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Acupuncture Unblocks Health 'Traffic Jams'

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST NEWS

New Port Richey acupuncturist Kimberly Halsey gives a treatment to Rebecca Lieberman.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: January 2, 2008

In an era when diagnostic medical tests can run into the thousands of dollars, her tools are fingers on a pulse. The body can reveal what ails it by its pulse, explains traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Kimberly Halsey.

This 2,000-year-old system, which includes acupuncture and other forms of treatment, can offer relief for some of 2008's common health problems such as quitting smoking and weight loss.

According to the Web site of the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, an NIH Consensus statement noted acupuncture has shown promising results in certain conditions and might be useful in a number of others.

Traditional Chinese medicine works on the principle of getting chi, the body's invisible life force, to flow smoothly in the body's 12 meridians, chi's primary pathways. Points representing different organs are believed to be along the pathways.

"When chi gets blocked, it's a big traffic jam," explains Halsey.

Practitioners activate the flow by means of sterile disposable needles that are inserted into crucial body energy centers, herbs and other methods.

Those include moxabustion and cupping. In moxabustion, the herb mugwort is heated in a tube and held close to crucial energy centers. In cupping, suction cups are applied on energy points.

Her methods and herbs are safe, having been tried and proven for thousands of years, Halsey says.

For smokers, acupuncture can take away withdrawal symptoms by working with points on the ear, Halsey says, including those controlling hand and mouth to cut down on the urge to pick up a cigarette and put it in the mouth.

But for it to work, smokers must want to quit. As a sign of that desire, Halsey has them cut their cigarette usage in half on their own before she sees them.

"Their will must be engaged," she says. "If they're not willing, I can't help them."
Additionally, she gives them what she calls her "chill pills," herbs for calming.

Those pills also make the cigarettes taste bad, according to Thomas Chapman, a New Port Richey resident. Chapman says he has neither had nor wanted a cigarette since Halsey treated him a month ago.

"Every time I felt like smoking I popped the herbs into my mouth," Chapman recalls.
But, he laughs, giving up smoking has created another problem. He has put on 5 pounds since he gave up cigarettes.

Halsey says she can help with that, too. Weight gain, however, is complex because of a wide range of causes. "Is it life style? Lack of exercise? Thyroid? Hormone imbalance?" Halsey asks.

Different causes require different treatments. She often works with clients to effect lifestyle changes in diet and exercise, the acupuncturist notes.

For emotional overeating, Halsey runs a kind of tuning fork with seven needles along two energy centers on the back on either side of the spine.

It is here acupuncturists believe energy from suppressed emotions goes.
Clients often become emotional during the 20-minute session, Halsey explains, even to the point of bursting into tears.

Richard Weaver recently lost 25 pounds in six weeks under Halsey's care. She taped small magnets in his ears the first four days of the diet. "That suppressed my appetite tremendously."

She also worked with him on formulating a diet and gave him needle treatments stimulating acupuncture points for energy.

He was skeptical at first, Weaver said, but now is a believer. He has referred three friends who wanted to lose weight to Halsey.

The soft-voiced Halsey studied the ancient treatment for 3½ years at East West College of Natural Medicine, in Sarasota.

After passing a two-day examination, she became board certified by the Accreditation Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in 2005.

Shortly afterward, she did a month of post-graduate work at the People's Liberation Army General Hospital, in Beijing. Acupuncture is used extensively in China, she says.
Halsey lives in New Port Richey but has only recently opened an office there. She also has offices in Spring Hill and Homosassa.

For more information about Halsey call her at 727-505-4574.

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