Dr. Na Zhai Clinic Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

The Cure Was Worse Than the Disease

 

Terry is only in his late forties. But his medical problems have escalated from mild to severe. What started as discoid lupus has now turned into the possibility of needing a total hip replacement.

Discoid lupus causes a skin rash, mostly on the scalp. You lose your hair. You have large red rashes on the skin. They feel like bumps under the skin. During the interview, Terry wore a baseball hat.

"I have been dealing with lupus since I was about twenty, after a motorcycle accident," Terry said. "I went to a dermatologist and he put me on two prescription medicines. But after a while, I noticed my skin flare-ups were getting more severe. The prescriptions were no longer effectively controlling the symptoms."

Then his doctor prescribed prednisone. It worked. It cleared up the skin problems. He was on it for two years.

And then the side effects started.

After about a year and a half on prednisone, Terry noticed pain and a strange feeling in his knees and hips.

"My knees felt like they were balloons," he said.

It got worse. He could sometimes hardly walk. He needed crutches.

The Diagnosis

His doctor referred him to an orthopedic surgeon. X-rays and an MRI showed joint problems. The diagnosis was avascular osteonecrosis—bone death due to lack of blood flow.

The only option, the surgeon said, was total hip replacement surgery.

"I was somewhat taken aback, stunned, and not very happy about it," Terry said. "Here I went to the doctor to get something for my skin disease, and the side effects of the medicine were worse than the disease itself."

Terry is technically partially disabled. He could become totally disabled.

There was another problem with the surgery option. Because he is young, and replacement joints usually only last twenty to thirty years, he might need another surgery around age seventy. The second surgery is supposed to be more difficult. He is not sure he will have good health insurance at that age to pay for it.

"Now I am starting to search for my own solutions," Terry said.

The Turning Point

Terry did his homework. He searched the internet for options and treatments for his condition. He read that a lack of blood flow to the bone is a major problem with necrosis. He read somewhere else that acupuncture increases blood flow.

He found Dr. Na's name under acupuncture in the yellow pages and called her.

The Treatment

Terry has seen Dr. Na about nine times. She treated him with acupuncture—the same protocol that awakens and balances the body's systems and promotes circulation.

He says he feels that he walks normally now, without too much pain. When he came in and out of the room during the interview, there was nothing unusual about his walk.

The Outcome

Terry's persistence in actively seeking an option that was acceptable to him is unusual.

"At first I thought there was no hope, except for the surgery," he said. "In some ways I feel my doctor misled me. The possibility of serious side effects with the prednisone was not mentioned. I want to be able to get back my dignity and walk like a man and run if I want to."

It looks like Terry's dream will come true.

The Bigger Point

Terry is having a problem getting his insurance company to help pay for his acupuncture treatments.

"They say it's not a covered treatment," he said. "But I find it medically necessary. Acupuncture is almost like it was for chiropractors when they were scoffed at."

He wishes the insurance company would realize the value of acupuncture.

"Natural remedies that address the cause of the problem or are preventative should be covered, just like treating the symptoms with prescription drugs."

In fact, if acupuncture treatments fix Terry's joint problem—as it looks like they will—the insurance company won't have to pay for an expensive surgery. They will actually save money in the long run.

This is the point that matters most.

Terry went to the doctor for his skin. The medicine destroyed his hip. The surgery would cost tens of thousands of dollars and might need to be repeated. The acupuncture costs a fraction of that—and it is addressing the root cause: blood flow to the bone.

The cure was worse than the disease. But the alternative was never offered.

This is not a one-time result. This is the same protocol Dr. Na uses for patients with circulation problems and joint damage. Because the treatment follows a pattern, it can be taught. Because it can be taught, it can be passed on.

This is the system Dr. Na built. This is what she offers.

And it began with a patient who refused to accept a surgery that would have disabled him—and who found another way.