Dr. Michele Arnold, L.AC in Poway, CA is a California licensed acupuncturist and holds a Doctorate in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine (DACM). Dr. Michele offers acupuncture services in Poway, CA, at Acupuncture Center, Inc, serving the North County Inland area of San Diego, Rancho Bernardo, 4-S Ranch, Escondido, and Carmel Mountain Ranch.
Dr. Michele graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) in 1999, receiving a Masters of Traditional Oriental Medicine. Deciding to further her studies and expertise in the field of acupuncture, she completed her doctorate in August, 2016, also from PCOM.
In her acupuncture practice, Dr. Michele uses her extensive knowledge of Acupuncture & Oriental medicine to treat patients with anxiety, Emotional-Mental balancing for stress, depression, insomnia, women’s health (infertility, PMS, menopausal symptoms), pain management for chronic and acute musculoskeletal disorders, and more. She incorporates herbal remedies, essential oils, and food therapy for overall constitutional healing with acupuncture treatments. Additionally, Dr. Michele is certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).
Ask the Acupuncturist
Acupuncture Poway, CA
In today’s forum, acupuncture provider Dr. Michele Arnold of Acupuncture Center, in Poway, CA talks with Best Acupuncture Near Me about the many benefits acupuncture can have for depression and anxiety.
Why are you one of the top acupuncture providers in Poway, CA, for depression and anxiety?
What makes my clinic the best in Poway for people that need help with feelings of depression or anxiety is that I help them achieve long standing results. The results are achieved through a unique combination of Classical Five-Element Acupuncture with Sound Healing and Aromatherapy. I call it AromaTune.
Classical Five-Element Acupuncture required additional training and knowledge through, The Classical Five-Element Institute, with professor Neil Gumenick in Santa Monica, California. This education required a commitment of several months to further my knowledge, as the spirit and emotional uses of acupuncture is barely touched upon in most acupuncture colleges.
Quite often ill health begins with a blockage of energy stemming from stress or pent-up emotions. A blockage of energy in the physical body can also cause an imbalance emotionally or spiritually as well. In this way, when we support and care for the soul, we are essentially caring for the Whole-Person! The results are much longer lasting, and more effective when addressing the underlying causative factors rather than treating just the symptoms.
For example, sometimes shoulder pain, such as frozen shoulder, can literally come on after someone has felt as if they are carrying the world upon their shoulders. Releasing that emotion can free the shoulder of pain and increase mobility.
A common acupuncture point used in the treatment of shoulder pain is Large Intestine 15/Shoulder joint. Not only does it relieve shoulder pain, but it lifts the feelings of burden, and gives one strength to carry on, especially when one’s life is challenged.
Another point used in combination is Stomach 38/Branch opening. This point enhances the treatment like a tree branch reaching out to welcome all life has to offer. When we feel as if we can’t give anymore, or we have taken all we can take this treatment allows one to receive as well as to give.
Based on the constitutional imbalance, I formulate a treatment plan. It is a gentle, safe and highly effective treatment method. It utilizes acupuncture, and the energetic frequencies of 100% pure essential oils with vibrational sound waves from tuning forks on Acupuncture points.
The vibration is felt as it resonates through muscle, bones, and organs creating entrainment. This is synchronization of the body’s systems, organs, and tissues to an outside frequency reaching a harmonic natural rhythm. It feels wonderful over trigger points, joints, sacral joints, spine, and muscles.
How long have you been practicing acupuncture in Poway, CA, for depression and anxiety?
Currently, I run a private practice in Poway, serving the North County Inland area of San Diego. This includes Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Scripps Ranch, 4S Ranch, and Escondido.
I have been in practice almost twenty years! Over the years most patients I see whether they have pain or not have stress, depression, anxiety or difficulty sleeping. Thus, it became my focus in 2005 when I studied Classical Five-Element Acupuncture.
The profession of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture is growing and progressing. As a result, the degree now offered from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) is a first level doctorate as opposed to the master’s degree. More acupuncture colleges are offering the doctorate; thus, we will see more acupuncturists with higher education, hours, and training. This enhances the ability for doctors of Chinese Medicine to work and collaborate with other health professionals, perform research, write, and teach as experts in their specialties.
