What to Expect

Before Your Treatment

  • Please do not brush or scrape your tongue for at least two days prior to your treatment. Your tongue’s natural coating is one the primary diagnostic tools to help determine your internal condition.
  • Please do not drink coffee/black tea/alcohol, smoke, or eat artificially colored foods in the hours prior to your treatment. These can stain and disguise the natural tongue coat.
  • Please wear loose, comfortable clothing that can be easily pulled high enough to expose your elbows, knees, or abdominal area. You will never be asked to completely disrobe for your treatment or to remove your undergarments. Sometimes you will have to remove a shirt or pants/skirt to receive treatment to a larger area of your body. In these cases to ensure your privacy, you will be draped with sheets or blankets.
  • Please plan to arrive 5–10 minutes prior to your actual appointment time. This gives you a few moments to relax into your natural state and facilitates more accurate reading of your pulses.
  • Please have a light meal before your treatment. If you are unable to do so, please let us know when you arrive. We have light snacks available in our clinic. It is not advisable to receive acupuncture on an empty stomach or on an uncomfortably full one.

After Your Treatment

  • Most people are very relaxed after a treatment. However, some people can experience being lightheaded or dizzy. It is important to get up slowly from the treatment table and to tell us if you are experiencing any symptoms. If this happens, we will ask you to stay in the clinic until you feel ready to leave.
  • Please do not drink alcohol for at least 24 hours after your treatment.
  • Herbal medicines and homeopathic remedies are intended solely for the person for whom they are dispensed. Please do not share your prescriptions with other people, even if you think they have identical symptoms. Every person is unique. What can appear to be identical symptoms may stem from very different root causes and require very different medicines.
  • Occasionally, there can be a worsening of symptoms after a treatment or taking herbal medicines or homeopathic remedies. This is usually part of the healing process and generally only lasts a short time, followed by a marked improvement in well being. Please call us if this happens to you.
  • Please call us immediately if you experience any adverse affects from the acupuncture treatment, herbal medicines, or homeopathic remedies.