Before interviewing Laura Gabbé, Licensed Acupuncturist, at the Providence Day Spa this month, my only prior experience with acupuncture was working with Sally Rappaport, LAc, who put a needle in my right wrist and relieved the chronic tendinitis in my left ankle. So although I had some inkling of the Magic of Acupuncture, I had no idea of the range to which this magic could be put.
A great many women, says Laura, spend years of their life trying to avoid getting pregnant. Then, at last, they decide they are Ready for Parenthood, and discover that they needn't have worried. Pregnancy proves much more elusive than they could ever have thought. They arrive in her office--panicky, stressed, and miserable. Many of them are contemplating IVF (in vitro fertilization), and are cowed at the expense and stress this entails.
Depending on the lady's age, Laura embarks upon a three- to six-month course of treatment with acupuncture and herbs. Although there is no guarantee that she will get pregnant with acupuncture alone, women who receive a course of it before IVF have an increased chance of success, as well as easier pregnancies and more efficient labors. Acupuncture improves blood flow to the endometrium, creating a richer, thicker lining, and stimulates the production of hormones in the proper amounts to improve egg quality. It also stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping the body to relax, heal and balance itself. Oftentimes, the stress caused by attempting to get pregnant is one of the factors impeding conception; Laura helps her clients to take better care of themselves overall, without focussing exclusively on outcome.
Pregnant women may continue seeing Laura for problems such as nausea, headaches, backaches, allergies, depression, and a whole host of other symptoms that, being pregnant, they may not take drugs for. She says that doctors often tell these women that they 'just have to put up with it' for another five or six or seven months, which is not what an exhausted lady with sinusitis wants to hear.
If labor is delayed significantly beyond the due date, Laura can help to bring it on. She often refers clients back and forth with Wendy Morris, D.C., who has a high success rate in turning breech babies, using the Webster chiropractic technique. Laura reports that many of her clients who see her regularly have 'more efficient' labors; i.e. the baby is nearly born in the cab, while the obstetricians and midwives are still telling them to go home and wait another 12 hours or so.
In these modern days, a great number of girls who have trouble with cramps, mood swings, and other severe symptoms at menarche are put on The Pill. This may mask the symptoms, but doesn't cure them--and the possible negative side effects of The Pill are well-known. When they come to Laura instead, she is generally able to reduce their symptoms by 70% in three cycles or less.
Women undergoing menopause also come to Laura for hot flashes, depression, and insomnia. Oftentimes the treatments prescribed for menopausal symptoms, such as hormone replacement therapy and antidepressants, are worse than the problems themselves; it seems well worthwhile to try a side-effect-free alternative! And a recent study has indicated that acupuncture is just as effective as Effexor in treating menopausal symptoms triggered by breast cancer treatment.
Laura frequently provides advice and reassurance to her regular clients who call her with problems; she is more accessible than many physicians or OB/GYNs. She does not work in opposition to Western allopathic medicine, but in complement to it, and readily refers a client to a doctor or other healthcare provider when necessary. For more information, please contact the Providence Day Spa in Brooklyn.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Preview of Coming Attractions
Guess what? Pretty Lady is Expecting! It is true. She is finally past that dicey First Trimester, marked by nausea, exhaustion, and the ever-present fear of suddenly not being pregnant anymore. Her life as a Bohemian Artist is about to change, radically. Part of her thinks that it's About Time.
So she is running around, gathering all the information she can about Women's Health in general, and Pregnant Women's Health in particular. After a tip from a Park Slope Mommy and client of hers, she engaged the services of Clementine Midwifery, an oasis of good old-fashioned common sense and nurturance. Stacey and Barri spent a solid two hours during her first appointment, taking a full genetic history, nutritional overview, battery of blood tests, and answering questions in a reassuring and supportive manner. On their recommendation, Pretty Lady is halfway through Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and doing her best to prepare for a positive Birth Experience.
Next, she interviewed Wendy Morris of Soulshine Family Wellness Center, a Network Spinal Analysis Chiropractor. In addition to providing ongoing bodywork which increases the balance of the nervous system overall, Wendy is a practitioner of the Webster Technique, of turning breech babies by light chiropractic adjustment of the sacrum, and release of abdominal muscle tension. A detailed description of Pretty Lady's first session with Wendy is forthcoming.
Then she moved on to an hourlong interview with Laura Gabbé, Licensed Acupuncturist, who specializes in Women's Wellness at the Providence Day Spa. Laura was such a Font of Useful Information that Pretty Lady only hopes that she can get it all down, without either leaving anything out or confusing her readership.
Finally, she took a M.E.L.T. class (Myofascial Energetic Length Technique) with Sara Bethell at the Park Slope Fitness Collective. This involved slow, gentle manipulations of the spine and muscles on long styrofoam rollers; the results were glorious. Pretty Lady felt like she'd just had a massage. Sara is teaching six-week workshops; sign up now!