Because I believe in higher education, and high standards, I completed my doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (D.A.C.M.) from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) in August 2016.
What is acupuncture exactly?
Once the imbalances of Qi in the Organ-Meridians are detected, an acupuncturist will place fine, sterile needles at specific acupuncture points along meridian pathways. This safe and painless insertion of the needles can unblock the obstruction and balance Qi where it has become unbalanced. Once this is done, Qi can freely circulate throughout the body, providing adequate nourishment to cells, organs, glands, tissues and muscles. This can eliminate pain and restore balance and harmony, as well as the body’s ability to heal itself—ultimately leading to optimal health and well-being.
This Qi has different meanings such as, energy, life-force, air, warmth, breath, oxygen, bio-electric current, space, movement, or function. It flows in our channels and blood vessels. It is important to keep Qi flowing smoothly that becomes blocked with the stresses of everyday life. This blockage of flow can become detrimental to a person’s health, cutting off vital nourishment to the body, organs, and glands.
How can acupuncture help treat depression and anxiety?
The treatment of depression and anxiety using Five-Element Acupuncture not only helps with symptoms, but it does so by getting to the source of the problem.
As an acupuncturist, I look at the constitution of the individual that determines how we respond to stress and feelings. I do this by listening to the sound of the voice, looking at the color hue around the temples and eyes of the face, sensing the expressed emotion, and smelling the odor of the person. When taking all this together a pattern will emerge that points to an imbalance of Qi in an organ-meridian system. Each organ-meridian system is responsible for one of the primal human emotions.
Each organ is associated with an element in nature, and each has a spirit that is responsible for the appropriate flow of its emotion.
Wood is the liver-Gallbladder, controls anger, frustration, impatience. It helps with planning, organization and decision making.
Fire is the Heart-Small Intestine, controls joy, overjoy or elation. It helps with happiness, relationships and love.
Earth is the Spleen-Pancreas and Stomach, controls sympathy, worry. It helps with intention and empathy.
Metal is the Lungs-Large Intestines, controls grief, disappointment. It helps with inspiration and spirituality.
Water is the Kidneys-Bladder, controls fear, surprise. It helps with security, confidence and courage.
Emeran Mayor, professor of physiology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.), is quoted as saying,
“A big part of our emotions are probably influenced by the nerves in our gut,” (Hadhazy, A., 2010).
The vagus nerve carries information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around. In other words, emotions are felt in our intestines, and other organs, which send these messages to the brain to be processed. The brain thinks, but the visceral organs feel. The ancient Chinese doctors knew this thousands of years ago, which is evident in the emotional attributes of each organ-meridian system mentioned above.
Acupuncture helps one to change their perception of life’s events. To cultivate truthfulness, gratitude, self-love and sense of purpose and passion in life. The feelings of depression and anxiety are lifted when one can learn to react and handle daily stresses appropriately.
Will acupuncture treatments work to help reduce the depression and anxiety I am experiencing?
Acupuncture therapy is a safe and effective treatment option for soothing the feelings of depression and anxiety. Generally, one feels relaxed and calm during the treatment, described as a meditative feeling. Often, patients report that they experience a change in perception about a conflict or a change in feelings of inadequacy. They report being able to solve a personal problem or change feelings of rejection, abandonment, loneliness, overwhelm, to that of self-worth, belonging, and feeling grounded while lying with the needles in over a period of 15-20 minutes.
Depression and anxiety can be felt physically as well with symptoms of fatigue, insomnia, sleepiness, lethargy, low or high appetite, aching joints, headaches, heart palpitations, sweating, or crying. Many of these physical and emotional symptoms will begin to resolve with acupuncture.
Is acupuncture safe if I am currently on medication for depression?
Yes, acupuncture is safe if you’re currently taking medication for depression. There is no medication on the needles, it is your body that does the healing. The needle is the guide that stimulates your body to remember how to heal. Therefore, there are no reactions. It is important not to stop or reduce your medications without the guidance of your prescribing doctor.
