Patient Letters
“.. a strange digestive illness.”
When I was in the 8th· grade, I came down with a strange digestive illness. This illness came as a shock to me since l was a firm follower of eating a healthy diet, drinking eight glasses of water and exercising. As time went on, I searched up and down aisles of pharmacies for cures that turned out to be temporary fixes and went to doctors who offered nothing but narcotics and recommendations for surgeries. This led to frustration and low self-esteem. I started seeing Dr. Chung after following my father to an appointment and was amazed by the office, the supplies and most importantly her knowledge.
Dr. Chung was able to pinpoint my digestive issue and informed me with facts that l was astonished to have heard. The treatments she gave me relaxed me and were painless. I was prescribed herbs that nourished, healed and strengthened my body making the digestive issue disappear. I was told to lay off dairy, soy and eat organic which made a very drastic difference. When following her instructions. I was no longer frustrated, and my self-esteem flourished. Under Dr. Chung, I learned to listen to my body and not the latest health fad.
Dr. Chung is very compassionate with everyone who comes into her office; she listens very intensively, is full of positive energy and a great teacher. I cannot thank her enough for everything she has done.
Jasmine
“I had a skin condition that was driving me crazy”
For over 3 years, I would get outbreaks on my neck, arms and chest. The bumps and rash would itch like crazy. I routinely went to the dermatologist to get a prescription for a foam to apply to the areas and the itching would stop and the bumps would go away. But a few months later, they would both return. I was tired of taking prescription drugs and finally listened to my wife to give Dr. Chung a try. Dr. Chung discovered I had a fungus causing the skin problems. With acupuncture, diet changes and herbs, she treated my condition. But I got more than I ever planned on: I’ve lost 30 pounds and the twice-a-month tension headaches I used to get are gone. Plus, no more knee pain, in fact, I’m now running 4 miles a day (something I haven’t been able to do in 20 years!) While I’m not the type of person who goes around promoting things, I can tell you this: Dr. Chung helped me!
M.C.
Linda Icaza Buford, GA
At age 53, I was suffering from severe hot flashes. I started seeing Dr. Chung after a friend of mine had great results with acupuncture. Having treatments has drastically reduced the frequency and intensity of my hot flashes and I have not had to use any HRT. Dr. Chung has also prescribed herbs, which have addressed my hormonal issues. Another benefit from acupuncture for me has been stress relief. I look forward to going for a treatment as it puts my body in a total state of relaxation. However, most important is that Dr. Chung treats the whole person. She has taught me exercises to strengthen my joints as well as my entire body. She has also helped me to understand the importance of diet; that “food is our medicine.” I have drastically changed what I put in my body and that has improved my overall health.
September 27, 2010
I met Dr. Chung through great friends of mine who are brother and sister – Scott and Beth Bryant. I live in Maine, while Beth lives in Georgia and Scott in Massachusetts. I have an 8 year old son who was born with a Noonan’s Syndrome which is a rare genetic disorder which can affect just about every part of your body. I have poor circulation and was taking taking medicine each day for allergies. My son Larry is particularly affected in his heart and lungs. He had been on several steroids since he was two years old to help him breathe easier and prevented chronic pneumonia. It never felt right to me to continuously give him steroids so I began asking lots of people what they thought. Both Scott and Beth highly recommended acupuncture with Dr. Chung since she had helped them so tremendously. This past June we took a trip to Georgia to see Dr. Chung in hopes that she could help us. Larry and I had 4 days of acupuncture and Moxa treatments. As part of our treatment she suggested that Larry and I change our diet to be dairy and wheat free, meat only 3 times a week and to eat only the finest organic fruits and vegetables. Also, nothing processed in any way. She also gave us a series of exercises to strengthen his heart and lungs and to aid in circulation. Dr. Chung gave us a couple months of liquid herbs to decrease phlegm production. We have followed all of her instructions very carefully and I am pleased to say that Larry has been free from all medications for about 5 weeks and has had no symptoms of shortness of breath and no coughing or wheezing at all. Larry continues to be off of all of his medications and we have no plans of putting him back on anything. Larry had his annual heart/lung appointment at Boston Children’s Hospital on September 24th 2010. Larry set a record doing his ecocardiogram while on the treadmill. He completed