For the Skeptics (Round One)

I know there are many individuals in the world who feel quite skeptical about the efficacy of acupuncture. Honestly, some days I'm one of those people. The whole philosophy of the body and health can seem a bit too ethereal and un-provable, at least to western minds. Hence, the first of what is sure to be a gaggle of posts For the Skeptics.

Today I went in for my nearly-weekly acupuncture session with Kara, my acupuncturist in Philadelphia. We intended this week to be more of a checkup, and my only real complaints were lack of sleep and hip pain (both work-related), and basic PMS symptoms, including a surge in angry feelings. After checking my tongue and taking my pulse, Kara started the treatment.

She started needling across my forehead (this is typical in our sessions), and I noticed the points felt a bit sharper than usual. Then she started on my arm, and pinpointed a spot a few inches above my wrist, which apparently links to the pericardium (protective sac encasing the heart). As soon as the needle went in a felt a sharp, sudden pain -- not at the point of entry, but lurching down my middle finger. More than anything, it frightened and startled me, and my other hand flew up to my mouth in shock. Suddenly, the pain was gone but I was crying, crying, crying. Just sobbing, and hyperventilating, gasping for air, and looking at Kara accusingly for some sort of explanation. She tried to get me to breathe through it for a few seconds, then removed the needle and tried to get me to breathe until I calmed down. I was alright, just confused and overwhelmed with emotions -- sadness, grief, lonliness, anger, despair -- all rolled into one needle-triggered release.

Kara explained that this is what acupuncturists mean when they refer to an emotional release. For me, it was a welcome experience since I often have trouble accessing and venting my emotions. I'd been feeling some tenderness -- almost a raw, "peeled" feeling -- over my breastbone, which could be connected to the pericardium point. I've also been feeling very angry, as I mentioned, and when she flipped me over to do some cupping on my back, my kidneys came up nearly black (more on cupping in a later post -- for now, just note that the kidneys are connected to anger).

I feel like these posts will be so much more informative when I'm in school and actually know what I'm talking about...but for now, there's my firsthand account of the power of acupuncture.

I'm In! ...Sort of?

Dear Courtney:

I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted provisionally as a degree-seeking student at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Summer, 2008. Congratulations!

Admission into the Master's Degree Program is contigent upon the successful completion of the State of California's General Science requirements. Students admitted to the MSTCM program are required to complete the undergraduate general science courses listed below no later than one quarter prior to taking the 1st Level Comprehensive Exams:

Human Anatomy - 6 quarter units
Human Physiology - 4 quarter units
General Chemistry - 3 quarter units
General Physics - 3 quarter units
General Psychology - 3 quarter units

If you wish to challenge a course at ACTCM for which you did not receive credit as noted above (general science coursework) or for Master's level coursework, please bring this to the attention of Suzanne Delbou, Academic Advisor prior to starting classes at ACTCM. ACTCM retains the right to determine which classes may be challenged. To be eligible to challenge a class, a student must have taken an equivalent class as a non-accredited or vocational institution. There is a fee for taking challenge exams.

Please submit a Health Certificate with TB test (skin test or chest x-ray) to the Admissions Office before the start of classes.

For registration and academic advising, please contact the Admissions Office. The Admissions staff can assist you in registering for 1st quarter classes. Registration and advising for new Summer quarter students begins May, 2008. The Summer course schedule is available on our website at www.actcm.edu.

A registration deposit of $300 is required upon acceptance. Please send a check made out to ACTCM to the attention of the Admissions OFfice by May 1, 2008 to secure your place. This non-refundable deposit is credited toward tuition. You are required to pay tuition for the quarter at registration. If full payment at registration is not possibly, tuition can be broken down into four (4) payments over the course of the quarter. A $50 fee will be added to the first installment.

You will receive an invitation to New Student Orientation in the mail and via email as the Summer quarter approaches. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Welcome to the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.


I'm not exactly sure why, but this letter sort of upset me. First, the "provisional" acceptance was remarkably anticlimactic and moderately confusing. When will I be officially accepted? Will I ever be officially accepted? I felt like they were really emphasizing the fact that I HAVEN'T BEEN FULLY ACCEPTED YET. Also, the science courses: I've emailed with the Admissions Office extensively, and even took time off work to go interview in person. They obviously accepted my biology credit (since it's not listed), but there was no mention of my anatomy and physiology coursework, or recognition of my already-expressed desire to take a challenge exam if the courses were not accepted (I took them at a massage school in New Zealand). And I think overall, and most importantly, this letter feels remarkably impersonal and unenthusiastic. Like, do they even really want me? I'm not sure where I stand on the whole thing, so I'm going to go about taking care of my taxes and filling out the FAFSA then reassess.

Interview Afterthoughts

The interview went so well! A highlight for me was probably the phrase, "Thank you for being a good student; it makes our job easy." A few things I learned:

* Expecting to work 20-30 hours a week was a bit over-ambitious. How uncharacteristic of me. Apparently 10-15 in the first couple semesters is a bit more reasonable and manageable, with room to expand later in the program. Bummer. But on that note...

