Wednesday, February 2, 2011

He Could Not Sleep Without Wearing Four Pairs of Boots

An office worker in downtown San Francisco told me that he needed to put on four pair of boots in order to sleep.  It was very difficult to conduct the TCM examination, and that’s why I never asked him how could he possibly put on four pair of boots.

Each time I performed acupuncture on him, I had to give the needle at least 300 strokes before he could begin to feel it. My diagnosis for his case was kidney weakness and lack of heat. In the beginning of the treatments, he doubted that I was giving 300 strokes. I said, “Sit on the bed, and watch how I do the count.” He was amazed to see what happened to him. He also took herbs as part of his treatment.

As time passed, he got rid of one pair of boots and told me at night his feet felt as cold as an icebox. He felt that his feet did not belong to him. After some time, he asked me, “How come I feel so cold?” I explained: “The sun can warm up you body, like the sun warms up the earth. Your kidneys are not only weak, but you do not have enough yang energy (yang in this case means sun) to warm you up.

After more acupuncture treatments and herbs, he told me was able to get rid of another pair of boots.  He needed to move to other city, however, and he could not come for treatments anymore.  I hoped he was able to get rid of the other two pair of boots.

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