One of the questions Alice is most frequently asked in clinic is “how did you get into acupuncture?” Often it is hearing of others experience that pushes us to take the plunge and try something different. There isn’t a much more compelling story than Alice’s. It is the ultimate acupuncture love story.
At the age of 9, Alice began a journey to understand and hopefully resolve an issue with her bladder. Alice had been suffering with urinary incontinence since birth, and at 10 years old, Alice’s life become highly medicalised as an explanation was sought.
An explanation was found. The muscle and sphincter of Alice’s bladder were seen to behave very strangely, and the result was almost constant leaking of urine. Interventions from the less invasive to the very invasive were tried to find a solution.
By the age of 13, Alice was still incontinent daily, regularly having to self-catheterise and running out of options. That is when Alice and her mum took a leap of faith and visited an acupuncturist. Neither of them knew anything about acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, but at this point, there was nothing to lose. That’s when Alice met her acupuncturist who would then become one of the most influential people in her life to date.
Alice started a course of weekly treatment. And after 6 weeks, to everyone’s surprise, her symptoms started to improve. After a year of treatment, Alice had full bladder control.
Beyond the obvious benefit of acupuncture completely transforming Alice’s health and therefore her quality of life, Alice learnt so much about the body and how to take care of oneself. Alice continued to use acupuncture throughout her teenage years for a variety of reasons, stress management, musculoskeletal pain, hormone health, and continued to learn ancient Chinese wisdom of how we nurture and nourish our body, mind and soul.
“When I think of my life without acupuncture, I feel this immense sense of sadness. I instantly think of the incontinent teenager and how much harder her life would have been. The friends she wouldn’t have, the trips she would have missed, the opportunities that would have been wasted”
When Alice had to start thinking about what was coming after school, she decided to follow what had been her passion and interest for so long. Medicine, Chinese Medicine. Alice began studying at the City College of Acupuncture at the age of 18 and set up her clinic as soon as she left the college at the age of 21. Since she was 18 years old, Alice has been living and breathing this medicine, constantly powered by gratitude and curiosity, driven by her own experience.