all seven levels which involved 21 minutes on the treadmill, 9 of the last 21 minutes were at the rate of 5 mph, 5 and a half mph and 6 mph all of which lasted 3 minutes. They have never had a child finish this test before. This test is performed about 300 times a month and only one or two people ever finish it, and they are usually high school athletes. In addition, the cardiologist examined Larry very carefully and had a VERY tough time finding his pulmonary valve stenosis. The cardiologist then asked Larry how he was able to do this with such ease and he responded that he had acupuncture in June and that he strengthens his heart and lungs every day with exercises from Dr. Chung. He then proceeded to show her the exercises and she was just amazed. Larry then shared with her his diet as prescribed by Dr. Chung and let her know about his favorite grocery store (Whole Foods) if she’d like to try it herself!! His cardiologist was very intrigued by Larry’s progress – especially without any medications and said that she would really like to learn more from Dr. Chung as it would benefit many of her heart patients. She commented that Larry’s whole body is healthier than most people who have never been compromised medically. In addition to my circulation and allergies, I have had chronic leg pain for several years. Dr. Chung did a procedure called cupping on my leg in which she removed a bit of bad blood. Since my trip to Georgia I haven’t had ANY leg pain, my circulation has improved quite a bit and I have not had any allergy symptoms at all. Dr. Chung is very skilled in both acupuncture and herbology. I would highly recommend acupuncture with Dr. Chung for children as she is so professional and compassionate and obviously has tremendous results.
How Dr. Chung has changed my Life
I first went to see Dr. Chung because my left ear was blocked from a sinus infection. I had tried Western medicine, done 2 rounds of steroids, and gone to an ENT, none of which worked. Dr. Chung saw me for about 4-5 months (once every 2-3 weeks) and finally my ear opened up. (During this time, I also took some herbs prescribed by Dr. Chung to help clean my digestive system and I gave up drinking coffee because Dr. Chung said that coffee is 5% good for you when prescribed for a medical condition and it is 95% bad for you.) After my ear was back to normal, I asked Dr. Chung to listen to me breathe (exhale) because I had spent the entire previous summer coughing, even though I was taking my asthma medications as directed. Dr. Chung took one listen and said, “You are pre-emphysemic.” This was very scary. I began seeing Dr. Chung once weekly for acupuncture, tried to improve my diet (with her guidance), and began doing the “heart and lung” exercises that Dr. Chung taught me. When I first started, I could only do about 10 repetitions before coughing my fool head off. I did 50 total reps and tried to add 5 or 10 reps each day, twice per day, morning and evening, heading for 200 reps each session. I didn’t keep good track, but it took 5-7 months before I could do all 200 without having to stop to cough. But as I progressed, I began feeling much better and coughing much less.
During our visits, I figured out that the Western drugs that I had been taking (Advair, albuterol, singulair, flonase, Nasacort, etc.) for my asthma (for 16 years) were “treating” my asthmatic condition but not “curing” it. So about 2 months after beginning to work on my emphysema with Dr. Chung, I made the decision to stop my medications altogether. I was also taking different herbs during this process as deemed necessary by Dr. Chung. During this time, my brother, Scott, had cancer (type B lymphoma) two different times, once treated with radiation and the other time with chemotherapy. After the chemo, he developed terrible psoriasis. His is another (much more dramatic) story, but when he came to Dr. Chung, I decided to do his diet regimen (given by Dr. Chung) with him and I lost 10 pounds, and took another big step toward improving my health. All along, Dr. Chung would also teach me additional exercises, sometimes for a specific ailment, others just for general health and well being. Simultaneously, I have been having trouble sleeping (menopause) and had been taking lorazepam to be able to sleep. Well, we took care of that too. We tried 2-3 different herbs and finally found the one that works for me and now I am sleeping well and not taking lorazepam either. This is just a snapshot of a 2 year relationship and journey together. But the most important aspects of my story, I believe are:
1. I am off all Western medications
2. I am healthier than I have been in years
3. I had no sinus infection all last winter (can’t remember the last time that happened)
4. Dr. Chung treats your whole being – not just needles, not just herbs, not just diet, not just exercises – all of these things together, but in the appropriate balance.
5. I know my own body much better than I ever did before and I am better able to
understand what is going on and what I need.