This is a year to nurture ourselves and celebrate our health. 

I always remembered when I quit my job at Kaiser to start my practice, I was filled with excitement as well as uncertainty. Working for Kaiser was a good job. I thought it was a chance for me to make a difference with traditional Chinese medicine for the future. 

And it sure was!

But I still felt that something was missing from the care model. The patients I saw in the hospital settings were mostly coming in for chronic pain. It was not difficult to just alleviate pain with acupuncture, but the cause of pain could be from various reasons, which may not be as simple as a back sprain.

A woman in her early 50s came in for migraines. Her history of migraines started at 15 years old, but got better around her 30s, and got worse again around mid 40s. 

Her chief complaint was of course chronic migraine, but as I examined her, she expressed her fluctuation in mood and irregular menstruation. Her blood test showed no abnormalities, but her pulse and tongue showed typical signs of yin deficiency, according to Chinese medicine theory, with thin rapid pulse and thin red tongue with no coating. You can clearly see her imbalance with Yin and Yang. The patient also expressed her concerns of weakness in muscle and aches with hot flashes and night sweats.

The acupuncture went really well with improvement within a few treatments, but there were some underlying issues I wanted to address with her, but wasn't allowed to, such as her stress management, lifestyle and sleep. 

There were limitations of what acupuncture is allowed to do in a hospital setting. 

This led to my idea of having a practice on women’s health. I believe that women play an important role in nurturing the community, but oftentimes we fail to nurture ourselves first. 

We have to make ourselves a priority in nurturing and caring for ourselves, so we can nurture and care for our community, family and professions. Thus I opened up a practice that focuses on women’s health and gradually covers neuro-function and cancer care. 

I want to support women in ways that focus on our wellness instead of symptom elimination. 

I want to support women who are going through chemo and detox and protect the gut . 

I want to educate the community on living a life without relying on pharmaceuticals.

And here I am, having my practice and growing strong. I couldn’t believe how fast time flies!