MARCOTTE ACUPUNCTURE $40-60 sliding scale 983 E Washington Ave El Cajon, CA 92020   619-822-1330

How can Acupuncture help you heal?

• turns off our sympathetic NS response (fight,flight,freeze,fawn) and engages your parasympathetic NS to begin relaxing, healing, calming and digesting.
• sends targeted healing messages to our brains and bodies to heal specific health complaints
• teaches us through personal experience how powerful our bodies are at being their own healers, without costly and drastic intervention, when given the chance

Ever lost weight and gained it all back- more than once? Healed one addiction to only have it replaced by others? Had sciatica that came back after a few years or a few months? Or repeated carpal tunnel after surgery? Gone from one bad relationship to the next, with the same repeated issues? Spent your life running from your feelings because they're just too scary to feel? Had years of healing under your belt only to have an old wound pop up that you don't know how to deal with now?

The Problem and The Challenge

Chronic Health Complaints never completely go away...

We often don't know how to tell the difference between acute/chronic health complaints...

We expect and hope that all our health complaints will go away quickly and completely- whether they do, or not.

A Chronic Health Complaint is

• physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual pain lasting for 3 months or longer
• recurring pattern/s of thought and behavior causing us emotional and physical distress lasting for 3 months or longer
• recurring relationship patterns in our personal and professional lives causing us repetitive stress and emotional and physical distress lasting for 3 months or longer

In our modern world we expect ourselves to be healthy, regardless of whether we've ever learned how to create and maintain health! And the fact is, if you're anything like me, you never learned how to take care of yourself. Or that it was ever important to know how to do it, beyond making sure to eat, sleep and earn money. The art of living a healthy and joyful life is a skill that needs to be learned and regularly practiced if it is to become part of our lives. It is not automatic and is not purchased once or twice, and then lasts forever. No matter what our survival brains tell us, using the internet to try to sell us.

We're regularly sold the idea that instant and forever healing with little to no effort is readily available if we choose the right product, person, method, price point, practice or needle technique. And that real healing should be instant and forever, or it's not healing. This is an example of first, not recognizing the difference between an acute or chronic problem. And second, trying to treat chronic complaints with acute treatment plans. There are 2 main reasons for this...

1. It's much easier to sell people things when we trigger the survival brain that wants to act right now because it is desperate for a quick solution.
2. We have a modern western medicine designed to treat emergencies, of which it is very good, but we keep superimposing the emergency model on chronic health complaints and health maintenance. This won't work in the long term.

Nothing is wrong with you. This is life. And these are examples of chronic health complaints. What we choose to do when we see them and feel them is where healing begins and has the opportunity to grow.

A Healing Path

The first step in healing is awareness. Pain is our body's signal to our conscious mind that something is wrong. That our body is not functioning properly and needs our help. Pain does not exist just to piss us off and mess with our plans. It reminds you and us that no matter how much time we spend in our heads, with our thoughts, and consciously disconnected from our bodies, that our bodies are here, right now. And they are our partners, not only in our lives, but in our healing, until we die.

Once we are aware of our pain we have a choice.

• We can run from/suppress/ignore it
• Or we can acknowledge it

Sometimes it's enough for our bodies when we just simply acknowledge our pain. We can bring awareness there and help it to release the tension, calm and care for the emotion, or acknowledge the harmful thought, let it go and replace it with a healing one. And sometimes, we need more help. Depending on the severity of the pain and the length and strength of our repetitive patterns, and our desire to heal and grow, we have treatment options. 

Holistic Treatment is Cumulative

Healing, very much like life, is not a linear proposition most of the time. It is a process. Even with short term health complaints, it is very rare, for you to have 1 treatment and have your particular health complaint cleared up 100%, never to return again. You need to be treated often enough for your body to retain the healing message and hold it. There is no magic needle, magic herbal formula or magic acupuncturist. If someone tells you there are, they are probably trying to sell you something. There is, however, a healing process...

I describe it to my patients as a wave, or a roller coaster, depending on your point of view. You have your starting point, you get better, you decline a bit, have a setback and then climb again. And you go through this several times. But if you compare your starting point to where you are now, even with the wave, you can see clearly, you have gotten better. That is the natural, cumulative healing effect of acupuncture. For both chronic and acute complaints. Embrace the wave. You will experience it during your treatment plan.