* The maximum amount loans potentially available to me is $20,500 for every nine months of school. I think up to $12,000 of that could be subsidized loans (where the feds take care of the interest). I also applied for the "Transitions Scholarship", for students relocating to the Bay Area. Next step: FAFSA.

* It's a year-round program, with two-week breaks between each quarter. Another bummer as that means no fun summer internships/jobs/travel. Harrumph.

* I'll only need to tack on two extra classes to get my certificate in Shiatsu, which would allow me to practice in California. This course of action looks very likely.


This school still just feels so inexplicably and amazingly right. And SF is totally growing on me as my potential future home. Now I just need to light a fire under my recommenders' collective rear ends, and then take care of that messy FAFSA...

Step -1: Apply

So before I count tooooo many chickens I need to lay a few eggs, meaning, I need to get into a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) school! After touring several schools on both coasts, I finally found one where I feel like I belong. My application is in, pending one more letter of recommendation, and I'm headed to the campus this week for an interview and to make sure it's really where I want to spend the next four years. Picking a school is difficult, especially in a relatively new and off-the-radar field like TCM.

The most important factors for me:
What sorts of TCM theory are included in the curriculum? (i.e. not exclusively "five branches" theory, etc)
How early do students get to start needling?
How much is tuition, and how many months it the program?
What sort of mandatory community service is included in the curriculum?
What are the elective courses?
How much is Western medicine and science integrated into the curriculum?
Is there a study-abroad opportunity in China?
Is there a theater-style classroom, where students can watch and interact with faculty as they diagnose and treat patients?
What is the school's passing rate on state board exams?
What sort of resources are available during and after the program to help students learn how to run their own practice?

The school I finally chose boasts the following additional benefits:
On-campus student-run herb garden.
Location in a major urban area where I would love to spend four years.
Optional Masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine combined with a certificate in shiatsu.
Optional Doctoral degrees in "women's health" and "pain management".
Awesome TCM library.

I have two back-up schools in mind, both of which are excellent programs in lovely parts of the country. I haven't started those applications because I should hear back from my first choice by the end of the month. My interview is Wednesday -- please cross fingers, knock on wood, carry lucky pennies, and/or pray to whatever g-ds you worship for my successful admission!

Conflictions of a (fingers crossed) future practitioner

I'm devoting the next four years of my life to Traditional Chinese Medicine school. And/but I'm not exactly sure why. That is, I know I feel strongly called to the healing arts, and particularly to acupuncture, but I'm not sure of my end goal. Do I want a private practice? Do I want to work in a hospital? Do I want to go back to grad school with a better base from which to explore the history/philosophy of medicine and the body? Do I want to teach? Do I want to live on the beach for the rest of my life? Etc. I think it's very possible that I'll hit up all of these options during my lifetime, so the question I've been ruminating on lately pertains to the nature of my hypothetical future practice. I always envisioned a nice little office, maybe at the front of my large and comfortable house, where I would see patients 4-5 days per week, including a nice base of regulars and a steady stream of new patients. But even when this was my "dream", I was put off by the upper-middle-class tendencies of an acupuncturist's potential clientele. I was, and am, frustrated that acupuncture seems to be accessible only to the moderately well-off with a somewhat new-age-y disposition.

Recently, however, I discovered the expanding network of community acupuncture clinics in the U.S. I first heard about Philadelphia Community Acupuncture, in West Philly, and from there followed links to Working Class Acupuncture in Portland, OR and a whole network of such growing practices. The premise of these clinics relies on the idea that in traditional Chinese medicine practitioners treated multiple patients in the same room at the same time. This stands in opposition to the current popular U.S. model, in which patients are usually treated one-on-one in private rooms. In this model, patients provide extensive verbal subjective information, and the practitioner often engages the patient in a thorough dialogue regarding their condition. Conversely, in community acupuncture, patients are appraised nearly exclusively on physical diagnostics, such as the pulses and tongue. Treatment is then given in recliners arranged in a group setting, and needling is general done only on the legs, arms, and face.

Many of the advantages of community acupuncture are apparent: the practitioner can treat more patients, charge lower fees, and create a larger network of clients. The patient can afford to visit more frequently, thus improving the chances of recovery, and moreover will experience the benefits of treatment (ahhh, the acupuncture high) more often and regularly.

Of course, there are drawbacks as well. The practitioner garners less subjective information about the patient's condition, thus potentially rendering treatment less specific and effective. The patient experiences less individual attention and is more directly responsible for the course of their treatment. And, of course, certain treatments involving techniques or points on the core cannot be utilized, or at least not as easily.

There are some great forums on community acupuncture online right now, and I encourage any interested readers to see what the rest of the country is saying about community acupuncture (check the sidebar!). For myself, I am encouraged that there seem to be options beyond a moderately classist private practice, and I am content to wait until I know more about treatments before selecting my own mode of operation.