Episode 111

so it is amazing that that statement right a little pain and then you get the pleasure from behind that this is definitely leaning into that [Music]
space hello welcome to another episode of Finding Peaks I’m Jason frma hosting today and I’m really excited to have joining me Rebecca Axton LPC Lac clinical supervisor at Peaks she’s been with us for 3 and A2 years I believe and I’ve asked for I could to come in today to talk about ACU detox which is a treatment modality that we offer here at Peaks um and it’s a little bit interesting interesting yeah yeah it’s kind of fun cuz I usually get to meet the clients for the first time when I’m actually like hi I’m Rebecca and I’m going to be sticking you in your ear today yeah to help you relax so yeah walk us through what ACU detox is what it what it I we have an ear here on the brought some props for us to go over but ACU detox actually is a uh Chinese medicine or or or Eastern medicine uh that has come in contact with Western medicine uh in 1974 with Dr Michael Smith uh kind of put this into play it was actually designed to uh help individuals with their withdrawal symptoms uh from substance use and alcohol withdrawal uh and then they found out uh as they kept going through this that it actually helps to uh bring connection with self uh and to relax you so uh you’re you’re able to uh mitigate symptoms of anxiety depression those types of things um we’ve had some really phenomenal results with it uh in Peaks yeah so I always um zoom in on these types of of responses like what what does connection to S like what have you how does that show up when you put little ACU detox needles into somebody’s ears yeah so we actually just go right into into five specific locations from for the NATA protocol which is National ACU detox Association uh for their protocol we go into five connective points within the ear and I brought this prop here uh one of those being the sympathetic nerve uh connective area which is actually associated with your amydala and your fight flight or freeze um so we stimulate that connective tissue to help relax the body I know it seemed kind of an oxymoron right that you would put something into a space that is normally helps you to have anxiety so that you can fend off things to relax that space yeah exactly so we do that we also do the the shenmen area which helps to bring that that connection to self and and and your world around you it’s the spirit spiritual connection if you will um to yourself then we go in um the kidney the liver and the lung uh most of the time those are filters and they also help you to kind of uh relax and helps to process it brings uh that stimulation through the connective tissue that we puncture into creates a stimulation through the body so people actually have reported that they can feel the sensations running through their body it’s not a guarantee but it it I have had that report with quite a few people that they can feel the sensations running through their body that something is actually happening and with those signals that run through the body to the brain um it helps to bring in molecules from the body to produce uh sedation and and relaxation okay and thereby they have this connection to themselves I found that a lot of our individuals coming in uh with trauma it’s the first time that they’ve allowed their selves or themselves to really relax um which is odd so we do create this nice quiet space for them to be in that they are able to find this relaxation um because that’s what calms the nervous system down as well and then with this treatment that helps that with blood flow and all of these um healthy molecules running through the body it creates this nice relaxed space for them okay in which to heal do you do you find that people get pretty nervous going into this and I I guess probably question you get is does it hurt yes I get that question a lot and I can’t say it’s painfree but it’s not painful uh there is a small pinch upon the insertion of the needles because we actually do use real needles they’re really tiny about the size of a hair um and so they just go right underneath the dermis right into that connective tissue so there’s a little small pinch maybe like an anth bite if you will um and then after that there shouldn’t be any pain pressure discomfort and if there is we just move it a little bit to allow that connective tissue to either grab hold or relax that um and then they don’t feel anything okay so I’ve participated as a participant I guess with arular therapy or ACU detox a couple times and I certainly notice like particularly one spot would hurt more than others and then um within a period of time like they begin to fall out what what is that about um the reason they they do fall out is you could have hair that pulls on the needles that pulls them out if somebody is ears hairy your ears are hairy well a hair from your head okay um the hair pulls pulls it down so I usually have people either pull their hair back or I will pin it back with some bobby pins or whatnot uh so that the hair is not the point if they tend to chew gum or eat something which we you know try to avoid that because the movement or the the um uh movement of the jaw can actually wiggle those out because your skin moves moves when your jaw moves uh most of the time uh it’s the connective tissues the vibration within the connective tissues and the heart rate that puts pulsations on the needles and then we’ll tend to push them out okay it doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with that particular area of the body it’s just functioning at a higher level okay so those vibrations that that signal through the body can push the needles out I have seen them just drop out and then I have seen them like shoot away from someone which is kind of fun cuzz people you know are taken back when that happens but really it’s just a normal function of the body to push things out of the body okay that makes sense um so what have you seen like walk me through maybe a typical or um I don’t know a good example of how somebody detoxing maybe from alcohol and and on they’re they’re on day two or three and you do ACU detox what do you see with them what do you notice um