Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine address two aspects of any disease: the branch, or the symptom itself; and the root, or underlying disharmony that is the true culprit. Drugs and surgery usually just treat the branch, or symptom. Often you find that after initial relief with such therapies, the symptoms return, sometimes worse. Chinese medicine attempts to make long-term changes in the functioning of your body. Therefore it is found that the more chronic your condition, the longer it takes for the initial period of relief to be experienced. Likewise, the more acute your condition, the more readily it will respond to treatment.

Acute diseases of one to three days duration (such as acute sinusitis or muscle sprain) usually respond to the first treatment. One or two follow-up treatments are often recommended to consolidate the effect and help prevent re-aggravation. Chronic diseases of many years duration (such as dysmenorrhea or chronic lower back pain) often take up to five treatments to begin to take effect, with clinical cure taking three to six months, sometimes longer. Diseases of moderate duration usually take somewhere in between one and three months to respond to treatment. In most cases, treatments will be initially administered once or twice weekly. After improvement in symptoms stabilizes in between treatments, the duration between is gradually increased to weekly, bimonthly, monthly, and so on. Many patients, even once their symptoms have been resolved, like to come in for acupuncture every three months to readjust to the new season and get a “tune-up.” Even if you don't live near the Eugene area, you can get benefit from acupuncture on a monthly or seasonal basis.

Each individual, of course, is unique. I will do my best at the initial visit to give you an idea of how long I expect it will take to help you recover. In most cases, however, it will take me two to three visits to become familiar with how your body responds to the treatments. This early experience is invaluable to me in learning both how to best assist you in your healing, and how long it will take us to accomplish our goal together.