Elizabeth's Blog

Hello, prospective students! If you are new to my page you may not know that I will be graduating in August. Yay! 

About a month back I took the first of my four board exams. Some states only require three, so to see what your state requires you may go to nccaom.org and browse for state requirements. Usually when you take the computerized board exam it will tell you if you passed, but since the biomedical portion is so new they are still working out kinks so they mail the results. It's grueling because you have to wait 30 days. I received my results this week and I passed! It is such a good feeling to see the results. 

Besides my results, I had a good week in clinic. I had 16 patient visits to add to my tally sheet to meet my 450 total patient visits for all my clinic shifts. I saw my continuing patients but also a few new cases. I filled in for an intern who usually sees PTSD patients. These patients receive specific auricular points to help cope with their stress and anxiety. These patients are so grateful because they are experiencing results and receive the treatments for free.

Something Different

Dr. Yihyun Kwon has started to see stroke patients in the clinic. This is part of his ongoing stroke clinical study on the results of acupuncture and herbs in stroke victims with any kind of paralysis. I have been very lucky to be able to observe his cases as he takes a history, needles and gives the patients instructions on home exercises and dietary changes. Some of the points he uses are not commonly used in clinic, as well as his needling method, so it is fascinating!

On Thursday I had the pleasure of eating with one of my favorite professors. She wanted to cook for a fellow acupuncture grad who has treated her in the past. It was her way of saying thank you to the grad and she invited me as well. We had a feast, as you can see in the pictures. We had noodles, fried rice, tofu, shrimp, fish, baby bok choy, dumplings, and egg drop soup. Oh my, it was so much food and so yummy! 

Can you believe it's Week 9 already? The weeks just seem to fly by especially when you have a jam-packed week. Lately, I have been adding to the craziness by going in early on Mondays to treat a patient who can only make that time, so last Monday was 13-hour day at school. But I treated myself with an acupuncture treatment on my day off, Thursday.

However, for the past three weeks I have been going in on Thursday mornings to help out in the herbal pharmacy. I used to work in the herb room and when I did, I felt more confident in my herbal strategy so I've begun to volunteer. It's a great learning experience because we are treating a Hepatitis B patient with herbs who has been improving over the last few months documented by the lab work she receives every month.   

Frenzy

Ask any student and even the calmest will say they feel a little more stirred up when midterms come along. After being at National for over 5 years (including my B.S.) I have definitely learned to chill out more around test time. But midterms still have me staying up a little later studying. I have learned that the calmer one is when taking a test, the more you will remember. I especially couldn't get through midterms without my husband who gives me encouragement and makes me home cooked meals that feed my brain's glucose need. 

Currently I am studying for three midterms, one of which is for Psychopathology, in which every question will be in essay form and should be at least a one-page answer, states Dr. Delfosse, our instructor. I enjoy the class because it helps me realize what some of our mental illness patients are experiencing.

One of the topics we have discussed is PTSD, short for posttraumatic stress disorder. Auricular acupuncture works exceptionally well at treating the symptoms of PTSD. We use a protocol called NADA, which has been used all over the world for recovering addicts. We currently treat PTSD veterans of war for free on Thursdays at the clinic. So spread the word!

The picture is of me studying with the help of fuzzy feline, Kitty.