Services We Offer

Chinese and Japanese Acupuncture

We have specialties in several types of acupuncture. Most people are familiar with Chinese acupuncture, which uses hair-thin needles to adjust people’s energy, and therefore their health. We also have a practitioner who specializes in Toyohari, an enormously effective Japanese form of acupuncture that is gentle enough that even children love it! For the needle-shy, this is the answer! Trained in Japan, Will Mitchell is on the National Toyohari Board, as well as the President of the Texas Toyohari Association.

Nutritional Counseling

We have additional certifications in Applied Clinical Nutrition. This is the use of nutrition to treat specific conditions and heal disease by giving the body specific food supplements (not isolated and incomplete vitamins like 99% of supplements on the market). Working with whole food supplements gives the body all the co-factors and enzymes for absorption that allows healing to occur. This is very different than the typical nutritionist who gives synthetic Vitamin A - for example, there are 200 different compounds in a carrot, which work synergistically with the Vitamin A in a carrot, versus removing it and synthesizing it in a lab, and hoping that it will work in the same manner. In our experience, we have found that adding nutritional whole food supplements to many of our treatments has greatly increased the efficacy and speed of healing. For more information, see the Wikipedia entry on Whole Food Supplements

We can also help you create a lifestyle of nutrition that works for you. Never cook at home? Have kids? Spend lots of time at the office? Athletic? Have specific health concerns? We can work with all of them, and create a realistic, do-able and even enjoyable program to help you improve your health.

Chinese Herbal Consulting

Chinese herbs have shown to be hugely effective when prescribed by a trained practitioner. All of our herbalists are not only Nationally Certified in Chinese Herbology, but they are licensed by the Texas Board of Medical Examiners. This means that your practitioner is trained in compiling your symptoms and creating a formula specific to your diagnosis – this is infinitely more advanced than saying gingko is good for memory, saw palmetto is good for the prostate. A good herbalist almost never uses a single herb – formulas must be balanced against side effects, and modified for each individual. It is said that it is harder to train a good herbalist than it is a good acupuncturist – and we have excellent ones here!

SP Detox Cleanse

Doing a cleanse is one of the best ways to rid your body of toxins and start it on it’s way to health, and the SP Detox Cleanse is the most effective way to do that. The SP Detox Cleanse is unique. It uses specific herb combination to stimulate detoxification of many organs. Then your nutritional reserves are built up over several weeks with whole food concentrates that are extremely easy to absorb, filling in the gaps where your nutrition has been lacking. The SP Detox Cleanse uses the best nutrition available, all organic and vegetarian, combined with professional grade herbs and the professional guidance of our trained staff. Click on the button above for more details.

Acupuncture for Pain Relief

"Over two-thirds of the pain specialists reported having either used or referred patients to acupuncture treatments." Pain 2000;85:313-315.

"Acupuncture...is no more experimental as a mode of treatment than is the Chinese language as a mode of communication. What is experimental is not acupuncture, but Westerners' understanding of it and their ability to use it properly." US District Court of Southern Texas, July 1980.

"I can't see a better solution to long term chronic pain. There is no question in my mind that acupuncture is safer than surgery or drugs because it stimulates the natural chemical changes in the body." Dr. Bruce Pomeranz, neurosurgeon, University of Toronto

The most dangerous words a patient can say are, " Maybe it will go away." Consider that pain is a warning signal to the body, and that ignoring that signal, or covering it up with pain killing drugs, may lead to bigger health issues. There are many ways that pain can be handled, and at Merritt Acupuncture, we have experience in several of those modalities.

Acupuncture is widely recognized for pain relief. From dental and surgical anesthesia to migraines, everybody has heard about acupuncture relieving pain. How does it help? In Oriental Medicine, pain is always a result of the body's energy being blocked. When the natural flow of this energy is blocked, it backs up and creates pain and pressure, much like water behind a dam. Acupuncture changes and improves the flow of this energy, relieving the blockage and therefore alleviating the pain.

Massage also moves energy and blood, and often can alleviate pain. This is why massage is included in all of our acupuncture sessions.

Herbal formulas specific to pain help to move the energy and blood between sessions. They are an important adjunct to all of our therapies.

Oriental Medicine does not just treat the signs and symptoms. It uncovers the source of your pain and corrects it. Not only can we eliminate the dam that causes the pain, but we can get to the root of what initially caused the problem. When the problem is corrected, your body can begin to heal on deeper levels.

Don't put up with pain! It is NOT necessarily a factor of excuses like "getting old" or "doesn't everyone have back pain?" Chronic or acute, OM can make an enormous difference in your pain, and in your quality of life.

