Ann Mongeau, L.Ac., RN
Mongeau Acupuncture LLC

What to Expect

Your first visit will begin by showing you how we operate. Then an acupuncturist will perform a Chinese medical assessment of your condition and give you an acupuncture treatment. This may take a little over an hour. Follow up treatments usually last 1 hour.

You will need to fill out some forms before being seen by the acupuncturist. You can either download them (below) and fill them out before you arrive, or fill them out when you come in for your treatment. In that case, come in 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment.

Intake Forms

Please click links below to download new patient paperwork:

Welcome Form

Consent Form

Intake Form Page 1

Intake Form Page 2

Pain Diagram

Pulse and Tongue Diagnosis

Part of your assessment may be viewing your tongue and feeling your pulse. This can provide an acupuncturist with a great deal of information about your body to help guide the treatment.

Treatment

Many people do not feel the insertion of the needles. Since acupuncture is a stimulation therapy, it is not uncommon to feel some sensation. Many report feeling a deep or distending feeling at the point of insertion, which lasts for a short amount of time - this is called "de qi" and is therapeutic.

The needles can stay inserted for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how you feel. Soothing music in the background will help you relax. Many people even fall asleep.

What to Expect After Treatment

Your relief may be immediate, delayed for a few hours or even develop after 1 to 3 days. Individual response to treatment varies. 10-15% will have a worsening of symptoms within the first 48 hours. This rarely happens after the first treatment.

Side Effects

Side effects are rare but may include the following symptoms: light-headed feeling, dizziness, sleepiness, euphoria, nausea, slight bruising, residual muscle aching. Any of these should last only a very short time.

Flare-up

On rare occasions one's original symptoms may briefly get worse or 'flare-up' after a treatment. A flare-up typically occurs later on the day of your treatment and only for an hour or so and then improvement and relief follow. If the flare-up lasts longer than this, please call me and let me know. In the long run, acupuncture does not make symptoms worse.

In some conditions, the body must fully expel a pathogen in order for healing to occur. For example, if you have gotten a cold, acupuncture will not get rid of the cold, but can help accelerate the cold cycle so your body gets healthy sooner. If you are fatigued and starting to get a cold, acupuncture may help your body ward it off. There are also some terrific herbal formulas for this.

Course of Treatment

As part of your first visit, a proposed course of treatment will be discussed. Since individual responses vary, it is difficult to state definitively at the time of your first visit how many treatments will be required. In general, acute conditions of recent onset may only require 2 or 3 treatments. Chronic conditions usually require more treatments to achieve sustained results. With chronic conditions an initial course of 5-6 treatments is recommended, followed by a re-assessment to see how acupuncture will help your condition. Most people begin to experience results within the first two treatments. If there has been no response to the acupuncture after 10 treatments, acupuncture will likely not work and other approaches should be considered. In general, a condition can be resolved in 5-20 treatments.

The ideal approach to illness is to begin treatment as soon as possible. The sooner you seek help, the easier it is to treat. For longstanding illnesses, weekly treatments may be required for several months to resolve the problem.

When your issue is resolved, some have chosen to continue with weekly, monthly or quarterly treatments. Some wait until they have an issue to treat. This is up to you and depends entirely on how you feel and what benefits you have received from acupuncture.