FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where are you located

We are located in South Reno Athletic Club, 9393 Gateway Drive, Reno, Nv 89521 or call us at (775) 849-9800 to set up an appointment for a (free) consultation or treatment. Email Dr. Danchak at drdanchak@galenaacupuncture.com.

What’s the most common myth about acupuncture?

Some people worry that acupuncture will hurt. It doesn’t—most people describe the sensation of being needled as a temporary dull ache around the insertion site (acupuncture needles are very thin), and most people sleep through the treatment and leave feeling extremely relaxed and centered. Even the rare, exceedingly needle-phobic patient tolerates acupuncture needles well, and those very few who can’t tolerate them can be helped substantially by tui na (point-specific Chinese massage) and by taking a custom herbal formula.

If I’m that person with 20 years of acute, chronic back pain, what should I expect?

That depends on how healthy you are in general. If you’ve been self-medicating and paying no attention to your diet for the past 20 years, expect to need to see me more frequently than someone who’s been taking better care of him/herself.

Wait a minute, what does my diet have to do with back pain?

Traditional Chinese Medicine, which includes acupuncture and herbs, is a holistic medicine. It treats the whole person, making no distinction between the patient’s body, mind, and spirit. For the Chinese it’s a one-stop-shopping kind of medicine because, in the Chinese paradigm, all three are inter-connected. It’s all about keeping your energy balanced. So if, for example, you’re eating an awful diet that causes damp accumulation in your body, your body will be preoccupied with trying to deal with that pathogen of excess damp and will have less energy available to it to deal with your back pain. That damp pathogen will also cause sluggish/muddled thinking, a feeling that you’ve lost your edge, and that can lead to anxiety or depression. It’s all connected, and every acupuncture treatment (every one of mine, at least) always treats the whole patient, addressing the root cause as well as all branch symptoms.

How does acupuncture work?

Acupuncture adjusts the energy, or qi, that flows through the meridians of your body. These meridians are pathways which connect to the inner organs. Acupuncture rectifies patterns of energy imbalance—what Westerners refer to as disease or pain.

How do I know it works?

Your body tells you that acupuncture works. You feel relaxed and “rooted” after a treatment--that’s how an energetically balanced human is supposed to feel. And if we’re dealing with pain, you’ll almost always feel a diminution of pain within minutes of the needles going in. Also, the fact that acupuncture and herbal medicine have been in constant use for over 3,000 years by a huge portion of the earth’s population gives TCM some pretty solid credibility. In fact, I can’t think of any medical system with a longer track record.

How many treatments will I need?

Hard to say--it depends on how imbalanced your energy is and how much energy you have for me to work with. The good news is that acupuncture and herbal medicine is a cumulative type of medicine—that is, the more time you spend with the needles in (getting your energy adjusted), the more effective the treatments become. But there is no short cut to balance--you simply have to spend some time with the needles in, and once you start getting regular treatments (and taking your herbal formula, if necessary) you’ll find your symptoms begin to abate and you’ll find you get sick less severely and less frequently, which is one of the many up-sides to a preventative medicine. Plus you end up having more energy and just feeling better.

What do you mean by “regular treatments?”

After the first few treatments, your response to treatment and your own preferences determine your frequency. There’s no set rule. Some people do well with being treated once a month; some people prefer to come in once a week or once every two weeks. Some people come in once a week until an acute symptom is gone, then go back to once a month.

Do I have to believe in it?

Not at all. Acupuncture is not a religion or a cult (there’s no purple Kool-Aid in my clinic, but I do push green tea). You don’t have to believe in acupuncture for it to work. You do, however, have to believe in it enough (or be open-minded enough) to make your first appointment and start getting treatments.

What does TCM treat?

The World Health Organization recognizes acupuncture and TCM’s ability to treat over 43 common disorders [ such as: joint pain, anxiety, stress, insomnia, addictions (drugs, smoking, alcohol), allergies, asthma, frequent colds, gynecological problems, male and female infertility, gastrointestinal disorders, circulatory disorders &etc].

What’s the most unusual acupuncture treatment you’ve ever done?

To Western ears, I suppose the strangest sounding acupuncture treatment is the Seven Dragons Treatment, also known as a Possession Treatment.

That sounds scary…

No, it’s just semantics. Remember, we’re talking about a 3,000 year old medicine here. Possession is a blanket term for any skewed or blocked “qi” (or “energy”). So the ancients used the Possession/Seven Dragons Treatment to address disorders ranging from emotional (depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, the after-effects of abuse) to physical (a “demon” in a joint—which we would now call, somewhat more prosaically, tendonitis).

So acupuncture treats more than just physical pain?

Yes. Traditional Chinese Medicine makes no distinction between emotional and physical disorders—energy is energy—it’s holistic in scope. I use the Seven Dragons in cases of unresolved emotional issues surrounding abuse or abandonment. I also use it in cases of physical trauma—sports injuries, sequela of stroke—in which standard acupuncture and herbal treatments aren’t giving fast enough results.

Can you describe the treatment?

The Seven Dragons refer to the seven points needled. They are key points that work together to calm the spirit, clear phlegm obstructing the heart, transform damp, clear heat, and dissipate wind-damp. I use a sedating needle technique on all the points to remove stagnant energy from the system.

When should I get treated?

Sooner is always better than later. The more entrenched patterns of energy imbalance become, the harder they are to treat. Western medicine has realized the same thing—pain left untreated too long becomes hard wired and more difficult to alleviate.