Occasionally I am asked whether acupuncture can treat someone with an eating disorder, such as anorexia, bulimia, or obsessive overeating. As with any condition, there is no one size fits all—everyone is different and heals at their own pace and in their own way.
That said, I have worked with a number of patients who have suffered with eating disorders and who have been helped—sometimes dramatically so—from acupuncture.
Many years ago I worked for a nonprofit agency whose mission was to promote women’s health and physical activity. Our mission tended to attract many women with eating disorders, as interns, volunteers, clients, and employees. Some were very much in denial about their eating disorder, and others were in recovery and willing to share their stories.
Today, as I work with patients who have a history of an eating disorder, I am thankful to those women who years ago opened up their lives to me and shared their experience of living with this illness. As an acupuncturist, my job is to take that information and put it into the context of Chinese medicine; sometimes not so easy and straightforward.
