Acupuncture and other modalities of Chinese medicine can be an excellent resource for people with complex disorders, EDS and the common comorbidities included. But do you know how to get the most out of your treatment when you’re complicated? What happens when you are experiencing pain AND mast cells flares AND gastroparesis AND insomnia AND… fill in the blank? How can your practitioner plan your treatment in a broad sense (for the purpose of attending to your big picture) without overlooking the day-to-day shifts in your presentation? Where does your acupuncturist begin, and where do they focus?
And what expectations do you bring to the encounter?
Most patients I have treated know what it feels like to go their doctor (or to go to a new doctor) and leave with the feeling that they were not heard. Being sent from one care provider to another (or being refused a needed referral) are also common experiences for complex condition folks. Working with an acupuncturist is different. In general, the expectation is that we treat holistically, so you actually expect to acknowledge everything from anxiety to zebra complexity in one visit. But that’s not necessarily a good thing if it means going off in many directions, especially if it’s to the extent that your original reason for starting treatment is forgotten. A really good treatment, instead, will draw together multiple threads while never losing sight of the main one.
The primary focus of chapter three of Chinese Medicine and the Management of Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is this very topic. In it, I address what I view as the four potential staging areas for beginning a treatment program. In this post, you get the short version (plus, I hope, some understanding of why we do the things we do in order to support your wellbeing). These areas include: Bi syndrome (stay with me, I’ll explain), the Earth School (aka gut health), the Shen (I’ll explain), and Gu (this too).
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Bi Syndrome
Bi syndrome is the short way to say painful obstruction syndrome. It is also one of the most common reasons why anyone goes for acupuncture. People want pain relief, and Chinese medicine can provide it
Each practitioner will have their specialties. Before setting your appointment, you might want to check their website and see what modalities are available. I love acupuncture and get it weekly, but I also understand that not everyone feels the same way. No problem…that’s no reason to not experience the marvel that is Chinese medicine. If you do have the option, it can be good to find a practitioner who offers tui na (manual therapy, akin to massage, and pronounced “twee nah”). There are a lot of options for pain relief in Chinese medicine, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, bodywork therapy, movement, and/or nutritional support.1
TL/DR: Chinese medicine is an exceptional resource for pain relief, so deciding to focus on your physical suffering is a worthy project.
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The Earth School
Chinese medicine has a reverence for gut health baked into its foundation. The Earth School goes way back to 12th century China and one of the most influential physicians of Chinese medical history. Li Dong Yuan, the founder of this school of thought, held that the Earth element (or Stomach and Spleen) was the center of all wellbeing, and this attitude has carried over through the centuries up to even today. Consequently, this is another area where a person can make use of the full gamut of modalities in order to nurture digestive wellbeing.
Sometimes, the benefit of working on gut health is linear. For instance: your digestion is better so you no longer get bloated after you eat and this accomplishes your goal: you can eat without unwanted results. Other times, it’s more indirect. Your gut motility is improved so your lower back aches less and maybe your mood is better and your sleep improves, so you unlock multiple benefits from one approach. Bottom line: gut health leads whole-self health, and especially if a person is dealing with MCAS or anything similar, there may just be an inroad to better health via the gut.
TL/DR: Chinese medicine has a history of being gut-health-obsessed and we have multiple options to treat yours.
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The Shen
The Shen is your overall emotional state, your alertness, and your inner spark. It is somewhat akin to the idea of one’s spirit, and yes, there are a number of ways to nurture this aspect of your health via Chinese medicine. Under this umbrella, we can also discuss emotions and the psyche. Some of us derive benefit from things like acupuncture or herbal medicine for anxiety and/or depression. Others will experience improvement by addressing a hyperactive nervous system that won’t shut down.
What’s good to know is that you don’t need to unpack all your traumas at your acupuncture visit in order to resolve their effects. I will ask patients about any history, for instance, and tell them that they do not need to give details. It would help me to know if the trauma is new or old and how close it is to the person. In other words–does it affect them now, daily, rarely? And what is the manifestation (nightmares, chronic tightness in the shoulders, etc). And once I know that, I can treat the patient without ever needing to know anything specific. If there’s no trauma history involved, then we would like approach the question of healing the Shen from the starting point of the nervous system.
Either way, the patient can have a good nap on the table while either the acupuncture needles or my tui na hands work the magic of restoring the wellbeing of the Shen.
TL/DR: As with gut health, the mind-body connection is a foundation of wellbeing. Whether it’s a dysregulated nervous system or the result of trauma, Chinese medicine has options to improve emotional energy and your inner spark.
