The patient's voice

In late February I began to suffer from a "strange ailment": tinnitus. Tinnitus is actually a malfunction of the brain. The brain of someone with tinnitus in one ear (or both) makes them constantly hear a noise, a ringing or a crackling that doesn't actually exist in their ear, on top of the sounds coming from the outside world. Life becomes a nightmare for these people: they can't sleep at night (the noise in their ear keeps them from falling asleep), they can't hold a "normal" conversation (the noise stops them from hearing the other person clearly), they feel limited in their daily activities, and that brings constant discomfort and a permanently bad mood.

On April 24th, the ear, nose and throat specialist at the public health service gave me the "last rites" and told me she "couldn't do anything to cure this horrible condition."

On May 5th I had my first acupuncture session at the Asociación de Acupuntura Natural on Luis Piernas street. I had 2 acupuncture sessions a week. By the fifth session I was "miraculously" cured, and not only that — I felt an enormous inner peace, wellbeing and emotional calm.

Thanks to David and Pilar, today I can live an efficient life. Their personal and professional care has been impeccable. They cured what Western medicine and pharmaceutical chemistry could not cure. I only have words of gratitude for them and for ECAN, a wonderful organization that has given my life its dignity back.

Thank you, David. Thank you, Pilar. Thank you, ECAN.

My name is Mario G., I'm 58 years old and I live in Madrid.

I've suffered from sleep apnea my whole life, in its worst form — "central" apnea, which unlike "obstructive" apnea can't be treated with surgery.

As a result of the apnea, sleep isn't restorative, and it brings on daytime drowsiness, chronic fatigue, and even respiratory and cardiovascular problems.

I saw several specialists, particularly in respiratory medicine, and after a polysomnography test I was diagnosed with severe apnea.

There's currently no drug treatment for it, so in serious cases the specialist will always prescribe a CPAP machine — a pressure generator that delivers continuous air pressure to the upper airway through a nasal mask, to stop it from collapsing. The mask is obviously uncomfortable, and the noise the machine makes is also very unpleasant for whoever sleeps next to you.

Since I've always been drawn to natural medicine, I explored other treatment options and came across a case in Lérida where central apnea had been treated with acupuncture.

So in Madrid I went to the Asociación de Acupuntura Natural, where in fewer than 15 sessions they made my apnea disappear completely. My life has changed completely.

My gratitude goes to the professionals at the Association / School, and I encourage anyone suffering from apnea not to think twice and to treat this condition with acupuncture.

My name is Pilar, and I've just turned 82.

I'd like to start by highlighting the honesty of Pilar and David when they were asked if they could treat me; their honest answer was: we've never treated anyone this advanced in age before, so we can't guarantee success or effectiveness.

Right from the start: they're honest — that's good enough for me!

I did already know acupuncture; I'd experienced it before, several times over my long life, and it had always helped me.

And so we began the treatment, about 4–5 months ago now.

My current medical diagnosis is: Addison's disease with multi-glandular involvement — underactive thyroid and pituitary gland.

A diagnosis that was reached after some 30–40 years in which I've lived through every kind of medical aberration, mistake, and — yes, I'll say it — brutality. I can't say the doctors covered themselves in glory with me, and I say that with deep sorrow, because I was always someone in love with medicine — in fact, I'm a clinical analyst and psychoanalyst, so I do know something about the subject.

Finally, with the help of a good endocrinologist and friend, we were able to establish that what I have is a congenital pituitary malformation, so my endocrine system has never worked properly — it started showing signs of it from the time of my first period.

Over the years, various clinical pictures followed one another. Years ago I had surgery for Stein-Leventhal syndrome: polycystic ovaries and adrenal hyperplasia, and it seems that's when my glands fell into the current underactive state of the adrenals. Not long ago I was able to see an image of my glands, and the right one looks something like an empty, discarded skin lying on the ground, trampled on; the left one is perfect, tiny but fine, and it seems that's all I have left in that department.

Lately, whether because the treatments I was on were failing, or because I was going through a flare-up of the condition — which is common in this clinical picture — the fact is that I was, quite literally, running out of life: the fatigue kept getting worse and worse, no defenses left, and so on.

After so many years and so many situations lived through, my body is very worn down, exhausted I'd say — I can't tolerate any chemical medication at all, all my support has to come from natural products and alternative medicine, and always in the smallest doses: give it the tiniest amount and my body responds, it's grateful for even a little, but if it feels forced, "it kicks back" and I get much worse, even with natural remedies.

That's why we started the acupuncture with just 1 session a week, and agreed we'd go very slowly.

And indeed, I began to improve.

Not long ago it was my friends who helped me realize it: "But Pilar, do you notice how you move now? Do you feel the energy you're showing?"

Oh, it's true!

I'm no Samson or Goliath, but I can honestly say that if I keep my life within the limits I know are my real possibilities, I live that level of life completely normally, and at my age I can live without depending on anyone, taking care of my home and my own affairs, and I even do some useful work helping people in need — for that, much as I hate to admit it because I don't like it at all, the computer is a great help, because I can do it from home, comfortably, at my own pace, but staying active, useful, and exercising my mind, which is essential at my age.

It's clear: Pilar and David, with their pulse readings, "knew how to take my measure," and their help has been extremely, extremely effective for me.

Deo gratias.

I'm Rebeca and I wanted to share my experience with acupuncture.

I used to suffer from migraines practically every week, if not daily — sometimes a mild headache, other times so intense I had to leave work because I couldn't even open my eyes. It almost always happened after some stressful episode, other times a migraine would appear for no apparent reason, and others were linked to my period.

I'm someone who always carried ibuprofen just in case, and that also caused me stomach problems that got worse with these stress episodes — in the end, one thing fed into the other.

A year ago I decided to have a baby, and I didn't want to take any medication in case I got pregnant, and since the headaches kept going, I decided to try natural acupuncture.

I started treatment 3 months ago, and not long after starting I noticed the pain was easing astonishingly. Today it's gone completely, and I only get a mild ache around my period, but nothing like what I used to experience.

I think acupuncture has stabilized me inside, so that the things that used to cause me stress no longer do — I handle situations better now, because I'm aware of what triggers it.

I recommend it to everyone, because I went in fairly skeptical and it really has worked wonderfully.

I also went for other issues, like lower back pain, and it eased the symptoms in a single session — these days I go from time to time to reinforce the treatment.