A: Tim, best time to get acupuncture for stroke is immediately afterwards - ideally while still in hospital, if docs will allow it. Seven years is a long time to wait for acupuncture. But it still may help you… You won't know unless you try it.

Scalp Acupuncture Usually scalp style acupuncture is used for stroke. Needles are "threaded" along scalp underneath skin. There are at least three different scalp systems (Dr. Jiao Shun Fa's original style from 1970s, Dr. Zhu's, and Dr. Yamamoto's styles). Call local acupuncturists and find out if they have experience with scalp acupuncture.

How Many Treatments? It may take 10-20 treatments to get results. In China, they treat patients every day. That's not financially realistic here, but 2 or 3 times per week is good. In your case - after 7 years - it may take sustained and intense stimulus to make a change.

Complementary Therapies You can also take herbal formulas to balance out constitutional issues that led to stroke, and help repair damage. Acupuncture can be combined with physical rehab. It can improve both motor function (ability to move muscles) and sensory (ability to feel). You may recover function to some degree, but in more serious strokes there may be no response.

Will it Work for Me? It's hard to say whether an individual will respond and how much- partner with acupuncturist - they will get to know you case thoroughly, integrate what they're doing with your other medical providers. See acupuncturist until you hit a plateau. Then your acupuncturist may try another system or strategy.

Stroke and Acupuncture Research What's clear from several studies is that very severe stroke patients may be less likely to respond to acupuncture. This issue has not been thoroughly researched. Typically, American researchers have used inadequate acupuncture (style, points, and frequency of treatments). They conduct and review studies using points that Chinese acupuncturists would not use, and then conclude that acupuncture doesn't work. I say, "No, it's your brain that doesn't work, because you don't do a thorough literature review before designing your studies!"

As James Rotchford, MD, (a medical doctor and acupuncturist who has reviewed hundreds of acupuncture research studies and reviews on his website, www.acubriefs.com) mentions below, there are many approaches within acupuncture. Scalp styles (there are 3 - who knows which is most effective when - a good research topic) appear to be best for neurological conditions like stroke, MS, and post-concussion syndrome. To study body acupuncture points for stroke demonstrates unfamiliarity with work that has been done thus far.

Is acupuncture (style, points, and frequency of treatments) studied in most research considered most effective kind by acupuncture experts?

It is not.

Why study acupuncture points and styles that clinicians themselves don't think work?

Three possibilities come to mind:

This book is meant to be primarily practical. It contains theory and philosophy as well, but its main function is to be a tool to improve your life. But most of solutions in this book are not one-time magic bullets. You must continue to apply many of these frequently in order to bring yourself back into balance, and to maintain that balance.

NEW HABITS, NEW LIFESTYLE

But, as imperfect humans in a very demanding and distracting society, we have difficulty acquiring and maintaining new habits. In fact, it's much easier to keep a good habit than to create a new good habit, and it's tragically easy to let go of a new good habit. So, this book would be incomplete if it didn't help you form and keep new good habits.

Men's natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart. - Confucius

Another issue that needs to be addressed is that many of solutions in this book (e.g. food choices, sleep schedule, exercise, etc.) are lifestyle changes. And changing way we live is not easy. You may have adopted some of your bad habits to make up for imbalances in other parts of your life.

For example, you may reward yourself with sweets or ice creams at end of day because your work is so stressful. Yes, you feel so much better when you reward yourself that way. But, if sweets are aggravating or perpetuating one of your health complaints, e.g. low energy level, then your reward is actually shooting yourself in foot. Your low energy level may be what makes your workday so stressful! Or your sweets may be perpetuating your weight problem- and some of stress of day may come from constantly feeling insecure about yourself because you're overweight. It's easy to get caught in vicious cycles like this. And it's a little uncomfortable getting out of them.

In above examples, you might have to eschew sweets and take herbs or enzymes instead. When you get these right, you'll have less cravings, and it'll be easier to eliminate sweets. But you still have to make that decision and stand by it.

To change, we need clarity, willingness, and discipline - and how to get and keep these things is, I believe, major human obstacle to better health and a better world.

* Without clarity, we don't know we need to change. * Without willingness, we cannot adopt better habits. * Without discipline, we cannot keep from falling back into old habits.

Without these three qualities, we are at mercy of our own unhealthy cravings and obsessions. These cravings may give us short term comfort, but in long run, they lead only to disease and death.

The Chinese Medicine Physiology of DECISION MAKING and PERSISTENCE You have to make decisions to change your health, and if you don't persist in your changes, nothing gets better. Let's talk a little bit about Chinese medicine physiology and psychology of decision making and decision keeping:

1. PERCEPTION, CLARITY, AND CALM The Heart-system is not only a blood pumper, but also relates to our overall consciousness. If we have a problem here, our perception of life, of ourselves, and of our habits may be distorted. Heart-system problems most often show up as anxiety and insomnia, so you may have to deal with these first. Certain imbalances can obstruct clarity, or create mental and emotional unrest. Once you have more calm and clarity from remedies in those chapters, it will be easier to deal with your other problems.

2. ORGANIZING AND CATEGORIZING YOUR OPTIONS The Spleen-system digests not only foods, but also ideas, concepts, etc. Once we have perceived our lives and our habits, then we analyze and categorize them. This requires energy, so if you have trouble with digestion, worry, or low energy, this part of decision making process will be more difficult. In fact, this book may be hard to digest! Herbs, enzymes, different food choices, etc. will help you here, and then it'll be easier to deal with other problems in your life.

3. EVALUATING THE GOOD AND BAD Some Chinese medicine authorities maintain that Small Intestine is involved with separating good from bad options- but this may also involve Spleen, Heart, Kidney and Bladder. People have trouble distinguishing good and bad options for a number of reasons- you may lack Heart's clarity, or Spleen's strength of analysis. Some SI acupoints do have mental functions like SI3, so that would be a good point to add to other points like: P5, P6, SP4, ST40, and ST41. You'll find more answers relating to your specific patterns in anxiety, insomnia, and depression chapters.

Although you can certainly make philosophical arguments about how much gray there is in world, decisions are much easier when you take a black and white perspective.

As I see it every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself. - Adelle Davis

4. MAKING A DECISION After you've analyzed your options and decided which is best, you must make a decision. The most important organ for decision is Gallbladder. Gall is not just physiological bile (part of digestive process), but also a psychoemotional quality. You've probably heard it used of someone who was thought to be overly assertive: "Can you imagine- gall!" Our oldest medical sourcebook, Nei Jing, says, "The gallbladder is, like a judge in imperial court, one that decides."

Translator Philippe Sionneau adds, "The Gallbladder is organ that endows an individual with ability to resolve, make decisions, and settle on a resolution. In case where Gallbladder Qi is abundant, decision-making ability is firm. In case where Gallbladder Qi is empty, individual loses capacity to decide; determination wanes; it transforms into fear, cowardice, and indecision. In everyday language of China, it is said that a person with a small gallbladder (Dan Xiao) is shy, fearful, and cowardly, whereas a person with a large Gallbladder (Dan Da) is bold, intrepid, brave, and daring. The state of gallbladder is proportional to individual's force of character."

No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown. - William Penn (1644 - 1718)

More Decision Quotes

Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense. - Arnold Bennett

Make up your mind to act decidedly and take consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation. - Thomas H. Huxley (1825 - 1895)

The first step to getting things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want. - Ben Stein