One of my Youngest Patients

I had a young guy present for acupuncture. It is a bit unusual, I don’t see many children since not many would easily agree to the procedure.

His history was heartbreaking.

He had stomach pains since he was a baby. At times it was very intense. 

He described experiencing epigastric and abdominal pain a level of “four” out of 10, consistently, all day and all night.

Even worse, he described  experiencing intense pain, causing him to double over and rendering him unable to straighten up, much less walk or eat or go to school.

He described pain before having a bowel movement or after, he described experiencing normal stools or loose stools.

He described how the pain would spread out from his stomach and wrap around, he would just have to wait for it to go away which in some cases would take a very long time.

  His parents were frantic. He had many tests and procedures including the removal of his gall bladder a year and a half earlier.

He had missed a lot of school, was not eating much, and was missing out on what 8-year-olds really need to be doing.

I had him lay down and palpated is abdominal and epigastric regions.

There was a lump near the acupuncture point Stomach-21 slightly right of center, that was tender to palpation.

I inserted a needle superficially along with a few other points that aid in the flow of “the vital energy” of that region, that are located on the legs.

He tolerated it well, was a very brave little guy and relaxed for 20 minutes with a little bit of heat on his tummy from a diathermy lamp.

A week later the patient returned, he described experiencing immediate improvement following the previous visit. He was back in school. His mother, wiping away a tear, described his teacher’s reaction when he presented for school, and was ready for action, she said “she saw that sparkle in his eyes, that she hadn’t seen since he had been in so much pain”.

He was again treated and advised return in a week  Where he described continued improvement. His mother explained, he had one really bad day where he had to go home from school, whereas previous to initiating treatment almost every day was a bad day where he couldn’t go to school.  By the 4th treatment, he appeared to be completely recovered, going to school everyday, eating all the foods he had been forced to forgo, putting on a little weight, and, getting back to the appropriate lifestyle of an 8-year-old little boy.

His mom wrote in Facebook, and tagged me in the post,

 “ Tonight was the first Monday in many weeks that we didn't have an appointment for (my son) to see Justin Bean.  

This picture was from his last session last week. 

We are very thankful that acupuncture helped him and would recommend Justin to anyone.

(He) has been pain free for about two weeks now. In the last week he has had a stomach bug and now croupe, but that's nothing comparatively! 

It's so awesome to consistently see his smile and know that if it ever does happen again, we don't have to waste so much time guessing at what to do next! “

In way of an explanation. 

Trying to understand how such a case progresses might be helpful since it illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of our modern healthcare system.

A kid with intense abdominal pain is not an unusual occurrence. It might happen to almost everyone at one point. The problem, obviously, is intractable pain that is debilitating and capable of ruining one’s life.

The 1st order of business of any medical intervention, is to attempt to determine why the patient is suffering from the symptoms. In any particular case, there could be a tumor growing, or an aneurysm rupturing.

Lots of kids had stomachaches and it’s never a tumor or aneurysm... but it could be, and so it has to be checked out.

Another common and important factor are foods and their effects on our digestive system. It would be common for a person to suffer greatly as a result of exposure to a food or ingredient that does not agree. Some foods are more or less likely to associate with these effects but almost anything could initiate symptoms of this type.

It is very important to try and understand why a patient is suffering from symptoms. There are many cases where understanding the etiology behind the symptoms is essential to properly treat the disorder. Is it a stomach problem, gastritis? Is it a gallbladder problem? Is the system unhappy trying to digest a food? There are 100’s of different diseases and conditions that cause symptoms of this sort, it could take years of unpleasant and dangerous tests, even operations to try to rule them all out.

Personally, and professionally, I really do not know the answer.

All I can say, is that I’m not sure if anyone, during all that time, really felt the patient’s stomach. if they did, they might not have had the tools to treat what they found.

Acupuncture is unique, in that it is a medical anachronism, a technology from another culture, another time. It is new to many of us but is obviously very old in its origins. This gives it some strengths and some weaknesses. It strengths include what we have seen here, the ability to resolve chronic, and in some cases debilitating symptoms relatively easily.

This is what it was always intended to do and over a few thousand years of improvement, has become quite effective.

Its weaknesses are equally stark. In the case of a tumor, or an aneurysm, the acupuncturist is of no use and if it is used, while appropriate medical attention is delayed, it could result in a catastrophe.

So here is our dilemma, acupuncture is both awesome and useless. This depends on the specific nature of the disorder from which the patient suffers, which, unfortunately, may  remain a mystery.

And, is why I recommend acupuncture be integrated into our modern medical system. When it becomes apparent that the patient’s life is not in immediate danger from a hidden condition, it would be prudent to try something as safe and potentially effective as acupuncture for the resolution of the patient’s symptoms.

All of us medical practitioners care deeply for our patients. This is what encouraged us to undergo the difficult training of our chosen field. Fortunately our training varies. A medical doctor, confronted with this case, should, be concerned as to the specific etiology of the condition. The doctor is concerned with saving the patient’s life if it is at risk. They are also concerned with alleviating the patient’s symptoms but, saving the life takes precedent, as it should.

The acupuncturist has no capacity for identifying hidden medical problems that are potentially life-hreatening and treating them effectively. Acupuncture was always intended to treat unpleasant symptoms that people commonly experience. It’s strengths are in symptom amelioration, and is why I think it should be integrated into our medical system, and not held out as separate.