Acu FAQ

Read time: 3 minutes, 22 seconds

My policies are on this page: If you're booking your first appointment, you will be sent a one-page form to fill out and sign, acknowledging you have read the policies. You will also be asked to pay in advance and sent instructions.

Please read the entire page. It tells you how to prepare and care for your body before and after acupuncture, and some of the real risks that could happen to you if you do not understand how to prepare.

Prices: my prices vary throughout the year they are updated here:

• Acupuncture: $250 $165

What's included in an acu treatment? Every session includes acupuncture. I may offer you additional modalities if I think it'll help you - cups, bonesetting, scraping, moxa. Movement therapy, fitness training, breathwork, financial / emotional / spiritual work are separate and can be booked through Schedulicity as "Coaching".

I have a strict 24-hour Notification Policy

Consults: I do not provide free consultations. This means most people must book an appointment and come in to talk to me. In all cases I will reach out to you beforehand, ask you what you want help with, and a few basic questions, usually by text. If I need a pre-appointment phone or zoom call (usually for people healing from cancer, toxicity, trauma, et al) I will coordinate that with you, otherwise, I will conduct an intake during your first session. You can book using this link

Are you legit? Yes, I have a master's degree, am nationally certified, licensed in the state of New York, and fully insured.

Eat before your appointment This is the most serious requirement of all. If you arrive and have not eaten all day, I cannot treat you (but I will charge you fully). Acupuncture drops your blood sugar significantly enough that you can pass out or vomit during or after a session. If I'm not in the room when your body goes south, the list of injuries you could sustain includes concussion, fractures, dislocations, asphyxiation, or death. EVERYONE is susceptible - I have seen 2 young athletes pass out in my practice due to hypoglycemia - one in front of me (thank god I caught her) because she had not eaten that day. The other didn't eat all day, worked out hard, smoked a bowl and woke up on a stone kitchen floor at home later that night in a pool of blood. (btw If you add alcohol cannabis after acu on an empty stomach, you're just increasing the likelihood that this will happen). Please don't do this. Eat.

Alcohol and cannabis: If you are off-gassing alcohol or weed, I will charge you the full price and send you away without treating you, and you will not be rebooked. If you microdose daily (not including alcohol): take your normal amount the day of your appointment, but eat more than usual. However, it would be better for you to come sober, because your body is more responsive and we can see your true mental and metabolic status.

What is the best way to prepare? Be well nourished, grounded, self-aware, and understimulated.

After care is up to you, whatever you need to feel cared for - time with someone who loves you, comforting but healthy food, quiet time alone. I recommend against exercise, cannabis, alcohol, narcotics, sugar, work, or overstimulation.

It is best not to exercise afterwards until you understand how your body feels after acupuncture. Sometimes people feel they undo some of the progress if they exercise after a session, sometimes they feel fine, every body is different.

Billing and Payment, and Legal FAQ's

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I utilize a very conventional, standard business and payment model - you pay for my time and are responsible for the appointment fee the when you book the appointment.

I don't take insurance.

Informed Consent

You should read this entire Informed Consent and ask questions at your appointment if you need.

Read time 1 minutes and 50 seconds

You hereby request and consent to acupuncture and herbal treatments, as well as other procedures associated with Chinese medicine. You understand that the methods of treatment may include, but are not limited to, acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, electrical stimulation, and herbal medicine.

The most common side effects from acupuncture are bruising and bleeding.

In my opinion, second to to bruising and bleeding are dizziness, fainting, light headedness, although these are caused by low blood sugar and not eating enough that day (or in the recent past and the day of the session).

Third to those effects are numbness, or tingling at the site of needle insertion during or after treatment.

There is the documented risk of lung or organ puncture, although I myself have never seen or heard of this happening.

The risk of infection is small, as all needles are sterile, disposable needles, but the risk does exist.

Even smaller still is the risk of paralysis. I am aware of exactly 1 (one) case outside the US in which this happened. Compare that to the risk of permanent nerve damage during epidurals, which is 1 in 24,000 according to a UK study.

Burns are a risk of moxibustion that you must accept - if you have moxa, at some point you're going to get burned. The burns from moxa are minor. Burns are also possible with heat lamps, and fire cups.

I have observed 1 (one) permanent scar from a heat lamp that fell on a patient's back during session at a clinic other than my own. I always keep my heat lamp positioned far from your body, so that if it falls or fails in some way it will hit the floor and not you, but burning should still be considered a possiblity.

Rare side effects include dizziness or fainting, especially if the patient is overdue for a meal. I understand that while this document describes the major risks of treatment, other side effects may occur.

Acupuncture treatments must be altered during pregnancy, please notify me if you become pregnant.

You will be given the opportunity to discuss with me the nature of all the risks named here. Understand results are never guaranteed. Please do not expect me to be able to anticipate or explain all risks and complications, and please do rely on me to exercise judgment during the course of the procedures, in the best of your interest.

1. NY State Requirement: ADVICE TO CONSULT PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN

2. HIPAA Requirement: Notice of Privacy Practices

Read time 1 minutes and 53 seconds

Read this section if you want clarification on the state and federal laws below.

Please consult a physician regarding the condition or conditions for which you are seeking acupuncture treatment.

• Notice of Privacy Practices

This notice summarizes how health data about you may be used and shared and how you can get access to this data. IMPORTANT NOTE: This does not include all of the details about our privacy policy. For more details, please request a copy of our NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES and we will provide a copy for you.

I. How we may use and share health data about you:

a) Treatment - To give you medical treatment or other types of health services.

b) Payment - To bill you or a third party for payment for services provided to you.

c) Health Care Operations - For our own operations such as quality control, compliance monitoring, audit, etc.

II. Disclosures where we do not have to give you a chance to agree or object:

a) To you

b) As required by federal, state, or local law

c) If child abuse or neglect is suspected

d) Public health risks (for public health activities to prevent and control spread of disease)

e) Lawsuits and disputes (in response to a court or administrative order)

f) Law enforcement (to help law enforcement officials respond to criminal activities)

g) Coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors

h) Organ or tissue donation facilities if you are an organ donor

i) To avert a threat to an individual or to public health safety

III. Disclosures where we have to give you a chance to agree or object:

a) Patient directories - You can decide what health data, if any, you want to be listed in patient directories.

b) Persons involved in your care or payment for your care - We may share your health data with a family member, a close friend, or other person that you have named as being involved with your health care.

IV. Other uses of health data: Other uses not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written consent.

V. You have the following rights relating to the health data we keep about you:

a) Right to inspect your health record and to receive a copy of your health record upon request

b) Right to amend information in your health record you believe is inaccurate or incomplete

c) Right to know to whom we have disclosed your health information

d) Right to ask for limits on the health information data we give out about you

e) Right to receive communication from us about your health information in alternate ways

f) Right to a paper copy of the complete Notice of Privacy Practices