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Intro: For thousands of years, the Chinese have used acupuncture to treat many conditions including headaches, anxiety, joint pain and digestive problems. Now, many Western medical centers are using acupuncture too. Why? Because for many people, it works. Doctors at Mayo Clinic are studying acupuncture to see how it helps people who've been stuck in the hospital for weeks on end. People like the young woman you're about to meet who had not one, but two heart transplants.
| Video | Audio |
Total running time 1:36 |
AT AGE 22, MICHIKO MILLS HAD A HEART TRANSPLANT. THE RESULT OF A HEART MUSCLE DISEASE CALLED CARDIOMYOPATHY. |
Michiko Mills Had Heart Transplant |
"BOTH MY MOTHER AND BROTHER HAD DIED FROM THE SAME DISEASE. SO TO LEARN THAT, IT WAS VERY SCARY, YOU KNOW, THAT I WAS THE NEXT ONE THAT WOULD EVENTUALLY DIE." |
VO: from Michiko to animation Courtesy WCTV |
MICHIKO'S HEART MUSCLE BECAME WEAK. HER HEART COULDN'T PUMP BLOOD EFFICIENTLY. THANKFULLY A DONOR ORGAN BECAME AVAILABLE. BUT RIGHT AFTER SURVIVING THE STORM OF ILLNESS, MICHIKO AND HER HUSBAND RAHEEM WEATHERED A DIFFERENT KIND OF STORM. |
| Michiko Mills | "WE HEARD LOTS OF WIND. THE BUILDING WAS SHAKING." |
| BACK-TO-BACK HURRICANES PREVENTED MICHIKO FROM GETTING TO SOME OF HER FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENTS. SO SHE WAS UNAWARE THAT WHILE THE WINDS RAGED OUTSIDE, HER BODY RAGED AGAINST HER NEW HEART. FULL BLOWN REJECTION RESULTED IN THE NEED FOR ANOTHER TRANSPLANT. | |
| Michiko Mills | "THE FIRST ONE WAS PRETTY DIFFICULT, BUT THE SECOND ONE WAS A LOT WORSE." |
Standup Vivien Williams Reporting |
MICHIKO BECAME VERY ILL. SHE COULDN'T EAT. NAUSEA AND VOMITING KEPT HER FROM GAINING THE STRENGTH SHE NEEDED TO GET BETTER. THEN NEUROSURGEON RONALD REIMER ADMINISTERED ACUPUNCTURE. |
Ronald Reimer, M.D. Mayo Clinic Neurosurgeon |
"MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN IN BED, NAUSEOUS, VOMITNG OR RETCHING FOR WEEKS ON END WILL HAVE CESSATION OF THESE SYMPTOMS AND DEVELOP AN APPETITE FAIRLY SOON AFTER TREATMENT." |
| AND NOW, FOUR MONTHS POST-TRANSPLANT, MICHIKO IS THRIVING. ENJOYING TIME WITH RAHEEM AND HER SECOND GIFT OF LIFE. | |
| FOR MEDICAL EDGE, I'M VIVIEN WILLIAMS. |
Tag: Dr. Reimer says acupuncture works to reduce nausea and vomiting by restoring balance to your nervous system after it's function is disrupted by sickness and surgery.
He says each person responds differently to acupuncture - some people need more treatments than others. But all people in their study saw improvement after acupuncture when medications failed.For more information, log onto our Web site at ...
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