Each patient comes into my office with a specific goal in mind.  No matter what the goal - pain relief, aid infertility, decrease menopause symptoms, eliminate headaches, etc etc - people wants results and they want them now!  But, the reality is, to truly heal and do that naturally takes time.

I am reading a new textbook right now dealing with the treatment of infertility with acupuncture.  There was a section in the book that I thought summed up the philosophy of Western versus Alternative health care in an interesting way:

"Imagine our patient is a round table, which in its diseased state has grown sharp corners.  It now looks like a square table - oh dear!

The table goes to see the specialist in corners.

'No problem at all, my dear table.  We'll have you round again in no time at all!'  Well, right he was, more or less.  The operation was performed the very next day.  The surgeon, wielding a saw, quickly removed the table's corners.  The procedure was quite painful but over and done with rapidly and efficiently.  Unfortunately, he cut a little too close on the fourth corner and the table lost part of one of its legs.  The top, however, while not entirely round and smooth, no longer had sharp corners.

But imagine if the table had come to see the old Chinese professor himself.

'Yes, I can help you to be a round table again.'  And then he would pull out a small file, apply it to one corner and begin to file.  He would file and file.  And even thought it might require a lot of patience on the part of the table and the doctor, eventually it would be beautifully smooth and strong and perfectly round again."

I admittedly become very frustrated when I treat a patient one or two times, and they call to cancel their next appointment because they aren't 100% yet.  The idea of "quick" healing has become an expectation.  You go see your MD; you get a pill; you feel better.  But think about that pill you take.  You may see the MD physically one time to get the prescription, but then don't you take that pill several times a day for a week or two?  Or even prescriptions that you must be on for 6-8 weeks before you may possibly notice results? 

Unfortunately, I can't bottle up my chiropractic or acupuncture skills to send home with you.  Decreasing pain and increasing health simply takes time.