3 things you never thought to tell your CAM practitioner

It may seem like your massage therapist, acupuncturist or other CAM practitioner knows more about you than your best friend. However, here are three important details you may have never thought to share with your practitioners.

1) If you wake up at the same time every night. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Universal Qi as well as the Qi in your organs changes every two hours. If your organ Qi does keep pace with the shifting Universal QI, you may experience physical discomforts causing you to wake. The time you regularly wake at night can indicate which organ has an imbalance.

2) If you are using a topical hormone cream (ie, estrogen, progesterone or testosterone). The active ingredients in these hormone cremes can be transferred in skin to skin contact. It is perfectly safe to receive a massage while using these cremes. Still, it is very important for your practitioner to use simple precautions to keep from absorbing the hormones themselves during the session.

3) Your good experiences from other practitioners. Although sharing your past facial, acupuncture or massage experience may not seem relevant, this can be useful information to ensure you receive a spectacular treatment. Every practitioner is different and one may not be able to duplicate the experience. However, this feedback gives practitioners insight into what is important to you and your treatment style. The practitioner can use this information to cater their treatment to your preferences and may even come up with something you like better!