More than a decade had passed since her last acupuncture experience, Linda L.’s neck pain was back.

"I have degenerating discs in my neck and I was at the point where my neck was so stiff, I could barely turn my head and had a lot of pain.” Linda says.

 

After nine months of nagging pain, Linda knew she had to get back into acupuncture. Her former acupuncturist was no longer practicing and a friend of hers had just been to acupuncturist Andrea Vance, LAc.

"So I went and she really helped with the neck pain almost immediately,” says Linda. “But she also addressed other issues.”

Linda had also had digestive issues following her previous gastric bypass.

 

Andrea helped Linda to resolve the neck pain relatively quickly.

 

After developing a rapport and a confidence in Andrea, Linda brought other issues to her.

Linda was experiencing a lot of other digestive related issues and appreciated how Andrea explained about how there are meridians that deal with the gut.

 

“I really found that I was experiencing a lot of relief,” says Linda. “Not just with the neck pain but with the overall health and energy level.”

 

Linda says she came in one day and was really tired.

“I hadn’t talked about the bouts of insomnia,” Linda says. “She recommended a product that allowed me a longer period of sleep and a more restful sleep. Then later she discovered a probiotic that she thought might help me to get my gut back into a situation where it was working normally. I started a course of probiotics and that has probably been the best thing I’ve done in years in terms of my overall health.”

 

If Linda says her previous acupuncturist wasn’t into any other holistic approaches.

“She was just addressing the pain areas,” says Linda. “We never explored any of the other areas other than the direct pain that I was experiencing.”

 

“She’s just so knowledgeable,” Linda says. “I think the fact that she had her previous career in physical therapy she has an awareness of the body and the mechanics of it that so many people in the profession may not have.”

 

Additionally with Linda’s history of gastric bypass, she was highly cognizant there might be many products she couldn’t safely take and was struck how Andrea took the time to truly analyze what her problems were.

“I have to be really careful,” Linda says. “So when Andrea learned about the product that she recommended for me, she actually contacted the manufacturer and I don't think a lot of people would go to that length.”

 

Linda added that she has every confidence that Andrea knows what she’s doing.

“I really feel like she really has the knowledge and has absorbed from her mentors a truly holistic approach—knowing that there's multiple ways to address a problem.”