Neuropathy
“Beth” was a 62 year-old with neuropathy in both of her feet as a side effect of chemo. She had been referred in by multiple family members who all had experienced great results from acupuncture in the past.
She was one of the first cases of neuropathy I had ever treated, and I made one big mistake.
Since she had heard such great things about acupuncture, she came with very high expectations of treatment results.
My mistake was not explaining to her the timeline on neuropathy. If I could go back I would.
Neuropathy can be relieved with acupuncture and herbs, it just takes 10-20 treatments on average to start to feel the relief come in. The nerve starts regenerating at the beginning of treatment, it’s just a relatively slow process before the effects can be felt.
Neuropathy can be so debilitating that most people are happy to hang in there for the relief to kick in.
After her second treatment she still hadn’t felt any change, so she gave up. “It’s not working.”
I couldn’t help her. Not because acupuncture wouldn’t work, but because I didn’t teach her what to expect.
I learned a lot from this case, and I hope she has found another way to get some relief.