Now when I say difficult this in no way reflects their personality, or even the complexity of their condition. What it mostly represents is the idea that the state of their health does not change without frequent and consistent treatment. And this makes for a difficult case because many times patients are not educated properly about the various influences that can contribute to and prevent disease, like diet, exercise, stress, and sleep. And they are not educated about idea that just because a person has a symptom or doesn't have a symptom doesn't mean that they are healthy or unhealthy. Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine have complex and subtle ways of detecting imbalances in the body that signify both impending illness and the progressive recovery from illness that isn't necessarily reflected in symptoms.

And so I will often tell a story of the two men who happened upon a water pump on the side of the road on a hot day. Zig Ziglar tells this story often, and I don't do it the justice he does. If you want to hear this story click here for the video. But the short of it is that as you move the handle of a water pump up and down, there is not indication that any water will come out. The pump goes hundreds of feet into the earth down the well, and often it will take hundreds of pumps before the water manifests. And if you gave up after 25 pumps, or 50 pumps, you would have to start all over to get that water out. But if you stuck with it, and pumped that 100 or 200 times, eventually that pump would start spouting the water. the consistent and frequent effort would pay off. And once that water starts to come out, it really only takes very little effort to keep that water coming.

And so the point it, in order to get anything worthwhile in this world, and to overcome years and years of a chronic condition, it will take consistent effort even in the face of no discernible result. Some people call this faith, some people call this doing the right thing for the sake of doing it. But the bottom line is, if you eat right, exercise, manage your stress, and get proper treatment, consistently, even the most difficult cases can be resolved.

Michael Padilla, L.Ac.