It was a busy summer behind the scenes here at Thrive. We’ve been getting our systems dialed in to better serve you and enjoying some summer fun. Here’s all the updates and an experiment to help you ease into Fall–because we’re having late summer more than ever this year!
Fall Transition Experiment
I’ve been having this conversation with a lot of patients lately so I want to share it with you. And it’s perfect to help our transition through hot late summer into fall which is a drying time of year.
Experiment: 💧💦 Start your day with water and electrolytes💦💧. Yup before coffee. Try it out for a week, or 2 or a month and see how you feel.
Why: Most of us wake up a little dehydrated because we just spent the past 8 hours breathing, and sometimes sweating, without drinking water. Start your day off by prioritizing rebalancing your body. Using electrolytes helps ensure your body absorbs the water. You can have the drink you want–coffee, tea, chai, matcha, etc–after you give your body what it needs. It’s a subtle but clear message that you’re taking care of your body.
How: You can use any electrolytes you like, but avoid lots of sugars to start the day so you don’t end up on a blood sugar roller coaster. I don’t like the taste of stevia so I use Boulder Salt electrolytes (you can order them online with a quick google search) which is a low sodium electrolyte with all the minerals that should be in your water if it came from a mountain spring. If I’m exercising or sweating a lot I use LMNT unflavored variety (also available online), again b/c it doesn’t have stevia in it. If you want to be super simple you can add a pinch (about 1/8 tsp) of Himalayan Sea salt to a tall glass of water.
What you might notice: A clearer mind, better digestion, smoother energy (even after you drink coffee), improved metabolism, a feeling of appreciation for your body to start the day. Did you know that chronic dehydration increases the risk of kidney stones, UTI’s, constipation, diverticulitis of bowel blockage, poor nutrient absorption, cardiovascular strain, and heat exhaustion. No wonder we feel better when we’re fully hydrated!
Why Now: According to Chinese Medicine our bodies feel the seasonal transitions and the adjustment can be a strain. And while it’s officially Fall here in Sonoma County we typically have late summer weather that is hot and dry. And boy are we having a hot late summer this year, after a pretty cool summer that was windy. In Chinese Medicine Fall is a time of drying. We see it in nature when the summer bounty starts to dry up and leaves turn colors. The combination of a hot late summer and the start of Fall means it’s a great time to tune into hydrating your body to help make the transition a little bit easier for your body.
Try it out and let us know how you feel. Several patients have told me lately they notice they feel better all day when they start the day with this simple change.
Clinic Updates in the Spirit Of Growth and Service
Welcome Megan
I’m very excited to announce that Megan Rauch has joined the clinic as Associate Acupuncturist and Herbalist! Megan and I went to Chinese Medicine school together in San Francisco way back when. Megan and I had imagined working together over the years and we’re both excited that the time is now right for her to join the Team Thrive.
Megan and I have studied with and been inspired by many of the same teachers and we have very similar treatment approaches and styles. She’s super bright and always learning something new. Plus she has a great sense of humor! I’m excited we’ll be able to help even more of our community to not just feel better, but feel more like themselves with enough oomph to contribute to their family, work, or whatever inspires them.
Megan loves the variety of being a general medicine practitioner (because in Chinese Medicine it’s all connected) and has treated a wide variety of conditions ranging from chronic and acute pain, sports injuries, digestive issues, fatigue, allergies, sinusitis, and frequent colds.
She is an expert in treating stress-related conditions–stress, anxiety, panic, depression, insomnia, and issues that get worse with stress such as digestion (IBS, acid reflux, ulcers), tension, headaches, chronic pain, sleep, asthma, allergies, and auto-immune conditions.
And she loves exploring the connection between the mind and body. She’s a bit of a nerd about the our musculoskeletal system and circulation. She knows that supporting both the mind and body help you get long lasting, sustainable change.
She also has a special passion for women’s health–she was a birth doula over 20 years ago and has 3 kids herself so she brings a depth of knowledge and experience to helping women through all stages of life. As an acupuncturist she loves supporting pregnant and postpartum women as well as women experiencing hormonal imbalance such as PMS and menopause.
Megan will be in the practice shadowing for a few weeks so she can make sure she’s ready to flow in the Thrive procedures and systems. You can read more about Megan’s background here. And schedule with her here.
Schedule Updates
Those of you that have been in this month know that Christina updated her schedule–same amount of appointments, slightly different schedule. I was feeling behind on some of the admin tasks and needed some more uninterrupted time for them. So I listened to my own medicine and chose to change in support of more flow. Flow with patients and flow with admin tasks.
I’m human so deciding to make a change can be hard. When I’m stuck, I often ask myself–What would I tell a patient in my situation? This time the answer was clear–set your schedule up to flow the way it will work best for you and trust that you will be able to serve patients better. Thanks to all of you who have been flexible with moving your standing appointment times if they happened to be part of the schedule that was effected. When I made the schedule change, I didn’t know Megan would be joining the team–because we create the online calendar about 3 months out. Now that Megan has joined us I have even more trust that we’ll have appointments to serve the community, and we’ll be resourced so we can do it with all our best energy.
Expanded Herbal Pharmacy
Just a few weeks ago Christina travelled back east to take an advanced class with her herbal mentors. I got to hang out with a bunch of herb nerd and I brought back a deeper understanding of the foundation for diagnosis and prescribing custom formulas using our existing herbal pharmacy. I also a fine tuned some details of the advanced layer of diagnosis and added a whole lot more herbs to our pharmacy! So we’re ready to treat stubborn conditions, patients that aren’t responding “as usual”, and less common ailments.
I say this all the time, but I can’t stop…herbs can be the best bang for your time and money because you leave after one appointment with a potent medicine that you take twice a day, usually for about a week. You can’t take us home with you to get acupuncture twice a day, so herbs are the best way to take our treatments home in with you. And there are some conditions that are simply better treated by herbs or patients get better results if they are taking herbs along with their acupuncture treatments.
What We’re Treating In The Clinic
Neuropathy. We love helping patients get rid of, reduce, or better manage neuropathy. It can be uncomfortable and concerning when arms and hands or legs and feet (or both) are numb, tingling, burning, weak, or have lost all feeling. It can cause struggles with balance or small movements like picking things up or getting dressed.
We treat it a lot because there isn’t much else that works that well for it. Yes there are some drugs that sometimes help, but some people don’t feel good on them or are concerned about taking them long term–because most people are told their neuropathy is only going to get worse. We’re here to say it’s possible for it improve because we see it happen!
Types of neuropathy we commonly treat:
- Injury related
- Post surgical
- Nerve entrapment or compression
- Post Chemo
- Toxin exposure
- Diabetic
- Autoimmune
- Vitamin Deficiency
- Infections (Shingles, Lyme)
- Unknown cause
If you want help treating or managing neuropathy make an appointment through our online booking system or get in touch via phone or email because we’d love to help you get through your day with less pain, be more active and independent, and feel more like yourself!
Christina and Team Thrive
