Ear Ringing and Urine Incontinence

Mary Lou is an 83-year-old happy lady. She came to Boston Chinese Acupuncture clinic for her ear ringing and urine incontinence a year ago. Mary was born in Boston and worked until she was 73 as a local librarian. She had been taking care of her mother who passed away at age of 94 in her Westwood home. Her mother had breast cancer when she was around 70 years old, had surgery and radiation, but never had chemotherapy. Mary’s mother was an Italian and used a lot of olive oil to cook her vegetables. The Mediterranean diet helped Mary’s mother stay healthy up to 92 years old without any major disability. The last two years, her mother needed personal care and could not walk a lot due to her breast cancer metastasis.

Mary learned a lot when she took care of her mother. She has never married and always cooks her own food. She seldom goes out to restaurants and takes care of her own housekeeping. She eats a lot of salads and fruits, and she also loves walnuts. When she first came to her acupuncturist in Needham, she had to get up 3 times to go to the bathroom, which interrupted her deep sleep and made her very tired during the day. She also has a lot of phlegm in her throat and had constant right ear ringing for a few years. Her left knee pain also slows her down. Her Boston Chinese Acupuncturists recommended her stop eating the nuts to clear up her phlegm, so her body can release less histamine and reduce the nerve swelling in her inner ear. Initially, she does not think walnuts cause her problems because all the articles she read about nuts are good for the health. After 24 acupuncture treatments in the Needham clinic, her knee pain is much better, but the ear ringing still bothers her, especially when she was stressed out by some family issues. One time her ear ringing was so loud that she could not sleep at night. She finally decided to stop the nuts for a few weeks; surprisingly her ear ringing was much better with twice a week acupuncture. In the meantime, her kidney and bladder function are much stronger with electrical acupuncture on her abdominal area and she is no longer worried about incontinence when she goes out shopping and running errands.

Now Mary comes to her Needham acupuncturist once or every other week to strengthen her muscles and tendons around her knee joints. She is 84 years old and enjoys going to exercise class twice a week, preparing her own meals and doing her own housekeeping.