As many Irish people will tell you, sinusitis (nasal congestion, difficulty breathing through the nose and pronounced pain/tenderness around the cheeks, forehead and top of the head) is the bane of their lives during the autumn and winter and they don’t necessarily have a cold or the flu to start it off – they just find themselves having […]

Exciting news!  One of the leading teachers of Applied Channel Theory in the West is coming to Navan to give a three day lecture to practitioners of Acupuncture from all over Europe.  My colleague, Cyrille Bonnard of Equilibre Acupuncture who kindly covers for me while on annual leave, has invited Jason D Robertson to teach an […]

The Problem with Painkillers The most commonly used over-the-counter medicines for conditions like back pain, neck and shoulder pain, headaches and period pains, to name a few, include paracetamol and ibuprofen (Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatories).  When these fail to adequately control pain people go to their doctors and may be prescribed stronger NSAIDs, Triptans, Opioids, steroids or […]

Last Friday’s Irish Times (24 March 2017) contained no fewer than three articles about alcohol: a surge in teenage alcohol related admissions to hospitals was reported in 2016; moderate alcohol consumption may cut our risk of heart disease; and, why alcohol may be affecting our sleep, health and fitness. These types of report are not […]

If you’ve ever looked at your tongue and been aghast to see a thick, furry, greasy looking coat on it, then you may have been tempted to try scraping it off. Boots the Chemist even sells handy little gadgets that will help you to do this, claiming that the presence of the coating is causing […]

Someone asked me the other day what a typical day is like for an Acupuncturist, and the answer is that it varies – sometimes a lot. For example, I looked at my diary for this time last year and this is a flavour of what I was treating: a young woman with severe neurological pain […]

A significant part of my practice is treating women who are either trying to become pregnant, or are already pregnant. Once pregnant, most women are happy to come back for treatment of issues like nausea and vomiting, back pain, and of course ‘pre-birth treatments’ (intended to assist the profile of hormones that are naturally present […]

As I’ve written elsewhere, gastro-intestinal conditions are amongst the most common to be seen in Acupuncture clinics. Broadly these conditions might be grouped as 1) Non serious digestive complaints that can often be treated with changes to diet, lifestyle, over the counter medication, and alternative treatments such as acupuncture; and 2) Chronic gastro-intestinal conditions that […]

Some of the most common complaints to be seen in clinic arise from irritation or inflammation of the stomach, intestines and bowel. Often it will be clear what the problem is.  For example, if there is acid reflux, or burning pain (mild or intense) in the area just below the breast bone (epigastrium), and the […]