Pediatrics

Kids love this type of doctor’s office! No painful needles, and a lot of attention. Imagine your child is healthy enough to not need antibiotics; or that there are gentle and effective ways to get your child healthy if they are sick. We have solved chronic ear and sinus problems, rashes and dermatological problems, digestive problems and more. Not only do we have effective vitamins and herbs that can strengthen your child, and we can teach you how to help them at home also, through specialized Chinese pediatric massage. We treat all ages, from newborns to teenagers. Children respond faster than adults to treatment too!

Neurotransmitter Testing/ Treatment

Neurotransmitter testing is being used more and more by practitioners, psychiatrists and doctors to diagnose patients, rather than prescribing a pill and seeing if it works, which is typically what happens with most psychiatrists. This allows us to support patients who want to try something other than psychiatric drugs, to increase the efficacy of their existing regimen, or to see if what they’re taking is actually having the intended effect. This is not necessarily about having people stop taking their drugs – we don’t recommend that without speaking to your doctor first. This is to be certain that the drugs that are being taken are actually working, since, for example, we often see patients suffering from depression even though they are on anti-depressive medications. These are simple urine tests that are clinically proven to be accurate and effective. Don’t hesitate to call if you would like more details.

Hormonal Testing/ Treatment

This is not just an acupuncture clinic – we work with Western labs to accurately and easily test many hormonal imbalances – adrenal cortisol levels (which show adrenal function), all thyroid hormones, all female and male hormones, as well as food allergies, GI infections and parasites. If you are struggling with fatigue, infertility, slow metabolism, PMS, depression, low sex drive, menopausal symptoms, prostate problems, or anything else that seems hard to diagnose, there’s a good chance it involves a hormonal imbalance. These tests allow us to treat you quickly and specifically, without wasting time or money “guessing”. And these tests can be more accurate than a blood test – there are many people suffering from low thyroid function who test “normal” on a blood test, for example!

Lifestyle Counseling

We know that people are occasionally “nervous” about seeing a complementary healthcare practitioner – “What if they tell me to stop eating meat?” (we won’t!) or
“I’m too tired to exercise every day!” (then we just figure out first why you’re tired). What we’re committed to is that we find new ways for you to break out of your routines, and put in habits and new ways of thinking that support you in your new health goals. We figure out what is already working and build on that. Now, it’s true that there may be some changes that would be good to make, but they will be your choices, not us insisting on anything. We’re all about meeting you wherever you are, and giving you Choices, and educating you on those Choices, so you can make ones that work for you.

Stress Management

It has been shown by the AMA that 80% of people in the hospital are there because their stress has manifested as a chronic problem that now has to be more drastically treated. Acupuncture and massage have been shown to be one of the most effective ways to limit the damages of stress and induce the relaxation response. This is not just about “feeling good”, although lots of people notice that also! Our body's stress mechanisms ARE designed to support us during challenging times, like in an emergency, not the constant stress to which we are exposed. Stress can be "externally generated" like a difficult boss, an unrewarding job, a less-than-peaceful home life, caring for an aging parent or sick child, uncertainty about circumstances around us, whether they are work, or world issues. And stress can also be "internally generated" - for example, constant worrying, driving yourself too hard, being a perfectionist, or carrying grudges.

When you "put up" with symptoms like insomnia, irritability, fatigue, headaches, “nervous stomach”, mood swings, anxiety, depression, or tight neck and shoulders, the imbalance will only get worse and opens the door for more extreme and chronic health issues to emerge later . Here, at Merritt Acupuncture, we can make an enormous difference in how you deal with stress, both in our office and with tools we can give you to use at home. This is our specialty - come see why our patients return again and again for our combination massage/acupuncture sessions - it's what makes the difference for them to be in peak form in the rest of their lives!

Insurance Filing

We file insurance so that you don’t have to. We will inquire with your insurance company as to if you have coverage and will file all paperwork for you if you do, and will follow up with the insurance companies to make sure your claim goes through.

Click here for more information about insurance.

Long-Distance Consulting

We know that our practice is very different from typical doctor’s offices, and even from other acupuncturists and nutritionists! Which is why we offer long-distance consulting for patients who do not live in our area. We have specific paperwork that allows us, along with telephone consultations, to diagnose you and prescribe nutritional and herbal treatments that are specific to your health needs, and we mail them directly to you, along with whatever printed information is helpful and applicable. We stay in contact with you, just like our regular patients, to make sure everything is working properly, and that you’re getting your questions answered. We have patients in the US, Canada, and in Europe, and are pleased to help you get some clarity and choices in your health care!