Q What happens on the first visit to the clinic? I would like to know the order in which treatment proceeds.
A At the first visit we check for warning signs and whether cardiac and pulmonary causes have been excluded. We then map the situations in which tightness appears along with your breathing, sleep, and digestion patterns, and begin with acupuncture and breathing practice. Constitution-based herbal medicine is decided after assessing your overall condition.
Detailed Answer
Treatment generally falls into three stages.
Stage 1 - Differentiation and recording (1 to 2 weeks) - We review the warning signs described above, and if you have had no cardiac or pulmonary testing we recommend that evaluation first. At the same time we ask you to record when, in what situation, and for how long the symptom occurs. This record becomes the basis for the treatment direction.
Stage 2 - Lowering tension (2 to 6 weeks) - Acupuncture and moxibustion release the stiffened chest, neck, and back, and we practice breathing together in the consultation room. For people with weak digestion or light sleep, constitution-based herbal medicine is added at this point. In this period the duration of each episode is usually the first thing to shorten.
Stage 3 - Reducing recurrence (after 6 weeks) - We return your range of activity to the situations you had been avoiding and lengthen the interval between treatments. Fixing sleep and meal times is the core of this stage.
If there is no response at all after two or three sessions, we review the direction or suggest referral to another specialty.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
Dongjedang does not treat chest symptoms in isolation but looks at digestion, sleep, and stamina together. The longer the tightness has lasted, the more often all three have collapsed as well, and it is their recovery that allows the tightness to settle in a lasting way.
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