So she is running around, gathering all the information she can about Women's Health in general, and Pregnant Women's Health in particular. After a tip from a Park Slope Mommy and client of hers, she engaged the services of Clementine Midwifery, an oasis of good old-fashioned common sense and nurturance. Stacey and Barri spent a solid two hours during her first appointment, taking a full genetic history, nutritional overview, battery of blood tests, and answering questions in a reassuring and supportive manner. On their recommendation, Pretty Lady is halfway through Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and doing her best to prepare for a positive Birth Experience.
Next, she interviewed Wendy Morris of Soulshine Family Wellness Center, a Network Spinal Analysis Chiropractor. In addition to providing ongoing bodywork which increases the balance of the nervous system overall, Wendy is a practitioner of the Webster Technique, of turning breech babies by light chiropractic adjustment of the sacrum, and release of abdominal muscle tension. A detailed description of Pretty Lady's first session with Wendy is forthcoming.
Then she moved on to an hourlong interview with Laura Gabbé, Licensed Acupuncturist, who specializes in Women's Wellness at the Providence Day Spa. Laura was such a Font of Useful Information that Pretty Lady only hopes that she can get it all down, without either leaving anything out or confusing her readership.
Finally, she took a M.E.L.T. class (Myofascial Energetic Length Technique) with Sara Bethell at the Park Slope Fitness Collective. This involved slow, gentle manipulations of the spine and muscles on long styrofoam rollers; the results were glorious. Pretty Lady felt like she'd just had a massage. Sara is teaching six-week workshops; sign up now!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Vision on Fifth Avenue
Pretty Lady is thrilled. She visited the Lenscrafters on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan yesterday evening, at an event sponsored by Blogher, and was treated like royalty! Hordes of gracious hostesses, stylists, lady doctors in lab coats, photographers, caterers, and the Gentleman Director himself, veritably swarmed upon her as soon as she walked through the door. It was a pity that yesterday was a Frump Day--having sustained a mosquito bite under the eyeball, she was forced to go sans makeup and contact lenses, in a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles that give her horrid flashbacks of being thirteen. (Any girl who was pretty at thirteen gets no empathy from Pretty Lady.)
Fortunately, the capable Lady Stylist who took her in hand was an expert at her trade. Among the thousands of hip, avant-garde frames lining the walls, she homed in on the perfect pair, or six, that suited Pretty Lady. Pretty Lady herself, artist though she is, would have fled in hopeless despair at the prospect of trying on a thousand hip, avant-garde frames, and had no inkling of which might suit her, having spent her life rather avoiding the subject of glasses. But the pair we found are so assertively spiffy that Pretty Lady might actually consider wearing them to her next art opening. Which would be a boldly unprecedented move.
But this event was not solely focused upon Fashion. Pretty Lady is pleased to inform you that Lenscrafters has formulated a Serious Educational Agenda, which, unlike a great many commercial endeavors, actually managed to educate her. For it is a fact that annual eye exams are vital to an individual's overall health and well-being, particularly if that individual is a child.
No, friends, this is not mere Commercial Hype. Great strides have been made in the science of eye examination, since the days when the shopping mall optometrist flashed many confusing lenses in front of your face, eventually settling on a grossly overcorrected prescription. Today's eye doctor can screen for early signs of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, brain tumors, glaucoma, macular degeneration, astigmatism, amplyopia, and, of course, near- and farsightedness, merely by examining the blood vessels of the eye. (Lest any of you become deeply terrified of visiting an eye doctor ever again, Pretty Lady hastens to assure you that the vast majority of clients are brain-tumor-free.) An annual eye exam merely ensures that potential vision or circulation problems are caught before any irreversible deterioration has begun.
Moreover, this annual examination process is doubly important for children. Children, as some of you may recall, tend to take the world As Is. They do not think to themselves, "Hmm, I'm having trouble reading what's on the blackboard; my eyes don't seem to focus." They merely think that reading the blackboard is No Fun and a Waste Of Time; they start Acting Out in consequence, become a Discipline Problem, eventually drop out of school and start dealing drugs.
Friends, do not let this happen. Take your child to the eye doctor before they reach school age, and every year thereafter. Do not, moreover, rely on cursory school eye examinations to adequately diagnose potential vision problems in your child. According to Lenscrafters, 60% of vision problems in children are missed during school eye exams; another 80% are incorrectly addressed. Furthermore, when a child is young and adaptable, problems such as lazy eye and crossed eyes can be easily corrected; once they reach the age of eight or ten, however, it is Just Too Late. They are stuck with a lazy crosseye forever.
Pretty Lady doesn't mean to scare you.
After hearing this, the question uppermost in Pretty Lady's mind was, "How do people pay for this?" Particularly lower-income families with several children and no health insurance, as is, disgracefully, the case in many parts of this country. She tackled the Gentleman Director himself on the matter; he responded with aplomb.
