Acupuncture & the Menopause with Lily Lai, PhD, Acupuncturist & Chinese Medicine Practitioner. S7. Ep 13.

Welcome to The Happy Menopause, Lily.

Thank you, Jacqui, for having me.

Well, I'm excited that you're here because acupuncture is a subject that I've wanted to cover for some time now, so I'm delighted that I've found you and I can't wait to hear more about it.

But before we get into all of that, let's start with your story.

So what's your background, Lily, and how did it lead to where you are now?

I am an acupuncturist and a Chinese herbal medicine practitioner, qualified 21 years ago now, and-

Gosh

... now working ...

Yeah, now working in Manchester where I grew up.

So I guess my story into acupuncture was essentially when I was 17 in my final years of my A levels.

My late father went through an NHS health check according to his GP.

He wasn't feeling particularly unwell at the time, but it was fortunate that they had, uh, carried out the health check because they picked up a chronic, uh, blood cancer in him.

Oh.

And essentially he started chemo straightaway with the consultants at The Christies in Manchester.

And whilst he was responding well, um, in terms of his blood counts, he was actually starting to experience quite a few side effects that was making him-

Mm

... consider cutting down on his dosage, which his oncologist was really reluctant to-

Of course

... obviously agree to.

Uh, my uncle was a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in Manchester at the time, and he essentially helped him in consultation with the oncologist with side effects of the chemo using a short course of acupuncture and Chinese herbs, and this worked really well, so he tolerated chemo for many, many more years later.

And that's really when really I saw the power of integrative-

Gosh

... medicine and using-

Yeah

...

Welcome to The Happy Menopause, Lily.

Thank you, Jacqui, for having me.

Well, I'm excited that you're here because acupuncture is a subject that I've wanted to cover for some time now, so I'm delighted that I've found you and I can't wait to hear more about it.

But before we get into all of that, let's start with your story.

So what's your background, Lily, and how did it lead to where you are now?

I am an acupuncturist and a Chinese herbal medicine practitioner, qualified 21 years ago now, and-

Gosh

... now working ...

Yeah, now working in Manchester where I grew up.

So I guess my story into acupuncture was essentially when I was 17 in my final years of my A levels.

My late father went through an NHS health check according to his GP.

He wasn't feeling particularly unwell at the time, but it was fortunate that they had, uh, carried out the health check because they picked up a chronic, uh, blood cancer in him.

Oh.

And essentially he started chemo straightaway with the consultants at The Christies in Manchester.

And whilst he was responding well, um, in terms of his blood counts, he was actually starting to experience quite a few side effects that was making him-

Mm

... consider cutting down on his dosage, which his oncologist was really reluctant to-

Of course

... obviously agree to.

Uh, my uncle was a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in Manchester at the time, and he essentially helped him in consultation with the oncologist with side effects of the chemo using a short course of acupuncture and Chinese herbs, and this worked really well, so he tolerated chemo for many, many more years later.

And that's really when really I saw the power of integrative-

Gosh

... medicine and using-

Yeah

...