During the Covid-19 pandemic, more people were coping with its consequences by staying inside more, contributing to depression, anxiety and many other issues. Drug overdoses have skyrocketed at an alarming rate. This is a very complicated issue, with no apparent simple solution. I feel that our American culture is deeply broken, as so many people look to outside means to find mental stimulation and personal happiness. Abuse of drugs, alcohol, the internet and social media are determining factors in the health and well-being of our population. Fentanyl abuse is now more in the media and political spotlight as many see this as a major healthcare issue.
There has been a near 30% rise from the same period of time, a year earlier and a near-doubling over the past five years. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that from May 2020 to April 2021, more than 100,000 people have died from drug overdoses in the US. The CDC report another 107,375 deaths in 2022.
Fentanyl is synthetic opioid and accounted for the majority of those drug overdose deaths being about 64,000. Fentanyl is often used as a painkiller, being 50-100 times more potent than morphine. A mere 2 milligrams can be deadly. Often Fentanyl is cut in with counterfeit Oxycontin, Percocet or other drugs.
Fentanyl comes into the use as chemicals ingredients of the drug, coming in from China, India or Mexico for production by drug cartels in Mexico and then later smuggled into the US.
The current White House administration put $4 billion in funding from the Covid-19 relief package, toward reducing overdose deaths, including increasing services for substance use disorder and mental health. Hopefully, resources will be put towards addressing the root factors of drug abuse, and not just treating the symptoms.
I teach classes, seminars, and private instruction focusing on methods of wellness from Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tai Chi, Qigong, acupressure and exercises from martial arts for fitness and improved health. 407-234-0119.
If you follow the news these days, it seems like people are dropping dead left and right. Violence, shootings, suicides, drug overdoses, cardiac arrest and a host of other health-related issues have seemingly increased dramatically over the last few years. I encourage you to do your own diligent research, if these issues are of importance to you.
Do you know how to perform CPR?
Do you know how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver for a person who is choking?
Can you help someone who is bleeding profusely?
What do you do if someone is having a seizure?
Do you consider yourself to have the sufficient mental and physical fortitude to step up when the call comes?
Trauma, when experienced personally or through others in our presence, has the tendency to show us the true reality of our character. Will you be part of the bystander effect, where a group does nothing to help, or the Good Samaritan, where one reacts selflessly in the face of danger? As the saying goes, “when seconds matter, help is minutes away.
In our extremely polarized society of today, people are often shamed, shunned or ostracized for not caring enough about others’ health. But are any of us capable of preserving another’s life in their time of need? First responders? Hopefully. The average person, NO. Most people cannot even save themselves in a life-threatening situation, let alone another in drastic circumstances. If we choose to pontificate on how much we care about others, maybe we should actually learn how to save a life. More accurate would be to hopefully “preserve” or “prolong” a life, as we are mere humans and cannot save anyone or any living thing from their inevitable demise. We can only offer to do our best.
Far below is a graphic for understanding the basic steps of CPR. GO LEARN HOW TO DO IT!
I am additionally offering here some priceless tools to help revive someone if they become unconscious. Acupressure (no needles) and its parent of acupuncture (needles) from Traditional Chinese medicine, has been around for a few thousand years. There are specific techniques that can be used to help resuscitate in addition to CPR training. If you are in need of more information or instruction beyond what is available here on applying these techniques, contact me or other qualified experts in this field.
These are techniques that I was taught over 40 years ago from my martial arts masters and Traditional Chines Medicine teachers to help with stress, headaches and especially LOSS of CONSCIOUSNESS. If you are concerned about the legitimacy or efficacy of these types of techniques, I encourage you to do some of your own research as I have for many years. I have actually used these techniques to help revive others either from over-exertion, illness or trauma, more times than I can remember; maybe 50-100 times. Most often acupoints 1-10 work quite well for feinting and dizziness, and where 11-18 are used progressively for loss of consciousness, lack of breath and weak or nonexistent pulse. Striking of the perineum, also know as the huiyin point, conception vessel-1, or CV-1, is quite invasive and used only for the most dire of circumstances. Kidney-1 (KI-1) is just below the ball on the bottom of the foot, as is often used instead of CV-1.
It is no coincidence that most of these acupoints are the same ones used to strike and disable a physical attacker.
Copy, print, or share this image – it might come in handy!
Copy, print, or share this image – it might come in handy!
Auriculotherapy is another method of acupuncture and/or acupressure, where the qi or energy meridians are accessed from the inner and outer portions of the ear (auricle). Acupuncture needles are often used for treatments but there are also small seeds or steel pellets can be adhered to the skin to provide longer lasting stimulation usually lasting a few days. For some issues of pain, relief can be experienced within minutes from the start of the procedures. There are usually no complications nor side-effects while patients are subjected to very little or no discomfort.
I have had auricular therapy in the past from my TCM doctor at the time. I learned some of the techniques from her at the time and have since learned even more from other TCM doctors as well as qigong and martial arts masters, enabling me to provide my own successful treatments for backache, headaches, and seasonal allergies.
Almost 13 years ago the U.S. Air Force begin training physicians deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan on how to use these methods. These techniques are quite easy and quick for most people to learn. The doctors would apply small and fine needles to wounded service members and local patients for pain relief.
At the time, the term “battlefield acupuncture” was used, even though these techniques have been in use probably for hundreds of years and not necessarily to soldiers nor on the battlefield. This battlefield acupuncture was not purposely designed to replace conventional medical care for war-related injuries, but rather to help in pain relief and possibly eliminate the need for pain medications for acute and chronic pain.
Other TCM doctors are using auricular therapy for various issues or other benefits such as studies on the use of auriculotherapy with distance runners to increase performance.
I have found some information to be somewhat critical of auricular therapy (and TCM in general as well). Usually, it is the same issues with Western medicine having lack of scientific data or a desire not to deviate from the allopathic medical model. If these methods have existed in other cultures for hundreds, if not thousands of years, maybe there is something there to be studied further.
Traditional Chinese Medicine offers an amazing amount of knowledge, methods and alternative options to manage trauma, chronic pain and many other issues, beyond using surgery, opiates and anti-inflammatories.
I teach classes, seminars, and private instruction focusing on methods of wellness from Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tai Chi, Qigong, acupressure and exercises from martial arts for fitness and improved health. 407-234-0119.
United Martial Arts Association 