Our Story

Why we do what we do

The Journey of a Skeptical Physician into the amazing world of Medical Acupuncture.

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My patient is 85 years old with breast cancer spread to multiple areas. She is in pain, level 10/10, on chemotherapy and radiation. She comes into my office in a wheelchair with a small bucket in her lap ready to vomit at any time. She was on adequate amounts of medication, despite which the pain and nausea persisted. The conventional options to try next: increase the dose of drugs or switch drugs. Both of these had bleak consequences, unable to truly help the patient in a meaningful way.

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I asked her permission to try a nonconventional third option: Acupuncture. Having recently embarked on a training program at Harvard Medical School in Medical Acupuncture for Physicians, I find two areas on her abdomen that required attention. A small acupuncture needle in the foot and another in the elbow is all that it takes to relieve her pain from a level 10 to a level 1 within a matter of seconds. It takes 10 minutes for her to feel a sense of overwhelming relief from her nausea. She and her caretaker begin to cry, feeling a sense of joy she didn’t anticipate in this appointment with me, her Radiation Oncologist. I share in the intensity of their joy, tears welling in my eyes, knowing I was completing the work I had always intended to do in alleviating suffering and improving the quality of life of my patients. She pushes the wheelchair away, puts the bucket aside and is able to walk out on her own. No pain, no nausea. 

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She was the first patient I had ever tried acupuncture on. “Needless” to say, (pun intended) this was when I became an evangelist for Acupuncture.

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Upon reflection, I contrasted the simple treatment with Acupuncture needles with what modern technology has evolved into today and the consequences of each.

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Most practitioners of modern medicine have a deep mistrust of “Alternative Medicine”, (as I was for the past 25 years) believing that every intervention that help our patients should stand the test of “randomized, placebo controlled, peer reviewed study..blah blah blah.” The advances in personalized medical care, genomic medicine, pharmaco-genomics, etc. have a huge place in our ability to come up with solutions for the welfare of humanity.

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But, I realized that, in my experience, this can only go so far.

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On the other hand, practitioners of “Alternative Medicine” are in the camp of those paranoid of modern medicine. Blaming what ails us on baseless conspiracy theories, big pharma, the bad insurance companies, our broken healthcare system, ACA, Trump care, Obamacare, etc.

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But, this too, can take the patient only so far.

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Lost in this battle between these two areas is the mitigation of human suffering by using whatever works for each patient.

As I learned from my experience discussed above, the secret is to create a powerful combination of modern medicine with the best of ancient wisdom, now called “Integrative Medicine”.

I find joy in being the one, open to new ideas, finding new patterns of cause and effect, relying on data and science to bring the best of both these worlds to patient wellness and care.  Connecting the wisdom of the ancients with the promise of an innovative, imaginative future. Connecting the philosophy of the East with the scientific rigor of the West. Connecting the Qi with Genomic medicine. Connecting the Organ Based Disease model to a Systems based Holistic model.

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The ultimate goal is to reduce Suffering no matter what the medical situation that our patients present with. 

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Several prominent Academic medical centers such as Mass Gen Hospital in Boston, Stanford Univ. Medical Center in California to name just a few and several others around the country are recognizing the value of Integrative Medicine and are making Medical Acupuncture available to their patients for better results. 

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My goal is to bring this amazing philosophy to our patients on the Treasure Coast and surrounding areas.

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Please call us and set up your first complimentary appointment to see how we can help you. Ph: 772-206-0526.

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You can also find us on Facebook at:  www.Facebook.com/FLacupunctureMD