LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With one in five combat troops coming back from the Middle East suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, there’s a need for new treatments.
Svetlana Petrowizky and those schooled in her specialty are providing it – oddly enough, with an ancient medical discipline that people used to get arrested for practicing.
Acupuncture.
“I have seen quite a few veterans from a long time ago (Vietnam), but I also recently saw a young woman who was a soldier,” said Petrowizky, whose Lakeport Acupuncture office is located at 912 S. Main St. in Lakeport. “She came for acupuncture, but she actually needed surgery that she wasn’t able to get.
“The acupuncture was given during a kind of waiting game until the approvals she needed happened,” Petrowizky added. “We were able to keep her pain somewhat manageable and we were happy to give her more treatments because they were helping during the several months we waited for her approval.”
Petrowizky was actually on a team of medical professionals including the young woman vet’s orthopedist who were waiting out the go-ahead for surgery.
Not long ago that would have been impossible because acupuncturists were not recognized as health care givers.
“Now it’s being accepted by insurance and is a lot more welcome,” Petrowizky said. “There has been progress. Before we couldn’t get a license and were arrested for practicing without a license.”
Petrowizky, who has practiced acupuncture for 13 years, considers herself fortunate to have been completing studies in Chinese medicine while attitudes about acupuncture were changing.
Asked about the progress for acupuncture, she said it's happening “in a big way.”
“Ever since I graduated a lot more insurance companies are covering it. That’s good because there’s so much stress-related stuff,” she said.
For those unschooled in acupuncture it is a technique in which practitioners stimulate specific points on the body – most often by inserting thin needles into the skin.
The practice can serve innumerable purposes, including matters as basic as smoking cessation and weight control, although neither are offered by Petrowizky.
“Most of my clients come in for headaches, emotional concerns and a lot of stress-related problems,” she said. “Who I see are a lot of are people who need relief right away.”
She provides physical relief for weekend warriors as well as construction workers who, she said, “work hard with their bodies.”
Petrowizky was born in the Ukraine when it was part of Soviet Union. She came to the United States with her parents when she was 13 and later earned her master's degree in traditional Chinese medicine at Yo San University in China. In addition, she holds a degree in Tuina, Chinese healing massage.
She has practiced in Lake County for five years.
Her major concerns are:
– Patients getting off medication. “It’s a tough battle; they want to get off of it,” she said. “One young woman had been on (medication) since she was a child. I think it’s kind of a trend. A lot of times people need medications but sometimes they don’t.”
– Misconceptions about acupuncture. “People have this black and white approach to it. Acupuncture is a therapy, not a miracle cure. People come in with some kind of chronic condition. They’ve been on drugs, cortisone injections, everything and then they expect acupuncture to work for them in one or two treatments. So it’s black and white with them. (They say) ‘I don’t expect it to work, but I’ll try one treatment.' They think of it as this magic thing. You try to tell them, ‘Look, you've had this pain for a long time ...’”
– Unqualified practitioners administering acupuncture. “To renew your license every year you must attend workshops and clinics and have a master's in acupuncture earned over four years. The problem is doctors performing acupuncture that they learned over the weekend. They learn a few points and then start poking people and hurting them. People have had their lungs punctured with that kind of stuff.”
Even babies can be treated, said Petrowizky. And for anything from tummy aches to attention deficit disorder.
“ … But we don’t have to stick needles in them,” she said. “There are a lot of different ways to treat kids. You just press on the points of pressure. A lot of times acupressure is very effective. It helps (children) sleep and then we teach the parents to do something they can do every day.
“There are all kinds of problems,” she added. “But kids are not the bulk of my practice. I just see them sometimes.”
Svetlana Petrowizky can be reached by calling 707-843-9368 or visit her practice online at www.lakeportacupuncture.com .
Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .