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☺Acupuncture Houston TX - West Holcombe Clinic |
☺Acupuncture Houston TX - South Shepherd Clinic |
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Houston Acupuncture and Herb Clinic at 2431 West Holcombe, Houston,
TX. @ the
corner of Kirby
Drive and next to the Flower Corner.
713-666-5667 |
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Houston Acupuncture and Herb Clinic at South Shepherd Dr., Houston,
TX@ the
corner of Westheimer
Drive and next to the KFC. This location has been
servicing Houston for more than18 years. |
Click here for the West Holcombe Clinic location
map.
The clinic is located at the corner of
Kirby Drive and
next to the Flower Corner. ☺TEL:
713-666-5667. |
Click here for the
South Shepherd Clinic location map.
Acupuncture Houston TX-South
Shepherd Clinic
☺TEL: 713-529-8332.
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Acupuncture and Chinese medicine help
hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C,
fatty liver,
elevated liver enzymes, chronic hepatitis,, jaundice,
dark urine, dizziness, cirrhosis.
Wen-Lung Wu, M.S.,
L. Ac., PHD as Doctor of Medicine
in China
Jo-Mei Chiang, B.S. L Ac., Master of
Medicine (China)
Houston
Acupuncture and Herb Clinic, Houston, Texas.
TESTIMONIAL: LIVING WITH HEPATITIS C (HCV)
Gary W., Accountant (age 56)
Bottom line: I got Hep C, studied enough to
make the right choices, chose TCM from Andrew & Jannie, and am very
comfortable coming to them for acupuncture and herbs. Their rates
are appropriate and their knowledge is superb. I see them as
excellent health providers and old friends. A great side effect of
the herbs is an enhanced immune system – my frequent colds and
seasonal flu just stopped when I started taking my herbal
prescription. Wen-Lung and Jo-Mei remind me a lot of our family
physician in Austin, Texas in the mid-1950’s. At least once a month,
he visited our family, ate lunch, and traded physicals for the 4 of
us for a ten dollar bill and ten pounds of fish that we’d caught
from Lake Travis. This practice was simple and within its obvious
limits, it worked very well.
Click here to
view hundreds of our successful
stories.
ARTICLE: LIVING WITH HEPATITIS C (HCV)
Gary W., Accountant (age 56)
Do you remember the medical treatments for
ulcers? They were treated for 100 years as a psychological problem
with milk, severe dietary restrictions, anti-acids, and surgery.
Helicobacter pylori were discovered in 1875 and proven to cause
ulcers in the 1940’s, but were forgotten until 1979, when 2
Australian pathologists began deep investigation of the bacteria.
After 16 years of research and medical journal publishing, the NIH
accepted their claim of bacterial causation of ulcers, and in 2005
the two researchers were awarded Nobel prizes. Similar events are
taking place with other diseases like HCV, with generally accepted
ideas and treatments being proven useless, destructive, wrong,
expensive, etc. There is a recently developed test for general
immune system strength that measures light reflectivity in the face.
The test copies what physicians have traditionally done, observe a
patient’s “light” spelled in China and Japan variously as “Shen,
Sun, Son, and Zen.” I believe that if gastroenterologists tested for
overall immune system strength, they would immediately modify their
treatment protocols for HCV.
Here’s the deal on Hepatitis C: It’s a disease
that can be a real eye-opener. It’s the “Other AIDS,” the one nobody
knows anything about, the one the straight hippies got. One IV
injection after another user, one unprotected sexual experience,
just one deep kiss with a partner with active HCV (bleeding gums), a
blood transfusion, even an accidental needle stick can spread the
disease. Hundreds of blood bank workers in Texas got it from broken
glass tubes and no-glove handling. HCV piggybacks with AIDS,
Hepatitis B, tuberculosis, syphilis, and other blood carried
illnesses. Before seeking any kind of treatment, I recommend
spending a couple of weeks doing serious internet searches for your
education. The amount of useless or bad information published on
this disease is amazing. Currently, there are 3 roads being taken by
“victims” of HCV: 1) Chinese medicine 2) Western medicine 3)
Confused ‘self-treatment’ approach. Commonly untreated, with alcohol
in the diet, the disease leads to cirrhosis, fatty liver,
hepatocarcinoma, and is the single greatest cause of liver failure.
Sometimes dealing with diseases wakes people up
to certain facts, like “They’re all lying and out to get your money,
and your insurance company’s money, too.” Big Pharma scripts the NIH
protocols. Chinese physicians and Western herbalists out to make a
buck charge incredible prices for capsules of herbs that must be
taken in quantities 10-20 times as much to be effective.
