The Acupuncture Treatment of Panic Attacks
Chief complaint Panic Attacks
Relevant Medical History This is a generally healthy 32 year old female recently moved here from Italy. She ate a well balanced diet, was not overweight, excersized, and had a normal blood pressure. Over the past three months before she came in she had been experiencing panic attacks that mimicked a heart attack. They would come on suddenly at night, waking her from her sleep. She would wake with a pounding heart, and pain in her chest radiating down her left arm. She had rushed to the emergency room a few times, each time they found no physical abnormality, and no risk to her heart. The frequency of attacks was increasing, from one or two a month to almost every night the week before she came to see me.
Questioning examination
Upon questioning I discovered she comes from a large and tightknit family, all of whom are in Italy. She is here with a green card to do medical research, and was recently engaged to her American boyfriend. She felt very positive about her work and her fiance, but a little anxious about getting married. They did not communicate very well. She slept well before the panic attacks, and has always had a good level of energy, and felt generally happy. There is no history of panic attacks in her family and she had never experienced anything like this before. She had no complaints aside from the panic attacks.
Pulse and palpation examination
The pulses in LU/CO were weaker than the others. Her lower chou was slightly cool, and XIII 3 was slightly sensitive.
Tongue and observation examination
She had an occluded gaze; signifying that her shen was disturbed. Her odor was ‘rotton’, her color white, her predominant emotion grief, and her tone of voice, or sound, weepy.
The pattern(s)or OM diagnosis
Based on the shen disturbance I determined that she was ‘posessed’, a block in five-element acupuncture. Based on her color, sound, odor, and emotion I diagnosed her as a metal CF (Constitutional Factor)
Treatment principle
My first tx. was the ‘Internal Demons’ block, to clear the possession. I followed this with the ‘Aggressive Energy’ block to release stagnant energy in the meridians. All treatments were in command points along the LU and CO meridians, to strengthen her CF. From my examination I assessed that the level of her disease was spirit, not mental or physical.
Acupuncture points and/or techniques used.
The ‘Internal Demons’ block consists of an extra point beneath XIII 15, and points on the stomache meridian, sedated for about 25 minutes. AE consists of points along the inner bladder line corresponding to each of the internal organs. These points were sedated until all redness around the needles apart from skin reaction cleared. All the points I treated other than these clearing treatments, I tonified. In following treatments I treated upper kidney points and outer bladder points with spirit in mind, and always grounded with command points in Metal. I also occasionally treated to clear entry/exit blocks. For example LV 14 and LU 1, tonified, followed by source points in metal, tonified.
Other treatments or lifestyle changes
I encouraged her to drink 10 glasses of water a day, and to increase her consumption of dark green leafy vegetables and protein, which both were a bit sparse in her diet.
Results, good, bad or indifferent.
After the first block, her attacks stopped. She has continued to come for acupuncture on a maintenance level, and I have continued to treat almost exclusively on her metal CF. She has had two successful pregnancies, tackled carpel tunnel and back pain, and her communication with her husband has improved.
Synopsis, misc., etc.
I determined this to be a woman with a spirit level disease, a possession block, and a metal CF. I first cleared the block with an ID and AE tx., and went on to treat her basing my tx. on the condition of her spirits, and working with her CF, the metal meridians.
Courtesy of:
Daphne af Jochnick L.Ac., M.Ac., Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM)
The Traditional Acupuncture Clinic
4933 Auburn Ave.
Bethesda, MD. 20814
301-657-2389, ext. 6
djochnick@aol.com
Last modified: September 6, 2009 
Tags: Acupuncture, panic attacks В· Posted in: Well-Being
