Case Study – Isobel Rees

Patient card

Conditions

Severe dermatitis brought on my stress following the death of her husband.

History

In June 2015 Isobel Rees lost her husband, Trevor, who she had been married to for 37 years. He had fought a long battle against cancer.

Isobel, who lives in the West Midlands, was overcome with grief and struggled to come to terms with her loss.

She was also trying to cope with severe dermatitis, which had developed during the last six months of her husband’s illness and persisted after his death.

Eventually, after repeated visits to her GP and a dermatologist she decided to try acupuncture to relieve her symptoms.

“I was in the conservatory one day and I just knew I had to do something. I was on such a spiral, the more I worried about it the worse it was getting,” she said.

So, in June 2016, a year after her husband’s death, she visited the British Acupuncture Council’s website to find an acupuncturist in her local area.

She located acupuncturist David Millard's acupuncture clinic in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton.

Following an initial assessment Mr Millard identified that Isobel’s dermatitis was probably being caused by her overwhelming grief and anxiety.

A treatment plan was devised and Isobel, 64, visited Mr Millard for acupuncture once a week for a month, followed by fortnightly sessions for another few months.

“Within six months of starting the acupuncture the dermatitis had gone,” she said, “I had it on my body, my arms and my legs and, apart from the slight blemish every now and then it’s gone.

“I now understand that my problems were coming from inside of me and wasn’t purely a skin condition. I had to come to terms with my husband’s death. I had never had acupuncture before but I found it to be such a positive experience and that is still the case. I am a believer.”

Isobel now sees Mr Millard once a month and this enables her to stay on an even keel.

She has even found it has helped with other symptoms.

"Last January I had the flu and it really affected me. I took to my bed for three days, which I don’t normally do. When I next saw the acupuncturist, I explained to him how I had felt and how low I had become.

“After that treatment I somehow felt my body had been put back into sync and I felt so much better.”

Mr Millard said: “The body, mind and spirit have an inbuilt capacity to self-heal. It is when this 'capacity' breaks down that we seek help and Western medicine is used to address the problem.
“Unfortunately certain issues such as anxiety-type symptoms like those exhibited by Isobel can be extremely difficult to address with drug based therapy.

“This is where Traditional 5-ELEMENT Acupuncture proved to be successful. A gentle and passive therapy with incredible effect if carried out correctly. Hopefully, Isobel will be able to go forth in her life with vigor and zest.....and completely drug -free!”

Press

Notes to Editor:

For further information, case studies or interviews please contact: Katie Osborne on 07990 922615 or by emailing katie@osbornecomms.co.uk

About the BAcC:

The British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) has a membership of nearly 3,000 professionally qualified acupuncturists. It is the UK's largest professional body for the practice of acupuncture. BAcC members practise a traditional, holistic style of acupuncture diagnosis and treatment based on a system developed and refined over 2,000 years. To achieve BAcC membership, practitioners must first undertake extensive training in traditional acupuncture (minimum three years full-time or part-time equivalent), which includes physiology, anatomy and other biomedical sciences appropriate to the practice of acupuncture.

Traditional acupuncture:

Traditional acupuncture as practised by members of the BAcC is based on Chinese medicine principles that have been developed, researched and refined for over 2,500 years. Traditional acupuncture is holistic, not focused on isolated symptoms. It regards pain and illness, whether physical or mental, to be a sign the whole body is out of balance. Western or medical acupuncture is a more recent development practised predominantly by doctors and physiotherapists, who use acupuncture techniques within their existing scope of practice on the basis of a western medical diagnosis

Why use a BAcC practitioner?

Only British Acupuncture Council members belong to a Professional Standards Authority accredited register, providing professional guarantees of safety, education and continuing development (professionalstandards.org.uk)

Look for the letters MBAcC after the name of your acupuncturist to ensure:

extensive training – minimum three years degree level – with relevant western medicine including anatomy and physiology
adherence to BAcC codes of safe practice and professional conduct
compliance with current health and safety legislation
full insurance cover for medical malpractice and public/products liability
mandatory continuing professional development to keep knowledge and skills up to date
postgraduate study of special interests such as pain management and acupuncture for children

Find a BAcC registered acupuncturist near you