Acupuncturists without traditional herb training prescribe costly
patent remedies that do virtually no good. Interested in colloidal
silver? Google for toxic accumulations and side effects before you
buy. Blessed thistle was put down for years by physicians until a
pharmaceutical extract of silamarin proved very effective in patient
studies. Common chronic HCV symptoms include of pre-sleep itching,
fatigue, mild tendonitis, light fever, depression, mood swings,
mental confusion, sinusitis, colon problems like constipation and
diarrhea, with abdominal bloating, and rheumatoid arthritis-like
symptoms. Blood poisons accumulating from HCV can trigger carpal
tunnel syndrome, torn rotator cuff injuries, Achilles tendonitis,
tennis elbow, back problems, cause blurred vision, etc. It can be a
very nasty disease and the likelihood of making bad choices in your
treatment is high.
Remember this: Every statistic written or
spoken about HCV is probably a lie or a twisting of the truth to
support an opinion or a financial interest.
A brief analysis of the medical approaches for
HCV:
1) Chinese Medicine: Costing an average of $
3-4,000 a year, but based traditionally and benevolently on the
patient’s ability to pay, the treatment protocol consists of:
a) Herbal mixture
tailored to the patient’s condition. Freeze-dried powdered herbs are
easiest to take, mixed with water. Inexpensive at $ 7-10/day but not
reimbursed by insurance companies yet, although FSA and HSA accounts
will reimburse, so at least treatment is partially offset by tax
savings. Very effective if prescribed by a traditionally trained
Chinese medicine physician, powdered herbs provide rapid and
progressive relief of HCV symptoms. I had to reprogram my initial
revulsion to the herb taste, and now they taste like life to me,
sweet and nourishing.
b) Acupuncture,
relaxing and energizing, smoothing energy distortions and healing
areas of stress. Usually accompanies treatment for sinusitis,
shoulder stress, and quitting smoking for those still addicted.
c) Chi Gong, yoga, tai
chi, and other healing exercises are either taught by the TCM
physician or recommended.
d) Dietary and
lifestyle corrections. A lot of foods and lifestyle patterns
aggravate liver conditions and must be gently adjusted towards
greater health. And HCV loves alcohol and tobacco
2) Western Medicine: Treatment by
Gastroenterologists consists of a year of weekly injections of a
Peg-Intron (pegylated interferon alfa-2a) and daily capsules of
Rebetrol (ribavirin) with frequent blood testing and liver biopsies,
according to protocols set by the NIH, the National Institute of
Health. Retail cost of the medicines is currently $ 40,000. Add
another $ 10,000 for weekly doctor visits, because you’ll never be
allowed to inject yourself. Add another $ 25,000 for frequent blood
tests and biopsies, and you get a minimum $ 75,000 first year cost
for anti-viral treatment. Imagine having to take off from work every
Friday to wait at your doctor’s office for an injection; being sick
with the flu the rest of the day and Saturday, too, gradually
recovering on Sunday. And having extreme mood swings with homicidal
and suicidal tendencies. You’ve lost 28% of your life for a year,
paid out of your own pocket about $ 15,000, and your chance of
relapse is about 1 in 3. Your insurance policy has a lifetime
maximum of $ 1 million and may have an annual maximum of $
50-75,000, which you may max out. Studies comparing treatment vs. no
treatment show your increased life expectancy to be 1.46 years.
These studies do not compare Western vs. Chinese treatments, at
least, not yet. Gastroenterologists immediately begin quoting
statistics, bragging on their cure rates, but careful listening and
note-taking with subsequent analysis reveals what they are really
telling you: 9 of 10 people who start treatment drop out. The one
who finishes has a 60% “viral cure” rate (down to -0- HCV viral
load) but a 35% relapse. Of the finishers, anywhere from 1-3 in 10
die from intra-liver bleeding after biopsies. And the likelihood is
your doctors will think you are a nutcase for not agreeing to do the
treatment, will treat you like dirt for dropping out of their
program, threaten and bully you and you will come to understand that
they are really and truly not your friends. My own research
indicates that the Western HCV treatment protocols lead to liver
transplants. The good news is with the billions flowing into the
pockets of Schering-Plough and Hoffman-La Roche for these drugs,
serious genetic research is unveiling the HCV life secrets and will
inevitably lead not just to a cure, but to an enhanced understanding
of life at the microscopic level.
3) Confused self-treatment approach: Without a
firm foundation in medical studies, the vast majority of people with
chronic HCV try this and that. A bit of thistle extract, strong
vitamins, juicing, colloidal silver, hydrogen peroxide and other
poisons, whatever their pharmacist suggests, or whatever they buy
from their health food store employee/owner. These people eventually
drift towards TCM, but their chances of finding a good practitioner
are practically zero because there are so few outside of Taiwan and
China.
Here’s my story: I found out I had HCV in the
usual way, a frantic phone call left on an answering machine from a
clinic nurse a couple of weeks after getting routine blood tests
taken, not saying anything, but implying certain doom. In January
2000, I tore muscles around my right inguinal duct, deep in my groin
while getting way too serious about bowling and a hernia pushed out
on my right side, with a small swelling on my left. I’d only seen a
physician once I was 18, and he turned down my request for
antibiotics that I begged for to overcome a severe post-influenza
bronchitis. (He couldn’t believe I refused to pay him for doing
nothing. And it took me 6 months to recover from the bronchitis.)