Treatment Plans

The nervous system learns by repetition. We learn this process in school. If you need to learn something new, and retain it for only a short time, you process the information, use it, and once it's no longer needed, forget it. This process is using short term memory. And it is what we are accessing with acupuncture in an acute treatment plan.

If you need to retain the information for good, you process, repeat, and practice for several months, and often years, to be sure you have the ability to access the skill and/or information you need at will. This is what we are accessing in a chronic treatment plan.

Treatment Plans:

• Acute
• Chronic
• Basic Stress   

An acute complaint is a health concern that is new to your body and has lasted for less than 3 months.

• In this case, we see you as often as we can, at least 2x/wk, for about 2-3 weeks, to get you to a 70% improvement or better. Then we say good bye until your next complaint. The more often I can see you in a week, the faster you'll recover. Sometimes, you will get results in less treatment time, or more treatment time. Everyone, and every complaint is unique within the general guidelines.

A chronic complaint is a health concern that has lasted at least 3 months, and is often, a chronic disease, or diseases, a patient is living with on a regular basis. Most chronic diseases fall into this category.

• In this case, we see you 2x/wk, for 6-8 wks,  to get you to 70% or better improvement and then work you into a maintenance plan that is anywhere from 1/wk to 1/mo, depending on you and you body's overall health. It is very important that you do not skip treatments during your initial 6-8 wks. If you do, you delay your healing response and your results will suffer.

Basic Stress complaints are

• treated 1/wk with acupuncture, until the stress is managed and/or what's causing the spike in stress is resolved.

You will need maintenance treatment for any chronic health complaint, if you want the healing effects of acupuncture to continue working for you. Your long term memory needs the reminder. Now, when you are dealing with chronic illness, you also have what are called flares.

Flares

Flares are occasions when, for many reasons, your chronic issue gets worse. This is a bigger than normal dip in the wave. And if you want to keep this from getting significantly worse, you need to address it as soon as possible.

• Flares are treated like an acute complaint, you are treated as often as possible, until the complaint is 70% or better. If you get in right away, that is usually 1-3 treatments. If you wait too long it is the length of a general acute treatment plan.

In order for you to get the results you desire, it is important to follow the treatment plan your acupuncturist has prescribed.

Private Acupuncture Treatment

This is traditional western-style treatment. You have a room to yourself and more time to spend talking to your acupuncturist. All New Patient visits are private to allow time for a complete health history, intake and treatment. Private treatment allows for that extra time to bring up new issues, questions and more individualized, focused attention. My prices reflect my commitment to provide affordable, quality integrative health care.

By Appointment

• New Patient visit $40-60 sliding scale plus $10 paperwork fee
  
• Acupuncture $40-$60 sliding scale (discounts for frequent flyers and packages)
  
• CA $20-40 sliding scale
  

Please book all private appointments during private hours.

Community Acupuncture $20-40

CA (Community Acupuncture) is traditional eastern-style treatment. You share a room with others getting acupuncture at the same time. There is very little talking and we generally communicate in whispers. You are here simply for treatment, which allows me to bring the price down, as I'm seeing more than 1 person in an hour, and it allows you to get acupuncture as often as you need it to get better. It also makes this medicine more affordable for those who are uninsured and under-insured. You share a quiet, peaceful room and the healing energy of being treated in a group. All New Patients must be seen during private hours for their first treatment, to assure a complete health history and intake.

And, if you are currently receiving CA and need to make a change in your treatment plan, address a new complaint or have a more detailed discussion about your health issue, you need to make a new PRIVATE appointment. Then you can come back to CA. After your New Patient appointment, you can book as many CA appointments as you like. It is a unique healing experience. I encourage you to try it, at least once. 

Education

Acupuncturists are required to undergo extensive education, including detailed study of human anatomy, physiology, neuro-physiology, and training in Clean Needle Technique. I have passed a comprehensive national board examination administered by the California Acupuncture Board and am licensed by the state. 

Make An Appointment

 

 

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