You just finished a delicious meal at that new restaurant nearby with a few of your friends and it tasted great. Unfortunately, by the time you get home your stomach already hurts and you know it’s going to be another sleepless night. Remedies like Tums and Prilosec don’t make the discomfort go away anymore either.
“I shouldn’t have had that spicy Thai food,” you scold yourself. Then you remember that the Italian you had last week, and the Mexican you had just a few days ago, made you feel the same way. “What am I supposed to live on, bread and water?” you inquire of the food gods.
Wondering if you have some sort of food allergy you see a gastroenterologist for food testing. You change your diet after getting the test results. Things are a little better, but it’s hard to follow all the guidelines, making it nearly impossible to go out to dinner with friends. “There must be another way to deal with this,” you tell yourself to fight off the growing depression.
Then a relative hears of your gut issues. “Have you tried acupuncture? It worked wonders for me. There’s even a place here in Broomfield that offers it!”
You do some research and learn that acupuncture was developed in the far east, probably China, around 2500 BCE. It’s not a fad. Treatment consists of a skilled and licensed technician inserting very small metal needles into the skin and underlying tissues in precise points in the body depending on the malady.
Your next step? Contact Elevation Chiropractic and Wellness at 3400 Industrial Lane in Broomfield to meet with Sunny Yoo, their acupuncturist, for a full evaluation. There is a lot that goes into developing the right treatment regimen.
“Oriental medicine is all about finding the root cause of the problem rather than simply checking for symptoms and just ‘numbing’ them. There are many different causes of indigestion, such as stress, deficient qi or energy that slows down food digestion, and even lack of stamina, which needs to be thoroughly diagnosed. There may be a single cause, or multiple. Once diagnosed, I choose points in the meridian or channel in the patient’s body that I find problematic and perform acupuncture treatment to adjust or balance the energy,” explains Sunny.
A typical treatment session lasts about one hour, generally less for weaker or older patients, or those with chronic issues. The number of treatments required to rebalance the body energy, or qi, varies by patient and how they respond, not unlike many Western medicine practices.
Francesca, a patient at Elevation, felt better after just one visit. “I was nervous at first because I am uncomfortable with needles, but now I look forward to my treatments,” she explains. “Sunny was so great. On my first visit she instantly knew what I was experiencing just by feeling my pulse. She even knew that I hadn’t eaten!”
Sunny started practicing acupuncture in 2017. Even as a child she was curious about Oriental philosophy and medicine and how the function of the body closely resembles nature.
“Acupuncture is very safe. You could’ve come to me for digestion issues, but with treatment, symptoms such as headache or insomnia may also improve because those symptoms come from the same root in the body, which patients find very surprising in a good way!” Sunny adds.
Maybe acupuncture can get you back to your favorite dinner table!
“Acupuncture is very safe. You could’ve come to me for digestion issues, but with treatment, symptoms such as headache or insomnia may also improve because those symptoms come from the same root in the body, which patients find very surprising in a good way!”