by Kirby Lindsay Laney, posted 28 December 2015
From his Transformational Oncology Center practice, at 3933 Stone Way N, Fred Russo, DAOM, EAMP, LAc, treats patients for chronic pain, helps those fighting cancer, and has worked with women on fertility and giving birth. Dr. Russo, a graduate of Bastyr University, a doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and an East Asian medicine practitioner, can help with a wide variety of health problems, and those people who seek better health, with acupuncture and other Asian medicine practices.
As a licensed acupuncturist, Dr. Russo has treated patients young and old, but he first pointed out that, “there are other things I can do.” Through herbs, meditation, breathing work, acupressure, and lifestyle counseling, he can help patients find the source, and solutions, to even chronic problems. “Similar to naturopathic medicine,” he explained, in Asian medicine, “you want to find the root of the problem, what is causing the problem, so the problem resolves.”
Aid Through Acupuncture
“If you don’t find the source of the pain,” Dr. Russo observed, “it won’t go away.” He wants to help his patients find the cause of their pain or illness, treat that cause, and put them on a path to greater wellness.
One method is acupuncture. “It is just one part of Asian medicine,” Dr. Russo explained, yet, “it is the most popular and best known of Asian medicine methodologies.” According to Dr. Russo, in the U.S. we use acupuncture more than in China, and we use it to treat many more conditions.
Dr. Russo identified five situations where he might recommend acupuncture to a patient at Transformational:
- Pain – One of the most common uses, patients often find relief from acute pain, as well as chronic pain, arthritis pain, and surgical pain, through acupuncture. Acupuncture treatments can ease and remove pain, but Dr. Russo has also, through consultation, helped patients find the source of the pain. “Sometimes emotional stress can cause physical stress,” which can result in pain, he observed. Grief, allergies, posture, and overuse can all be causes, or stressors, that lead to pain.
- Oncology Support – “Dozens of cancer centers around the U.S. have integrated acupuncture treatments into treatment plans,” Dr. Russo explained. Acupuncture can relieve pain, including the deeper, visceral pain of cancer, along with the pain the emotional toll of diagnosis and treatments can cause. Acupuncture can also relieve symptoms of nausea, decrease vomiting, increase appetite, fight neuropathy, lessen edema and circulation problems, and rebuild the immune system. Acupuncture can calm the body, the nervous system and the mind. Dr. Russo has also provided acupuncture treatments to caretakers, family and friends of cancer patients. “You can’t help if you are suffering too,” he observed.
Acupuncture also can give former cancer patients relief during aftercare. “Most oncologists do great work,” he explained, but “their focus is to get the cancer out of the body. My focus is on the side effects. It’s almost as important as the cancer care.” Chemotherapy kills bad cells, and good ones too. Acupuncture can encourage the body, and a patient’s natural immune system, to repair and rebuild good cells. - Stress – Acupuncture can unlock emotional blocks, and relive depression, anxiety, fear and worry. It can help with grief. Dr. Russo is not a counselor, but treatments can tap into those severe emotions and release the buildups of stress they cause.
- Insomnia – Sleep deprivation can be caused by pain, anxiety, depression, or an overall inability to relax – and all of these can be treated with acupuncture. “It can be like a feedback loop,” Dr. Russo observed, “you have a lot of pain, you can’t sleep, and the body can’t heal from a lack of sleep.” Dr. Russo can help patients identify the source of their insomnia. “Sometimes you don’t have insomnia,” he said, “sometimes people sleep too much.” He talks with patients about their body’s natural sleep schedule, and taking time for the high-quality sleep the body needs to heal.
- Fertility Support – “There’s a lot of research supporting this,” Dr. Russo explained. Combined with in-vitro, herbs and diet, Dr. Russo has been able to help women in their 30s and 40s conceive using acupuncture. Acupuncture can also help with inducing natural birth, for women who want to avoid a cesarean birth. “I have a lot of experience in that,” Dr. Russo said on working with women on fertility and birth, “it’s a really fun area to work.”
‘Like A Cat’s Whisker’
Fertility also, like much of his work, is an area of integrative care. “A lot of the doctors I know are pro-integration,” Dr. Russo said, “I’m open to collaborating with all doctors.”
Acupuncture, done in combination with other treatments, can result in a level of wellness that patients haven’t seen for years, or ever. Dr. Russo works with the other doctors. “Most cancer centers have some kind of integrative care,” he observed, and he considered moving his practice into one of these, “but I have my own practice to be able to do the other work as well.” Yet, he named his practice ‘Transformational Oncology’ because, “I wanted that to be my specialty.”
He welcomes all patients who seek better health – even those unfamiliar, or scared of acupuncture. “It’s a very gentle treatment,” Dr. Russo observed, “people think of hypodermic needles. These are very thin, like a cat’s whisker.”
“I can do a free consultation,” Dr. Russo offered, “to see if it is a match.” He encourages those already under treatment to consider adding acupuncture, and Transformational Oncology Center, to the team.
Contact Dr. Russo, at info@transformationaloncology.com or 206/861-5580, if you want to discuss, in the New Year, finding the way to a higher path of wellness.
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©2015 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.