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Gu Syndrome
Gu syndrome is quite the venerable concept. One used to refer to chronic parasite infections and what now might be deemed mental illness, it went out of style during modern times and was until fairly recently deemed an ancient superstition. Now, some practitioners are rethinking its parameters and placing conditions like post-Lyme syndrome, long COVID, and chronic inflammation within its rubric.
Western biomedicine has a term, MUS (medically unexplained symptoms), that is trotted out for the medically complex amongst us and is not always altogether that sympathetic to long COVID or any other chronic, complex illness. But these actually are conditions that can be addressed with the same approaches that we apply to Gu syndrome treatment. Often, but not always, these treatments will include an herbal regimen. Each patient is going to be different when it comes to Gu, but some of the what we might identify in this context can include: muscle weakness, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, intractable candida, autoimmune disease, and more.
Sound familiar?
TL/DR: Chinese medicine gets it when it comes to rare or mysterious conditions. If your labs from your biomedical doctor all say that you’re fine…but you’re not…your Chinese medicine practitioner will (a) trust you when you say you don’t feel good and (b) may possibly find success by treating you for a modernized version of Gu.
In conclusion
What helps you (and helps me, your practitioner) is when we have an agreement regarding where we want to focus. We don’t usually hyper-focus on one issue and one goal. For example, a pain patient who can’t sleep and who is anxious and depressed will find that the second two listed items are relieved when the first one is changed. So yes, a pain treatment can have–as one of its goals–a reduction of stress or the resolution of insomnia due to pain (aka “painsomnia”). That’s not the same as chasing different symptoms at each visit, which can happen if an agreement and understanding is not in place.
A senior physician in Beijing that I quote in my book acknowleges the challenge of treating complex cases. He notes that the options to address complex cases may include ‘“different paths, different points of attacks, different methods, including diametrically opposed methods for curing an illness,” and the way to achieve one’s desired outcome is to “seize hold of a single thread, to stick to one theory [and to see it through]” (p 228). By choosing one of the four avenues listed above, and by sticking with it, we do just that. In so doing, we are more able to create lasting change.
Bottom line? Everything is connected according Chinese medical thought, so it’s a matter of finding the right thread and following it until you get where you want to go.
TL/DR: You have options. Generally, your practitioner will figure out which is the best avenue to get you on the road to improved wellbeing and outline a plan to follow both in the office and outside of it (at least, that’s how I do with my patients). And do not be surprised if your gut health regimen doesn’t end up leaving you with less pain or your Shen treatments find you experiencing the joy of better digestion. And so forth. But it’s important to focus, and to keep your main focus front and center. As the saying goes, “eyes on the prize.”
Where do you want to begin?
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Dr. Paula Bruno, Ph.D., L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, an AOBTA-CP traditional Chinese bodywork therapist, an author, and a health coach. She maintains an active and growing practice at Two Hearts Wellness, her Austin, TX office. Dr. Bruno is also available for distance appointments for wellness consultation or coaching.
In her first career, she was a Spanish professor.
Dr. Bruno’s specialties as a Chinese medicine practitioner include: • Musculoskeletal health (acute or chronic pain relief; Ehlers Danlos syndrome & hypermobility support) • Digestive support, gut health, and weight loss • Aesthetic treatment, including scar revision • Men’s health • General preventative care and wellness support for all persons.
She is the author of Chinese Medicine and the Management of Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome: A Practitioner’s Guide.
When you are ready to discover what traditional medicine plus a vibrant and engaged approach to holistic health can do for you, either contact Dr. Bruno or book an appointment online.
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Two Hearts Wellness/Holistic Health & hEDS does not accept paid advertising on this website
Note: Material on this web site site is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease, illness, or ailment. A Chinese medicine practitioner in Texas identifies syndrome patterns but does not diagnose illness. Material on this web site does not purport to identify syndrome patterns.
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- In my practice, I offer a range of modalities, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, bodywork, including tui na (pronounced “twee nah,” this is Chinese manual therapy), and health coaching. I no longer offer personal training, though I keep my PT certificate current, and I do create fitness programming when appropriate. Usually, but not always, I will begin with tui na (at least at the initial appointment), and proceed from there depending on patient need and preference. I am also a big cheerleader for tai chi and qigong and was very happy to interview Nicola of Earth Balance Tai Chi. She herself lives with EDS and other complex conditions and her classes are available online and on demand. To learn more about Nicola, see “Traveling With Hope: An Interview With Nicola of Earth Balance Tai Chi.” ↩︎
Holistic Health and hEDS 