Acupuncture Helps Veterans Suffering From PTSD, Lack of Sleep and Depression

Veterans suffer from PTSA, insomnia, and depression at rates that far exceed the rest of the population. Additionally, many veterans have musculoskeletal pain that affects their ability to move, exercise sleep, and work, which worsens the mental components. At the acupuncture and chiropractic healthcare offices of Dr. Lisa Oskardmay, we recognize the need for care on both fronts- psychological and physical.  Services provided by Dr. Oskardmay help these problem areas.

Starting with Chinese medicine acupuncture diagnostic techniques, Dr. Oskardmay determines which channels or meridians suffer an imbalance. Channels are energy pathways residing on the body surface and reaching deep into the body interior to carry vital energy or qi. Channel imbalance presents in a symptomatic manner as PTSD, sadness, inability to sleep, or pain in various regions. Acupoints along these channels represent areas of high possibility for change, rather like circuit breakers in an electrical system. A licensed acupuncturist, Dr. Oskardmay, inserts acupuncture needles into these points to elicit change to improve energy flow. Sometimes she also uses massage techniques such as gua sha or cupping massage to enhance the treatment effect. Improved healing qi flow helps improve outlook, pain response, and energy.

Veterans and others who have Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD have symptoms such as insomnia, nightmares, stress, tooth grinding, and headaches. Mental and physical traumas from the past refuse to go away and result in lasting damage. Patients with PTSD benefit from acupuncture and massage along the water channel connected with stress, fear, and the nervous system, or the wood channel, which relates to frustration, anger, and muscles and ligaments. These and other channels reflect system imbalance that presents as PTSD symptoms. Dr. Oskardmay evaluates channel disruption by taking in-depth history and using Chinese medicine pulse, tongue, and other areas of evaluation. In this way, treatment is unique to the individual and specific to the imbalance.

Insomnia and lack of sleep plague many veterans and other individuals. Dr. Oskardmay recognizes that lack of restorative sleep impairs recovery on many fronts, and she strives to improve sleep first and foremost in most people suffering from this unhealthy condition. Acupuncture treatment is a drugless therapy that aligns body energies and builds restful yin, the aspect of our nervous system that relates to the parasympathetic relaxation side. In addition to channel acupuncture therapy, she utilizes relaxing massage and soothes body aches that impair sleep. She provides education in diet and home exercise, as well as other aspects of daily living for patients to use at home.

Depression and sadness strike many veterans and others, seeping their vital energy and motivation. Dr. Oskardmay listens to patients and strives to make sense of energy imbalance as it presents in their stories, pulses, visage, demeanor, and tongue. She uses massage and acupuncture to restore balance where possible and provides activities and life-altering suggestions for patients to take home and incorporate to make a change.

As one reviewer said, `This is how health care should be.` At the offices of Dr. Lisa Oskardmay, we work for you and look forward to helping veterans and others suffering from PTSD, insomnia, and depression.