A 55 year old HIV+ patient John had been to our clinic for years. He used to get depressed most of the time. After acupuncture treatment, he always felt much better. He brought all sorts of different issues to the clinic desk: (1) Constipation; (2) Frequent urination; (3) Vulnerable and irritable. His underlining issue remained to be chronic depression which Chinese herbs have been helpful to keep him emotionally stablized.
John's head was in general foggy and cloudy. Frequently John had sinus issues which resulted in post nasal drip and sinus congestions. Following his doctor's advice, his diet was split 6 times a day. He usually had good appetite (sometimes he did not want to eat), although his digestive system either gave him cramps, which could be mild, moderate, or severe, and gassy & bloating. Occassionally he had acid reflux. Since he was on Chinese herbs, the situation improved.
John had trouble going to bathrooms. Some days he goes 3-5 times a day with hard, difficult stools. Other days he went six times in the early morning. He almost always had an urgency to go beforehand and an incomplete feelings afterwards. John experienced lots of muscle pains in his arms, upper back, lower back, feet. He said the pain level was 9 out of a scale of 10 on neck & shoulder. His body temperature was normally neutral toward warm. His energy was a 6, although he wanted to do a 10 out of 10. John falls asleep easily. Often he had nightmares, waking up 2-3 times a night by nightmares or pain. Most of the time he wakes up rested, 70-80% of time. Since John was on herbs, he was less depressed than irritated. He still owned sadness but much less than before taking on the herbs. He said he used to cry but 50 to 75% less now.
Patients generally are better off irritated than depressed. Irritation indicates a higher energy movement. This way we can move it, our teacher said. John was basically in depression. We tried to motivate him and lift his spirits. If John was sleeping too much, then we didn't put too much sleeping herbs like suan zao ren and ye jiao teng in John's formula.
Our powder formula typically consisted of moving herbs to lift patients' spirits. Since John had digestive issues, the formula included herbs to ease his digestive system. Once he had a good digestive and elimination systems, his life had turned to normal at a manageable level.
We treated John with acupuncture and Chinese herbs on a twice monthly basis.