"We encourage employers to provide health insurance plans with vision coverage," was his first response. Shockingly, many insurance plans do not. "We also have a Vision Van which goes around to disadvantaged neighborhoods, providing free eye exams. Furthermore, we endow the Gift of Sight Foundation, which does community outreach for the visually impaired." Pretty Lady made a mental note to include vision care in her Universal Healthcare Plan.
Lenscrafters also does their best to make certain that their eye examinations are affordable; they are not the cheapest in town, but neither are they the most expensive. And as Pretty Lady can attest, they are thorough and use up-to-the-minute diagnostic testing equipment. (She got to see a color photo of her own retina! It was gorgeous!)
In sum, Pretty Lady was requested to write a balanced review regarding her Lenscrafters experience, but she finds to her dismay that the balance is almost entirely in Lenscrafters' favor. Perhaps the hip, avant-garde frames were a bit on the pricey side, but with so many selections, one can very well shop the sale rack without extreme deprivation.
Other Blogher LensCrafter reviews
Fortunately, the capable Lady Stylist who took her in hand was an expert at her trade. Among the thousands of hip, avant-garde frames lining the walls, she homed in on the perfect pair, or six, that suited Pretty Lady. Pretty Lady herself, artist though she is, would have fled in hopeless despair at the prospect of trying on a thousand hip, avant-garde frames, and had no inkling of which might suit her, having spent her life rather avoiding the subject of glasses. But the pair we found are so assertively spiffy that Pretty Lady might actually consider wearing them to her next art opening. Which would be a boldly unprecedented move.
But this event was not solely focused upon Fashion. Pretty Lady is pleased to inform you that Lenscrafters has formulated a Serious Educational Agenda, which, unlike a great many commercial endeavors, actually managed to educate her. For it is a fact that annual eye exams are vital to an individual's overall health and well-being, particularly if that individual is a child.
No, friends, this is not mere Commercial Hype. Great strides have been made in the science of eye examination, since the days when the shopping mall optometrist flashed many confusing lenses in front of your face, eventually settling on a grossly overcorrected prescription. Today's eye doctor can screen for early signs of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, brain tumors, glaucoma, macular degeneration, astigmatism, amplyopia, and, of course, near- and farsightedness, merely by examining the blood vessels of the eye. (Lest any of you become deeply terrified of visiting an eye doctor ever again, Pretty Lady hastens to assure you that the vast majority of clients are brain-tumor-free.) An annual eye exam merely ensures that potential vision or circulation problems are caught before any irreversible deterioration has begun.
Moreover, this annual examination process is doubly important for children. Children, as some of you may recall, tend to take the world As Is. They do not think to themselves, "Hmm, I'm having trouble reading what's on the blackboard; my eyes don't seem to focus." They merely think that reading the blackboard is No Fun and a Waste Of Time; they start Acting Out in consequence, become a Discipline Problem, eventually drop out of school and start dealing drugs.
Friends, do not let this happen. Take your child to the eye doctor before they reach school age, and every year thereafter. Do not, moreover, rely on cursory school eye examinations to adequately diagnose potential vision problems in your child. According to Lenscrafters, 60% of vision problems in children are missed during school eye exams; another 80% are incorrectly addressed. Furthermore, when a child is young and adaptable, problems such as lazy eye and crossed eyes can be easily corrected; once they reach the age of eight or ten, however, it is Just Too Late. They are stuck with a lazy crosseye forever.
Pretty Lady doesn't mean to scare you.
After hearing this, the question uppermost in Pretty Lady's mind was, "How do people pay for this?" Particularly lower-income families with several children and no health insurance, as is, disgracefully, the case in many parts of this country. She tackled the Gentleman Director himself on the matter; he responded with aplomb.
"We encourage employers to provide health insurance plans with vision coverage," was his first response. Shockingly, many insurance plans do not. "We also have a Vision Van which goes around to disadvantaged neighborhoods, providing free eye exams. Furthermore, we endow the Gift of Sight Foundation, which does community outreach for the visually impaired." Pretty Lady made a mental note to include vision care in her Universal Healthcare Plan.
Lenscrafters also does their best to make certain that their eye examinations are affordable; they are not the cheapest in town, but neither are they the most expensive. And as Pretty Lady can attest, they are thorough and use up-to-the-minute diagnostic testing equipment. (She got to see a color photo of her own retina! It was gorgeous!)
In sum, Pretty Lady was requested to write a balanced review regarding her Lenscrafters experience, but she finds to her dismay that the balance is almost entirely in Lenscrafters' favor. Perhaps the hip, avant-garde frames were a bit on the pricey side, but with so many selections, one can very well shop the sale rack without extreme deprivation.
Other Blogher LensCrafter reviews
Welcome!
Welcome, darlings, to Pretty Lady's Wellness Review! Here is where Pretty Lady will be Testing Things, and giving her honest opinion as to their quality. Additionally, she will be ruminating on matters of Health in general, taking questions and suggestions, and continually, obsessively posing alternative solutions to the healthcare problems facing us today. Your input is most welcome.
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