitioner’s job to identify which one is present so treatment can be effective. Once identified, we selected the appropriate acupuncture points and Chinese herbs to correct the imbalance.
Within six treatments (once a week), our patient was all better. Acupuncture resolved both her neck pain and anxiety. Her healing, done at the physical level, provided both physical and emotional relief.
Case #3: Depression and Anxiety
A man in his early 50s came to the office with the main complaint of depression and anxiety. He had gone through a series of unfortunate events, including job loss and divorce, leaving his spirit crushed. The depression had come on first, soon followed by debilitating anxiety, making it difficult for him to sleep. He was under the care of a psychiatrist, who had prescribed several prescription medications, but the meds were not helping. Our patient in this anxiety acupuncture case series wanted to try a more natural solution.
In Chinese medicine, depression and anxiety have different root causes, yet they appear together quite often as if one imbalance feeds into the other. For example, depression involves liver dysfunction, while anxiety is most often related to heart function. When we discuss organ function in Chinese medicine, there is often no correlation between the Chinese organ diagnosis and the Western anatomical organs. Chinese medicine theory dates back thousands of years, long before a modern understanding of our internal organs existed.
In our experience at Raleigh acupuncture, emotional conditions triggered by situations or circumstances tend to resolve faster than life-long, chronic emotional patterns. In this case, the imbalances responsible for our patient’s depression and anxiety had developed the previous year during his difficult life situation. Acupuncture was able to correct the problem in the course of ten treatments.
The treatment strategy was to clear Liver and Heart Fire, Smooth Liver Qi, Nourish Heart Yin, and Calm the Shen. Acupuncture points included LV2, LV3, HT7, HT8, PC6, CV12, CV14, CV17, LV14, Si Shen Cong, GV20, Yintang, and Ear Points: Point Zero and Shen Men. He responded beautifully, his symptoms easing progressively with each treatment. After five treatments, his mood was 50% better, and he was able to fall asleep without sleeping aids. By his tenth treatment, he was feeling like his old self and was in discussion with his doctor about setting up a plan to reduce his prescription medications.
Case #4: Infertility and Anxiety
It is common for women undergoing infertility treatment to struggle with anxiety. First, the situation is stressful, as many women getting IVF have already been trying to conceive for over a year. Second, the medications used in fertility treatment often trigger anxiety as a side effect.
Our next patient in this anxiety acupuncture case series was a woman who came to the office wanting IVF support. Her doctor had encouraged her to get acupuncture, as multiple research studies have concluded that women obtain better outcomes when acupuncture is added to the IVF process. During her intake exam, she mentioned that anxiety was giving her a great deal of trouble, impacting her sleep and ability to perform at her job. She had never had anxiety before and was hesitant to take anxiety medications while she was pregnant.
We put a treatment plan together to support her IVF and address her newly developed anxiety simultaneously. The Kidneys are the critical organs for supporting fertility, as they rule reproduction. In her case, we nourished her Kidney Yin and Kidney Essence. Then, to reduce anxiety, we added acupuncture points to nourish her Heart Yin and smooth her Liver Qi. This simple addition to her treatment plan was enough to bring her immediate and lasting emotional relief. Her anxiety was 80% resolved by the second treatment, and following her fourth treatment, the anxiety was gone entirely.
Anxiety Acupuncture Case Series
As this anxiety acupuncture case series reveals, acupuncture is a powerful tool for resolving anxiety, no matter the accompanying diagnosis. The key to acupuncture’s success as a healing therapy is that it restores balance to the body. Unlike Western medicine, which will send you to three different doctors for each condition you have, Chinese medicine addresses all aspects of disharmony within its treatment plan.
Anxiety is a common emotional condition these days, and many of our patients struggle with it. However, instead of taking a prescription medication, acupuncture can most often ease the anxiety naturally, which we address the other health issues.
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What our Clients are Saying
Acupuncture really helped my anxiety. I highly recommend Raleigh Acupuncture. Very professional, reasonably priced and focused on getting me better quickly. Thank you!
I came in for acupuncture highly skeptical that it would be able to help me. I’m an A-type personality and very wired. I feel like I’ve been anxious my entire life. My wife must have been secretly researching treatments for anxiety because last month she announced that I WOULD be trying acupuncture! She did well picking the practice, as the doctors at Acupuncture Associates were top notch. They explained how acupuncture worked to deal with anxiety and then set about doing it. Well, I wouldn’t be writing this letter if it didn’t work. So you know the outcome. Highly satisfactory! I’m still an A-type guy, but with a fraction of the anxiety. The feelings of dread that were constantly lingering around me are gone. In it’s place I feel a sense of peacefulness, albeit a wired peacefulness.
Ever since we moved to Raleigh I was feeling a great deal more anxiety. It was probably a combination of factors including the stress of the move, looking for work and possibly the weather. My chest would get uncomfortably tight and my heart would race throughout the day. I had taken medications in the past but didn’t want that again. Research on the web led me to Raleigh Acupuncture. They treated me for anxiety and after just one treatment I could feel the difference. I got 9 treatments and am completely better. I will continue coming because it makes me feel so good. I highly suggest acupuncture with them for the treatment of anxiety. It’s much more effective than medications.
I was feeling depressed and stressed because I didn’t like my job and didn’t know what to do with my life. I started taking Lexipro but it really affected my libido so I stopped taking it. I tried acupuncture because my husband said it helped him when he was depressed years earlier (before he met me!) I went to Raleigh Acupuncture and started treatments. They were really knowledgeable about Chinese medicine and explained how the body gets stuck in depression, and how the acupuncture gets the body unstuck. They really listened to me and helped me figure stuff out. I started feeling less depressed. Then I actually started getting more clear about what I wanted to do with my life career-wise. I decided to go back to school and now I’m almost done with my degree. I haven’t felt depressed at all since I was treated and I’m really excited about my life. I’m very grateful to them for being such great healers and such a great support to me when I really needed it.
I’ve had generalized anxiety for years and had been managing it fairly well. But then I lost my job and the anxiety really escalated. I started getting panic attacks every day and dreaded even getting in my car to drive. My sister suggested that I try acupuncture, so I did. I went to Raleigh Acupuncture and explained my situation. They said they treated this condition all the time with excellent results. I was stressed about money too, but they had reasonable fees. They treated me with acupuncture and herbs for the next two months. I know it helped, because my unemployment situation didn’t change but I stopped having panic attacks. Even my regular anxiety decreased – significantly. It’s like my whole body relaxed and things didn’t make me anxious as easily.