Five Element Austin

Aug 2020

Today was my sixth appointment with Lindsay and I have already seen dramatic shifts in my long-term health issues. My energy has gone from a 3 to an 8, and my mood and optimism have increased exponentially. Lindsay is a gifted and knowledgeable healer, and the Five Element style of acupuncture is unlike any I have had before. Highly Recommend!

May 2020

I recommend Lindsay extremely highly, especially if you are dealing with a chronic health problem. The following is a long story, but the short of it is that Lindsay is my lifeline for keeping my autoimmune condition in check. I can't explain in biological terms how acupuncture works, but I can tell you that without Lindsay's attentive care, I would have to take immunosuppresants which would wreck my immune system and leave me very vulnerable to various forms of infection. Quarantine and germ-paranoia would be my new "normal" without her amazing work. It's hard to express in words how grateful I am to have her in my life. I've been suffering from Psoriatic Arthritis with wandering joint and tendon inflammation for my entire adult life (since age 19). Thankfully it was wandering and migratory for most of this time, so the downsides of treating my condition the "standard" way (immunosuppressants) outweighted the benefits. In 2018 it took a really nasty turn, and at the end of the year, I was at the point where I was having difficulty walking because of frequent knee and ankle inflammation, and worse still, unable to effectively use my right hand because of trigger finger that stabilized for a period of months. It was time for me to swallow the bitter pill and take immunosuppressants. I tried everything under the sun that there was any research literature in support of (AIP elimination diet, actual medical Keto with ketosis >= 3mmol/l, cryotherapy, fish oil, curcumin, ginger root extract, boswellia, and much much more). A dear friend of mine recommended I give classical acupuncture a shot, and I sought treatment with Neil Gumenick in Santa Monica per his recommendation. Having a materialistic science-based worldview, I was extremely skeptical that acupuncture would work, but figured I had nothing left to lose by trying. Much to my surprise, within a month the improvement was so dramatic that it became clear I didn't have to give up having an immune system for the rest of my life to keep my condition stable and manageable. The finger joints that already had accumulated some arthritic nodules gradually became better and better, and over the coming months, the nodules had decreased to the point of being barely noticeable at all. My state was more manageable and mild, still with some minor migratory flare-ups, but nothing like the serious state I was in before acupuncture treatment with Neil. In late 2019, I decided to make the move to Austin, TX, and was willing to fly back to California every single month to continue treatment with Neil. Unfortunately after the move, I had a lapse in treatment before I finally resumed, and paid the price with my condition dramatically worsening. Whatever doubts I had in my mind about whether the acupuncture was responsible for my improved state were gone. Once I resumed treatment, my condition stabilized once more. As luck would have it, one of Neil's best students, Lindsay, happened to live and practice in Austin! I quickly began seeking treatment with her, and my condition was relatively mild and very manageable until the COVID-19 situation and I could no longer see her in person for a while. Predictably, my condition has worsened as it did before during my lapse of treatment. She has been extremely supportive and helpful, doing remote accupressure sessions, which has kept things a bit better than they would be otherwise, but I am very eager to resume seeing her in person. Even through these difficult times, Lindsay has been a wonderful source of support and care. In short, I am a die-hard skeptic that has been convinced by Neil and Lindsay that classical acupuncture can be a very powerful way to treat certain kinds of diseases, and I would recommend Lindsay highly to anyone who needs help. She is my lifeline, and my quality of life would suffer dramatically without her.