Typically, your initial visit for acupuncture involves a lot of questions.
You might be asked about your food and fluid intake, whether you prefer to sip at drinks, prefer cold to warm water, how much dairy you consume, whether you feel satiated after eating or bloated, if you prefer salty or bitter foods, if you prefer red or green peppers. OK, well the last point is unlikely, but you will be asked about every bodily system and process in more detail than you probably ever have before.
Chinese Medicine theory looks at the whole of you. No one symptom that you have is seen in isolation. You are seen as a complete ecosystem, with your own weather system, climate, marshy bits and dry patches. Everything is interlinked.
In order to make a Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis, your acupuncturist will need to know how well your ecosystem is holding up. Is it too clogged up, is it unrooted, is it too hot, too windy, too chilly, too wound up?
So, your acupuncturist will likely ask you many questions about your sleep, food and taste, thirst and drink, bowels, urination, sweat and temperature, head and body, eyes and ears, thorax and abdomen, pain, and, if relevant, your menstruation, menopause and obstetric history.
In addition to all of that, you will likely be asked about your health history, family and relationships, your childhood and your current living and working situation.
All of these questions are so that we can get to know you. We want to get to know what makes you tick, how is the overall balance of your personal ecosystem, how have you been faring and which parts of you need support. From this information we devise a treatment plan that allows us to prioritise the right acupuncture points for you that will support you in the best way possible, and bring about real, tangible change to your condition.
When you make an enquiry to book your very first acupuncture appointment, you should be warned that you will be asked a lot of questions and that the first treatment might take slightly longer than normal because of this. There is nothing to worry about, but if you do have any concerns, you can just let your acupuncturist know and they should be happy to accommodate you.
Are you ready to make your first appointment? If so, drop me a line.
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