So I called physicians in my insurance network,
trying to find a good General Practitioner, not knowing that they’d
“specialized” and now called themselves “Internists.” A neighborhood
GP lied in response to questions I asked about his knowledge,
abilities, and experience, but he only admitted this after he’d
panicked for the 3rd time when getting my blood test
results, and after basically extorting me to see a
gastroenterologist he recommended. If I’d followed his and his
buddy’s recommendations, I believe I would’ve died. The insurance
company was of course disappointing, offering bad information and
ridiculous advice. Internet research was very painstakingly slow.
There is just so much out there that is repetitive or wrong or
deficient.
Doing my internet research, I found out that a
number of celebrities contracted HCV. Naomi Judd received national
attention for her bravery, for being treated by interferon and
ribavirin, but the attention went completely absent when she dropped
out of the program and switched to Chinese medicine, stating that
she would’ve died had she continued the treatments. All serious
research on HCV treatments include a focus on medicines derived from
such Chinese herbs as licorice, shisandra, reishi and shiitake
mushrooms, salvia, peonia, angelica, astragalus, blupeurum,
dandelion, gardenia, ho-shou-wu, forsythia, moutan, crataegus, and
ginseng. Animal studies all point to Chinese herbal remedies as
being far more effective treatments than the Western remedies.
Strong curative properties of traditional herbal formulations are
proven in laboratory testing of liver fibrosis in rats induced by
carbon tetrachloride.
OK…Doctor 1, the “G.P.”: First blood test.
Doctor and nurse freaked. Acted like I had a death sentence. Asked
for a viral load test. Freaked again. Wouldn’t tell me over the
phone or fax test result copies. Had to come in, over and over.
Always had a full waiting room and most of the patients had
respiratory problems, sneezing, allergies, and colds. Promised to
refer me to a good friend surgeon, someone he’d known for many
years. Caught him in first lie. He didn’t know one. I overheard him
tell his nurse clerk to pull somebody from an old insurance book,
anybody in the neighborhood. After hours of waiting, I gave up. Lots
more problems with his office staff. Called in a complaint to him
and to the insurance company about his clerical staff. Found general
surgeon on my own. Hernia correction went well. Did lots of internet
research that led me to Andrew & Jannie for treatment of HCV after
really grasping the concept of immune strengthening.
HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Law passed thru Congress in December 2000. Problems
with the Doctor’s staff greatly worsened and they argued constantly
with patients over medical records, refusing to provide them,
charging money for test copies, as much as $ 5 per page. The GP’s
physician partners dissolved the partnership. Doctor asked me to
send requests to release my patient files back to him from storage
warehouse in Mississippi. Asked me to provide test copies to him to
help rebuild my file. Then he told me he couldn’t be my physician
unless I saw a gastroenterologist friend of his, Dr. 2, the “G.I.”.
My feelings about the experience with the GI were that it was
frustrating, expensive, and it felt like a battle with an
intelligent, self-obsessed, greedy, rude, clerk with a stethoscope.
Presenting him with a complete set of HCV blood tests including the
viral load ones costing $ 700 and obtained only the week before, the
GI argued vehemently that he absolutely needed his own lab tests, so
he ran them all again. The new set cost $ 1200 and provided no new
information, just revenue for the GI. I overheard his entire voice
recorder dictation of my case, and learned how much energy
physicians spend playing defensive medicine. Self-protection is
their principle motivation and it is disgusting. I mailed the test
copies to the insurance company with a complaint about the doctor
and about thoughtless approvals payments by the company for tests so
obviously not needed.
Already really not appreciating the coercion, I
began asking a lot of questions about HCV to the GP, and caught him
looking up answers on the internet website for the NIH. I was so not
impressed. Forcing him to tell me the absolute truth, the GP
admitted he’d lied, wasn’t really a family doctor, but an allergist,
a clerk who’d determined he could make a decent living prescribing
Claritin and other antihistamines to people too lazy and stupid to
change their diet.
Changing to a new GP, this one supposedly more
holistic, and describing test copy and clerical problems to the
doctor, complaints about wasted office visits and too little time
spent with me, this doctor promised everything would be different.
It wasn’t. He spent 12 minutes with me taking my history and
physical, forced me to come back in to receive new test results,
with no material change thus no reason to come in, offered to sell
me the test copies I bought and paid for at $ 5/page. I haven’t been
back, but I suppose I’ll have to, to obtain my own lab tests.
Personally, I’d like to see acupuncturists licensed to handle lab
tests, legitimized thru testing like nurse practitioners. I am very
disappointed in the Western medicinal system, and personally in
physicians that lie effortlessly and feel no remorse whatsoever when
presented with the facts of their lying.
That’s my story so far. I feel good. Quit
smoking after 21 years. Drink very little. Watch my diet and control
my emotions carefully. Exercise regularly with moderation. I am
confident that the combination of acupuncture and herbs are slowly
but surely improving my health.
-G-
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