Some medications such as blood thinners and anti-coagulants may make you bruise or bleed easier. Placing needles on the limbs is considered safe in this case, but you may experience a small bruise. Some therapists believe that opioids and caffeine block the receptor sites for the neurotransmitters released during acupuncture and that they can reduce the effectiveness of treatment.
What kind of benefits would I get from acupuncture for anxiety?
The benefits experienced with the treatment of acupuncture for anxiety are many. There may be reduced feelings of nervousness, upset or nervous stomach, racing heart, sweaty palms, dry throat, loss of voice, shaking, trembling, or panic. Overtime, people report being able to perform their daily activities with more confidence, clear headedness, and passion.
How many acupuncture visits do I need to get rid of my feelings of depression and anxiety?
The number of treatments will vary from person to person. Some people experience immediate relief; others may take months or even years to achieve results. Chronic conditions usually take longer to resolve than acute ones.
Treatment frequency depends on a variety of factors: your constitution, the severity and duration of the problem and the quality and quantity of your Qi.
For complete healing and longer lasting results you need to give yourself time. Just as bad health can be occurring without our consciously knowing or feeling it, so can good things. Good things are happening behind the scenes with treatment! You just don’t always recognize it. I like to explain it by using diet as an example.
If a person were to begin a new healthier diet or exercise routine generally most people will see the greatest results after four months of sticking to their plan. Plus, studies show it can take four months to develop a new healthier habit (Duhigg, C. 2012). Also, healing is a process, and every tissue, gland, and organ can have varying time to regenerate. A red blood cell has a life span of 120 days.
Many tissues in the human body are capable of exhibiting regeneration in response to injury as well as general upkeep of normal tissue, to name a few: blood, skin, bone, skeletal muscle, liver, pancreas, small blood vessels, and kidney epithelium. In a perfect world these tissues would be able to regenerate under any circumstance, however, the environment within the tissue must be just right.
Each different tissue may have a different cell renewal rate. Bone can take 10 years.
Peripheral nerve can regenerate and heal Within 6-9 months. Nerve pain can be sharp from pressure exerted on a local point causing irritation. When it is healing it can feel tingly or electrical because new axons are growing from regeneration.
The body’s response to damage is complex and variable, it depends on the extent of damage/grade level of injury, the type of tissue, your age, your health and many more variables.
The mind-shen, heart, endocrine glands, emotions, and mental anguish generated from dysfunction are no exception because there is a direct link between thoughts, feelings, hormones and neurotransmitters.
With that said, I generally recommend weekly treatments for a minimum of three to four months. As one improves, naturally the treatments will become less frequent and further apart. For more serious conditions one may need to have acupuncture two to three times per week until symptoms become more manageable. Plan on a minimum of a month to see significant changes before evaluating.
For health maintenance and seasonal “tune ups”, I may recommend monthly visits.
Will micro-current electro-acupuncture help with my depression?
Yes, micro-current electro-acupuncture can help ease feelings of depression and anxiety. It is a form of acupuncture without needles. I use the Acutron device that provides low frequency micro-currents and LED color light. Like acupuncture needles, the Qi is activated along the channels of the skin when aromatic oils are applied, color-light, sound vibration from tuning forks, or micro-current electro-acupuncture is applied. The sensation is usually sub-sensory.
Micro-current (usually used in very low frequency level range of 0.1 – 1000 Hz) can be set to specific microcurrent frequencies that target dysfunctional organs, systems and conditions. It can also produce a wide gamut of remarkable health improvement effects.
Efficacy of treatment is boosted with the addition of color-wavelengths of light. Examples include Red for depression; Purple for anxiety; Yellow or Lemon for Anger; Red, Turquoise, or Purple for trauma, or fear; Red or Orange for guilt; and Blue for insomnia.
Color Light (highest frequency range of 430 trillion – 750 trillion Hz): Helps regulate autonomic nervous system, powerful effects on mood, affect and emotional states, direct effect on endocrine hormones, good adjunct to spiritual/soul healing practices.
