Nearly two decades ago, I took a class where the instructor was the doctor who is credited with bringing acupuncture to the U.S. During his class, he wrote Japanese with his left hand and Chinese with his right hand while simultaneously explaining their meanings. He then went on to explain it takes 20-30 years before an acupuncturist can become proficient in their practice! I thought to myself, why are we learning this if we are going to be ineffective for decades? Not to mention, if someone goes to two different acupuncturists, they rarely have the same diagnosis. It was all very confusing.
It was after this class that one of my classmates developed a device that reduced a 20-30 year program to less than three years and created consistency so that from acupuncturist to acupuncturist, the diagnosis/treatment recommendations are the same. This device is as close to blood testing that acupuncturists could gain. For example, if someone had blood drawn in Seattle, it will have the same values if drawn in Dallas. This device, the AcuGraph, is used in our office. Regardless of location or practitioner, a person’s specific test results will be the same.
Recently, the developers of AcuGraph created an extensive training and certification program for AcuGraph. And, I was the first in Texas to complete this program.
So, how does AcuGraph work? The test is a gentle, painless, two-minute exam. It measures how much energy is flowing through the different areas of your body. Regardless of the doctor, we are all taught to create balance. It could be a balance of muscles, nutrition, physiology and energy. The AcuGraph measures your imbalances and then I correlate this to your other in-office testing. The program prompts me, the AcuGraph practitioner, on the best way to treat you. Each treatment with the AcuGraph provides the patient a customized treatment. Included in that treatment are graphs and instructions so that you may continue treatments at home. Each report following your graph has the “why” you have imbalances and shows your cumulative progress.
While we’ve had AcuGraph in our office for 17 years, we have not exposed our patients to it to my satisfaction. There’s no good explanation why not but it is what I use to treat my family and our patients should also benefit from such a powerful health tool.
I want to encourage people to try AcuGraph so we have created packages to help people heal faster while saving money.
If you are interested in AcuGraph, ask which program would be best for you during your next office visit!
Be well,
Dr. Trites
Individual sessions
AcuGraph only – $100
Acupuncture only – $100 (using results from a previous AcuGraph session)
AcuGraph and acupuncture treatment – $180
Packages
Acupuncture only (3 pack) – $280 (save $20; using previous AcuGraph information)
6 sessions AcuGraph w/acupuncture – $788 (save $292)
12 sessions AcuGraph w/acupuncture – $1,273 (save $887)
Combination Packages
AcuGraph w/acupuncture + infrared treatment sauna – $230
6 AcuGraph w/acupuncture + infrared treatment sauna – $889 (save $491)
12 AcuGraph w/acupuncture + infrared treatment sauna – $1,486 (save $1,274)
Pharmacy Corner
We are excited that Doug Crager, Doctor of Pharmacy and the Executive Director of Healthy Habits for Healthy Families, has agreed to be a regular contributor to our newsletter!
Dr. Trites often consults with Dr. Crager when it comes to pharmaceuticals. Many of our patients also have questions about medications and their interactions so we thought it would be nice for all of us to be able to benefit from Dr. Crager’s expertise in this area.
If there is a topic that you would like to know more about, please email our office at office@choosenewleaf.com. We will send all suggestions to Dr. Crager for his consideration for a future article.
For his first article, Angela asked Dr. Crager to share his insight about ivermectin. It’s worth a read!
Ivermectin & COVID—What You Need to Know
Ivermectin has been a hot topic of discussion over the past year. The antiparasitic has been called everything from “miracle drug” to “horse-dewormer.” Ivermectin was first discovered in 1975 in Japan and was used in the veterinary market. In 1986, ivermectin was registered for human use to treat a variety of diseases, mainly for people of impoverished third-world countries, and has been used safely and effectively in hundreds of millions of people. So, merely referring to ivermectin as a “horse dewormer” is disingenuous. It is the equivalent to calling penicillin just a fish antibiotic or saying aspirin is simply tree bark.
When it comes to COVID, not much is known about the mechanism in which ivermectin works. In a lab, ivermectin shows antiviral activity by stopping the replication of the coronavirus. There have been a plethora of studies conducted on ivermectin’s effectiveness, but in order for a study to be deemed legitimate by the medical community, it has to have an extremely structured design that requires a lot of time and money, something that hospitals have not had a lot of this last year and a half. Most large studies required for approval are funded by big pharma and since large profits aren’t going to be made on a drug that normally costs a few cents per tablet, it’s not worth further investigation. There is a major difference between a lack of evidence proving the effectiveness and proven ineffectiveness after a study has been performed.
The main issue with ivermectin and COVID is that people are self-treating with formulations picked up from their local livestock retailer. At proper doses, ivermectin is well-tolerated, but issues come when doses for livestock are ingested. Many of these products have other drugs/ingredients that have not been studied in humans. At my rural hospital in Oklahoma, I have yet to see a case of ivermectin overdose.
In closing, ivermectin is much more than how it has been characterized these past several months. If you are considering taking ivermectin, consult your medical provider to be prescribed the appropriate dose and do not, under any circumstances, treat yourself with any product not intended for human use.
Doug Crager
Doctor of Pharmacy and
Executive Director, Healthy Habits for Healthy Families
Office Update
We are finally making progress on some of the technology upgrades we announced earlier this year.
The Shop on our website now has 40 supplements! You can order refills for these products without having to contact the office. We are still working with several supplement companies on the legalities of having their products on our site but we are making progress!
You now have the ability to set up an online account! See previous purchases, save multiple addresses, set up monthly auto-refills, save payment details and more. Your payment information, shipping address and order history are part of your online account to make reordering supplements easy. We’re certain you’ll like this upgrade to the order process. We’re working diligently to add more items to our online supplement store so please be patient if all your items are not yet available online.
Go to ChooseNewLeaf.com and scroll to the bottom of the page. There’s a link that reads Login / Register to create an account or log in to an existing account.
The shipping fee for supplements is now a flat rate of $10 per order. We will continue to do our best to keep shipping costs down.
Click HERE to Shop for Supplements in the NLH Online Store
We hope you check it out and let us know what you think! Our online order system is new so please let us know if you experience any technical difficulties in the order process.
As many of you already know, Dr. Trites created a charity a few years ago for underserved and underprivileged individuals who are looking to improve their health. Alternative medicine, specifically functional medicine is rarely if ever, covered by health insurance. Dr. Trites has been blessed to have a wonderful donor to keep this charity afloat.
Over the past year and a half, the world has changed and there are more people in need now than when we started the charity. We have ramped up our efforts and our mantra is the more healthy a person is the better suited they are to be productive and, eventually, disqualify themselves from needing financial assistance. If you’d like to donate to our 501 (c)(3), you can do that by calling the office or email contacthealthyhabits4@gmail.com for more information. All donations are appreciated.