usually there’s a bit of nervousness up front um uh and then we just simply walk through very very slowly what the process looks like um I use the guided The Guiding tubes on the needle so I’m not freehanding it into the ear uh less chances of double sticking someone with their own needle um uh but we will place the needles in these specific areas and then we will simply have them rest for between 35 and 45 minutes okay uh with the needles in place I play some nice uh Spa type music nothing with words because you do kind of get into that hypnotic type of state where you’re right before you fall asleep um in that kind of floaty space yeah um uh so that you’re just aware of what’s happening with your body okay yeah so and then people who are detoxing aren’t usually feeling very floaty in that way they usually quite aware that they are uncomfortable they are yeah so yeah and it’s interesting because I’ve had more people than not really relax into this space again it’s typically the first time uh that they’ve in many many years had an opportunity to just really relax uh and then we have the people that just don’t like needles at all they’re like needle phobic needle aversive for whatever reason um and so we put on these acupressure seeds which is a vicaria seed a flower um stuck on surgical tape and we have both the uh skin tone and the clear um that I use so you uh depending on your skin tone right you don’t see uh the tape necessarily on the skin but this applies the same uh theory behind it it just is a pressure on that same connective tissue so it takes longer to work uh these can stay on for several weeks I don’t recommend any longer than 10 days because the surgical tape gets really tacky after 10 days um and so just they fall off they slip off with normal skin wear and tear and washing and oils on the skin or they can simply pull off uh that that uh um we do this once a week for our clients and so if they still have the seeds on when we come back around to do this I just simply pull it off clean the ears and we start again but it has the same kind of theory that pressure on the connective tissue sends the signals through the body creates the movement within the body um which then creates the relaxation in the yeah so it obviously you know this is called ACU detox and as it implies it’s like acup puncture or pressure uh to help somebody detox what about people coming in with depression or anxiety or PTSD I know this is also called aular therapy which aular I think just means having to do with the ears yeah um ear therapy Eary so if you look at my nice big ear um uh we think about this as an entire body system the head being here if you think of this as a fetus right and turn it upside down so you have the head the spine the internal organs and the hands and the feet or I’ll fold it up under here um so the we can get to the entire body system through the ear um but we do again with the NATA treatment we do specific spots in the ear that have been um um identified as creating that same connection and relaxation but we’ve had some really great luck with so what does that do for somebody with depression or or anxiety or yeah well it creates a calmness within them so by stimulating that sympathetic nerve um it really does relax that fight flatter or freeze modality where somebody gets anxious so it creates a space of calmness relaxation it helps with sleep um I don’t know if this is going to be appropriate here but I did this with my husband after his uh he he had some kidney stones and was having some issues we use this treatment a couple of times to help him with that to help him relax and move through that space of the discomfort and pain that he was going through worked really well for that um it can decrease anxiety and agitation within someone through this stimulation process so it is amazing that that statement right a little pain and then get the pleasure from behind that this is definitely leaning into that space yeah I find it interesting that I mean you’re a therapist Rebecca like and you’re doing acupuncture did you see yourself doing this at some point or when when did when did you kind of stumble into arular therapy well at my heart I am a trauma therapist and so I was looking for all avenues uh trauma related to help people move through their trauma and this part particular method popped up in that uh so I did the extensive training that was offered um and again I I was a little skeptical at first because How could puncturing somebody in the ear uh really help them to relax um but ancient Eastern medicine welcome to the Western World it actually does create this space now while it may not work for everyone I have found over uh the years that this is really a good modality for individuals with trauma uh it can help them to relax so that they’re able to talk and process uh it helps people to relax and journal uh it kind of frees up that space that that’s blocking them if you will um so that they’re able to process more of their trauma story okay have you seen people be kind of skeptical of it and it still work for them oh 100% okay yeah yeah 100% um because it you know once they start feeling things in their body some they know something is up uh I’m sure that people who are resistant to this type of medicine um can continue to be resistant uh but that doesn’t mean that it’s not helping them yeah um can you kind of you know without necessarily citing what the studies are but what what do studies show about this like how this is a this is an evidence-based practice correct and and um what is the evidence that that you kind of reviewed as you were learning this also one of the a government sanctioned kind of process for trauma for those individuals uh First Responders uh I work with uh FEMA as well kind of on the side uh as a as an emergency medical uh practitioner in going to emergency sites fires earthquakes floods those kinds of things and we’ll set up an Acu detox area for people who are experiencing this this trauma for the First Responders for the citizens that come in okay which is really nice yes so even that acute trauma that’s going on in real time is helpful with that yeah and yes so what and then what did like how how did this end up in 