Dr. Darren Starwynn explains in his book, Microcurrent Electro-Acupuncture, that color is so effective because acupuncture points are energetic communication gateways, and highly responsive to light. He states that according to acupuncture researcher Ion Dumitrescu of Romania: “The electrodermal points are electrical pores – concerning two-way energy exchange between the body and the environment.”
He cites the work of German scientist Fritz Popp that proved the existence of natural light communication between all living plants, animals and people. Fritz Popp called this phenomenon “biophoton” luminescence. Biophotons are carriers of “information,” without which our bodies are lifeless collections of molecules. According to Popp, the coherent biophoton fields within the body mainly originate in our DNA.
Color light therapy significantly enhances pain-relieving and rejuvenating effects of microcurrent.
What do I need to know when choosing a depression and anxiety acupuncture provider in Poway, CA?
Most acupuncturists undertake three to four years of extensive and comprehensive graduate training at nationally certified schools. All acupuncturists must pass a national exam and meet strict guidelines to practice in every state (NCCAOM). In the state of California acupuncturists must also pass the acupuncture board exam and have an active California license to practice (L.Ac).
I would recommend finding an acupuncturist with additional training and experience in mental-emotional-spiritual healing for the treatment of depression. There are many different methods, and protocols for practitioners to study and utilize. Therefore, if it’s not apparent on their website, give them a call to find out more. Questions to ask may include, how long have you been in practice, do they have experience helping someone with your condition, do they have a specialty, do they follow a school of thought with a specific approach to treating your condition?
Will my insurance cover acupuncture sessions for depression in Poway, CA?
Insurance benefits for acupuncture in the state of California, currently, only covers the treatment pain, musculoskeletal complaints, or nausea and vomiting from pregnancy. Because they are paying, they choose the research that supports their viewpoint, and they can choose what they will cover.
When there are acupuncture benefits, insurance covers traditional acupuncture treatments with needles. There is no additional compensation to the acupuncturist to use electro-acupuncture. Micro-current electro-acupuncture and color-light therapy is a comprehensive treatment that is not covered with insurance benefits. The use of sound healing with tuning forks and essential oils is a non-covered benefit as well.
The best treatments are often the ones you pay for yourself. For your health and mental-emotional well-being, the AromaTune with Five-Element acupuncture, essential oils, and tuning forks is well worth it!
How much does acupuncture cost in the Poway area?
In Poway, traditional acupuncture can cost somewhere between $60-$150 per session. For more specialized treatments the cost can be much higher. At my clinic, Acupuncture Center Inc, the cost of Traditional Acupuncture is $85 for the initial visit, and $65 for subsequent visits.
For AromaTune it is $125, including the initial visit. Sessions are approximately one hour.
What do I need to know before I come in for my appointment with Dr. Michele Arnold at Acupuncture Center, Inc, in Poway, CA?
Before beginning treatment be sure that you’re not hungry, thirsty, or too full. It is also important not to be intoxicated. Alcohol, and caffeine can block the effects of treatment, so it is best not to drink these before your treatment. After treatments, I recommend to drink plenty of water with a squeeze of lemon, eat a meal that is easy to digest, and don’t do anything strenuous for 1-2 hours afterwards.
Acupuncture Near Poway, CA
Get Acupuncture in Poway, CA with Dr. Michele Arnold, LAC
Dr. Michele Arnold, L.Ac, can be reached from Poway, Escondido, Ramona, North County Inland areas of San Diego such as, Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Rancho Penasquitos, 4-S Ranch, Scripps Ranch, Scripps Poway Parkway, and Sabre Springs.
Dr. Michele’s practice, Acupuncture Center, Inc, is located 15644 Pomerado Rd, Suite 102, Poway, CA 92064.
The nearest cross street to Dr. Michele’s acupuncture practice is Bernardo Heights Parkway and Pomerado Road. If driving North on Pomerado, the building is on the left-hand side of the street. If traveling South on Pomerado, the acupuncture practice will be on the right side of the street.