Mood
When you're struggling with your mood, it can feel quite isolating -- as though no one could ever understand how you feel. Experiencing emotions is a normal part of life, but when it disrupts our relationships and ability to function socially, we realize that perhaps something isn't quite right.
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Drugs that are advertised by pharmaceutical companies on television and in magazines offer very appealing solutions to a person who is at wits' end. Some people get great relief from these drugs, and their lives and relationships improve. However, drugs that influence mood are not without side effects. These side effects are easier to tolerate, or perhaps less noticeable, when you think you have no alternative, but the cumulative effect of their long term use can change how your body works. Once the mood feels stable again, some may try to stop taking the drug out of frustration with the side effects, only to discover that they feel worse than before they started taking it.
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Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can stabilize your mood without drugs, and the effect can be long-lasting. Relatively few people know this -- possibly because the influence from pharmaceutical ads on television is great, and the possibility that a foreign and ancient healthcare system (TCM) could actually be effective seems too good to be true.
Acupuncture Can Change Your Mood in Seconds
If you're angry or anxious, acupuncture can make you calm. If you're feeling sad, acupuncture can make you forget why you were upset. If you're feeling stressed out, acupuncture can bring you back to feeling peaceful.
Though the effect is immediate, in order to make the effect long-lasting, weekly treatment for several months may be necessary. Months can seem too slow if you're miserable right now, but the effect is felt with each treatment, and the length of relief increases with each treatment. The regularity of the treatment is necessary to teach your body to regulate itself.
Chinese herbal medicine may be combined with acupuncture, too, but the effect is different from pharmaceutical drugs. With Chinese herbal medicine, there are no side effects, no addiction risk, and the effect is gentle.
Sometimes Anxiety and Depression Are Actually Due to Physical Problems
Most of us are familiar with the recently coined term "hangry," which is when you are so hungry that you become irritable. We've all experienced this, and it's easy to notice in children and in others, but when it's happening to us, it is not always easy to recognize. We forget that our mood can be so strongly influenced by the physiological process of intense hunger.
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anxiety can be caused by pain, insomnia, digestive issues or a heart condition
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irritability can be caused by digestive problems
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depression or fear can be caused by deep fatigue or being cold all the time
Mood Issues Can Be Caused by Physical Problems
So don't assume that the root cause of your mood issue is all in your head; sometimes it can be in your body. Pain, insomnia, digestive problems, and deep fatigue (to name just a few) can often be resolved with TCM treatment, and once these other symptoms have improved, you may discover your mood issue has resolved as well.