moxa | Views from Behind the Lens

I just reenrolled with Kaiser Permanente as my insurance provider for 2015.

As has happened to me on an annual basis for the past 20 years or so, Kaiser Permanente (KP) cancelled my health insurance coverage on December 31. I call it cancelled, insurance companies call. the new iteration new and improved.

I’ve always had the choice to either re-up with the same policy and pay more or get a lesser policy to keep the premium about the same.

I’m sticking with KP – brand loyalty.

Over the past year, I’ve been melding old world medicine in the forms of acupuncture at the Southwest Acupuncture College Clinic for my lung problems, neti pot flushing to rinse out my sinuses, gin soaked raisins for joint pain; with modern medicine through KP.

I’ve been melding old world medicine like acupuncture with modern medicine.

The reason I’ve stayed with KP over the years is the HMO is one-stop shopping. I’ve had the same primary care doctor for many years and access to others in his group over at the Baseline office.

The main downside is the hospital and emergency services are located 15 miles away at the Good Samaritan Hospital. That was a big hassle when I was laid up early in 2014.

Anyway, there was a NPR radio segment on “Science Friday” yesterday about how smartphone apps are changing how health care is accessed.

That’s been very handy for me.

The Kaiser Permanente smartphone app is very handy for keeping track of my health.

I use the KP app on the phone which is the same user inner face as the computer. I can access my health records, write to my docs. On the computer I can make and cancel appointments.

The best part is being able to communicate by email with my doctors. Over the past year, I’ve developed a long list of them from the main doctor, to surgeons to rheumatologists, to pulmonologists. They’re all pretty good at writing back and that saves on co-pays and trips to their offices.

It’s amazing what they can tell from blood tests.

In addition to keeping track with the app, I’ve been able to combine old world and new world medicine together successfully. I downloaded my health record and put it in my acupuncture health file. That’s been useful since the herbalists there are able to see how my regular doctors have been treating me and can suggest acupuncture and herbal alternatives. KP offers acupuncture, but its clinic is pretty far to the east of me so I haven’t tried it.

There are also phone apps for acupuncture meridians.

The Southwest Acupuncture College Clinic is a lot like an HMO. Based on a patient’s needs, there are a variety of practices offered from acupuncture – needles, moxabustion; body work – shiatsu, tuina, cupping; herbal medicine; pain management and combinations of those practices. I have a smartphone app about the acupuncture meridians.

I’ve heard about people who refuse to use modern medicine in favor of traditional remedies.

There’s a reason people used to die when they were 40.

There’s room for both approaches in the same treatments. My post herpetic neuralgia got better with acupuncture and electrical stimulation and blood letting. My Kaiser doc put me on prescription drug neurontin and the combo has been reducing the pain.

I’ve been trying some kitchen remedies like gin – infused raisins for joint pain.

Lately, I’ve heard about soaking golden raisins in gin for joint pain and arthritis. I haven’t asked my medical docs about it, but will report to them if I find it effective.

I made up a batch and have been eating nine gin-infused raisins daily.

I’ll report back any changes in my stiff fingers battered up from sports abuse and autoimmunity. A couple of my friends have reported that the raisin – gin concoction was effective.

The Little Yoga Studio is, in fact little, but has a great welcoming environment for beginners to expert yoga practitioners.

My Kaiser doc did recommend the Neil Med / Neti Pot. I bought the starter kit for a couple bucks at the pharmacy and it worked instantly for my sinus dripping / nonallergic rhinitis. I use it a couple times a day with a couple shots of the prescription flonase in the morning.

Did I mention I’ve been going class at the Little Yoga Studio two or three times a week?

I’ve been out on my own for about eight weeks now and have largely been looking inward and assessing how to start cutting back on the event production and focusing on movie making. Meanwhile, I’ve been trying acupuncture a couple times a week at the Southwest Acupuncture College here in Boulder. I’ve been balancing out the western medical approach that patched me up with longer term eastern medicine tune ups.

Steven Seagal treated himself with acupuncture and moxa in “Hard to Kill”.

I’m no stranger to acupuncture. I went to Dr. Pao at the Ruseto Center here for many years but decided to try some others. He keeps track of his patients by first name in a big notebook. Dr. Pao treated my gout many years ago. That was a case of successfully blending western and eastern medicine.

The SWAC has students supervised by instructors develop a treatment for me. It’s sort of like going to get inexpensive haircuts at a beauty school. I’ve had a couple hack jobs there – the worst haircut was when I was talked into getting one at a beauty school in Mexico. So far, the acupuncture school has been a good experience.

I’ve been going a couple times a week for my interstitial pneumonia and the post herpes neuralgia.

The treatment room at the Ruseto Center is a little more spartan than those at the Southwest Acupuncture College.

So far, I’ve settled in with Ted and his students – who specialize in Japanese traditions and Michael and his students who specialize in Chinese traditions. I think mixing perspectives is a good way to see what works the best. Like Western medicine, acupuncture is a balancing act with a good share of “hit and miss.”

There’s a Steven Seagal movie called “Hard to Kill”. He comes back from being in a coma and uses acupuncture to make himself better to take on the bad the bad guys. Today, I had the moxabustion treatment, similar to what Seagal administered to himself in the movie.

The moxa is a paper stick infused with various herbs. It was stuck onto the acupuncture needle and heats up the needle and then the skin supposedly moving around my qi. That’s the Chinese approach.

I had the moxa directly burning on my back. The swelling in my ankes and hands went down after the treatment.

The guy who is learning the Japanese tradition lit the moxa and applied it directly to the skin on my back. They also used a Vietnamese technique called guasha which entails scraping my skin with a baby food jar lid. It is a more general treatment, but the swelling in my ankles and wrists went down shortly thereafter.

My liver and gall bladder temperature needed to be lowered and my large intestine pulse needed to be balanced out. I have noticed a couple positive changes in my digestion from that direct moxa treatment.

I’m convinced that western medicine is pretty good at dealing with acute issues like helping broken bones heal and otherwise patching things up, but not so good at systemic tune ups.

My western docs don’t think anything is interrelated, whereas my eastern docs think everything is interrelated. For instance, eastern docs say that the lungs and skin are related in that the lungs are the internal organs closest to the “outside” because of air that gets inhaled.

That makes sense to me, but how it all works makes no sense at all.

Views from Behind the Lens

Random thoughts of a random life-long do-gooder and storyteller

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