{"id":15028,"date":"2015-01-08T15:21:56","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.miridiatech.com\/news\/?p=15028"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:03:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T20:03:31","slug":"death-its-a-hard-subject-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.miridiatech.com\/news\/2015\/01\/death-its-a-hard-subject-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Death and Dying: An Acupuncturist’s Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> This article was originally published in 2015. The Stimplus Pro referenced here has been succeeded by the Pointoselect Digital<\/a>, and Auriculo 3D is now Auriculo 360<\/a>. The clinical techniques described remain fully applicable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"End-of-Life<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Have you experienced the death of a patient?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It hurts.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You’ve shared part of my journey with a special patient in previous blogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cried together when she was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in January of 2011. They gave her six months to live.  (Complementary versus Alternative<\/a><\/span>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and I worked together with her oncology team. They worked on fighting the cancer. She worked on good nutrition and maintaining a healing lifestyle. I worked on helping to balance her meridians through the process. (Surviving Chemotherapy<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was a wonderful lady and I was blessed to serve her until the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a hard subject. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Birth and death are two things we all have to experience in this earthly existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in college, I had the opportunity to intern at San Diego Hospice. There were many who chose not to take this internship, simply because they were afraid. I’ll admit, I was a bit hesitant at first, but I’d never trade my hospice internship experience. I learned SO much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you comfortable treating patients who are dying?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In today’s blog, I’ll share some helpful acupuncture strategies relating to chemotherapy and end of life symptoms I learned while interning in San Diego with an amazing supervisor, Erin Raskin, L.Ac..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I keep this information tucked safely in a file so I can refer to it as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each time a hospice patient shows up in my clinic, I’m glad I have it. Maybe some of my clinical resources will be helpful to you too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"treatment<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ever<\/figure>ROOT: Organizing Energy<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The body is amazing. I learned through my hospice experience that energy needs to be “organized” in order for the patient to comfortably let go during the dying process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of our hospice treatments involved creating order so the body could shut down comfortably. (I’ll be writing another blog about this soon.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve found AcuGraph<\/strong> to be very valuable for end-of-life treatment strategies. The graphs typically change quite often as the body transitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My approach is always to first treat the imbalances, and then deal specifically with symptom relief. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Patients and family members appreciate seeing and understanding my approach to treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRANCH: Symptom Relief<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Nausea<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n