1974 coming here like was it research was it kind of trying to find solutions for people who are suffering yeah like what what do you know about the research behind there is quite a bit of research and I didn’t bring all the research but there are a lot of Articles out there about the process for acute detox again uh Dr Smith in 1974 brought this over and kind of made it a a widely available modality for trauma therapy and detoxification yeah which is where he started at okay and then being mindful of HIPPA and that sort of thing do you have any stories like any anyone who is like okay this as this person was leaving treatment they really came and so the the ACU detox really helped me like do you have any stories of how this has helped and maybe that could help illustrate with this the type of people this can help with yeah several stories that come to mind right when we have resistant individuals it’s like oh I’m not doing that that’s just that’s that’s I mean how does that help yeah so they will resist for maybe a week or so and then they’ll see a dozen or so other people around them actually move into that nice relaxed quiet space and then talk about CU I I allow people to talk about it after the process um what are they feeling what do they notice what changes have taken place so they’ll start talking about that and then the next week that we do this the individual will come in and maybe they want to try ACU pressure not necessarily acute detox um and then the week after that then they want to try the acute detox so we go nice and slow one needle at a time we breathe through it until they can get there uh we had a recent intern uh who was needle phobic and she after a couple weeks she started doing this uh and we actually helped her kind of mitigate her needle phobia uh by using ACU detox of the ear okay because the thought of having needles in your ear was more of a a pressure for her or for other individuals as well uh than the actual process itself so we helped them kind of move through that needle phobia which is always fun for me yeah to see people actually um uh become brave enough to give it a try because you know they’ve never imagined themselves being around a needle before right and so here they are sitting amongst their peers who are all have 10 needles sticking out of their ears yeah yeah okay and in all your years and hours of doing this have you seen any negative reactions other than people just not wanting to do it um no it’s really just that I have had I think one individual who had Bumble ear pretty bad uh wrestler in your world so those of you who have that cauliflower ear Bumble ear uh is a lot of cartilage development in the ear uh he had a pretty negative response um just because it was painful for him okay and we couldn’t find a space so he got fairly angry but we removed it right away um there was no other negative uh side effects from that um but for the most part I’ve done thousands of these um acute detox treatments without any negative reactions okay yeah I mean it’s rare that I don’t know numbers can be that good but I I I mean from the outside looking in with how you practice this with our clients like it does seem like it does seem to be helping regulate people’s nervous system and obviously coming into a treatment program like Peaks it’s a stressful situation it’s very difficult and this is um kind of a wonderful tool we can offer uh well really everybody um that is willing to maybe step outside their comfort zone and some people I’m sure are very comfortable with and have had have a lot of experience with AC ACU puncture in the past but um this is a very beneficial uh intervention for sure do is this do you know if this field is going anywhere like is there an expansion are you adding new areas that you’re targeting um is there or is is this the N protocol is Bally these Five Points um acupuncture does allow there’s over 120 uh ACU pressure or acute detox per acute detox points ACU pressure points within the ear structure front and back uh that can be targeted so if you have back pain lower back pain uh you can simply Target that area if you’re having issues with um uh you know sinusitis there’s an area for that there’s also some layouts for if somebody has a migraine um that’s quite a few more points uh combined to create this this relaxation for the migraines and the headaches and uh if you have problems with your ankles or your feet or your hands uh within this there is a spot for everything yeah that you can Target but it’s really fun um I have found over the years right uh what I see because I do our men on Friday and our women on Thursday is that they will like talk to each other about this upcoming thing and they get really excited to see me because they know what day it is it’s like yeah Friday and here she comes and they will run from group to group uh to come in for their acute detox treatment they want to be the first one in they want to get their seat prepared so they know they can relax in that space what I think it is the beauty of what you have to offer is obviously it helps people early in their treatment process when they are really kind of amped up about being a Peaks but we also with how our curriculum is laid out with it being kind of week long intensives like it’s a nice kind of end cap to a week where um people can kind of do deep and intensive work and then have this to look forward to to kind of like begin to settle their nervous system after maybe going through grief or or other trauma issues and that sort of thing yeah um and I think it speaks to itself in that because we do some pretty good intensive work where people get really deep and emotional and this allows them to really notice the emotions without getting overly uh or overwhelmed by them yeah in this space absolutely yeah all right well um with that Rebecca I think we’ll go ahead and uh wrap up this episode I’m really grateful for you to come on I really appreciate you bringing props and uh this oversized ear that doesn’t have any hair in it and um and the needles and everything like that and and uh with that I’ll go ahead and um sign off so thanks for viewing yeah come join us I look forward to setting you up with acate detox as well