Introduction to Functional Edge and Dr. Sonia Patel

As far as like doing acupuncture, I would say like give it three months because within those three months, you'll be able to see the changes and whenever they get their period, they know, oh my gosh, this is actually really different in a good way.

I have, you know, the PMS because in traditional Chinese medicine, there's no such thing as PMS. I mean, your period is a sudden surprise. And in med school, I was like, I don't know if any woman who wakes up and is like, oh, my God, this is the greatest surprise ever.

You know, really? The professor, you know, explains that the sudden surprise basically has to do with there is no PMS. The period comes when it's supposed to come.

And, you know, there's no precursors. Welcome to the Functional Edge. I'm Dr. Julia Ward, and this is where science meets real world strategies for living healthier, sharper, and stronger.

From uncovering hidden environmental toxins to unlocking peak performance and mental clarity, we cover it all. Ready to take control of your health and thrive?

Let's dive in. Hi, welcome to the Functional Edge podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Julia Ward, medical director and founder of Balanced Body Functional Medicine.

Today on the Functional Edge, I'm joined by Dr. Sonia Patel, a nationally certified acupuncturist with over 20 years of experience blending traditional Chinese medicine and Western approaches to health.

She's one of Houston's first providers of fertility and facial renewal acupuncture and holds a doctorate from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

She's also a creator of a People's Guide to Fertility Coloring book, a fun and informative resource that combines anatomy, TCM wisdom, and a little humor.

And I'm thrilled to have her on the show to talk about reproductive health, healing, and creativity. Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. So your story is deeply inspiring.

Can you share how your personal experiences led you to integrate traditional Chinese medicine or TCM with modern science in your work? So my background is so important when I discuss this.

My mom is a retired pharmacist and my father is in the automotive industry. We moved here when I was little from England and not knowing anybody, my parents were really eager to find somebody who knew complementary medicine, just to try to get some of their ailments treated.

And my mom, though being a pharmacist, was against medications. They stumbled upon Dr.

Personal Journey into Acupuncture and Healing

Nguyen and he was an amazing acupuncturist who was in the heart of 610 and that was the closest from Sugarland that they could go and get some therapy.

Me, being a really bad pianist at the age of seven, I had to stop my piano lessons. And so therefore, I was with them on their Saturdays, witnessing them getting acupuncture done.

And I thought that was a really cool experience. And the doctor had a small young boy that was my age. So we pretty much quietly like run around and, you know, do some mischief.

But when I was about 13, I started to suffer with debilitating migraines. And when I say debilitating, they were debilitating. I was not able to get out of my bedroom.

I was having to use like blackout curtains makeshift at that time. And I did go see a neurologist, multiple neurologists. They were wanting to prescribe some medications to me.

And again, you know, now this is the, what, late 80s, early 90s. And my mom was quite you know, against putting me on those medications because the side effects were just so tremendous.

I remember one of them being that it could cause infertility. It was used for something else. And my mom said, well, darn, I don't know whether or not she would like to have kids later on.

I really feel like that is like a terrible question to ask my 13 year old to. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So she said, you know what, let me call Dr. Wen and we went over there and we did an acupuncture.

He was so great. I received acupuncture therapy at that time. About six months, I would say, like after receiving so many acupuncture treatments, even my father said, oh my gosh, you're like a different person.

You are more of an extrovert than an introvert. And I'm just so astonished that you actually feel good and feel better and you look good. And I really did.

I felt so amazing. When I was about 21 years old, I was studying nutrition and food science at University of Houston and just so proud that I was receiving this degree in nutrition and I loved it.

I really did enjoy it. There was just something missing, I think, out from the degree that really it was got me down. It was really hard to work at MD Anderson and come crying home to my roommate and say, you know, I had to see some more children go through cancer therapies and I wish I could help them in a different way.

And just about that time I was actually at a function just right here in Fort Bend County and A car broke through a wall and I just ended up being on the opposite side of it and it ran over me and some other people that were also hurt.

I was directly underneath the engine of the car, if you will, and I was caught underneath there. So by the time they found me, my knee was touching my nose.

And the compression of the car just sitting on my back, so about 5,000 pounds, was breaking each one of my lower vertebrae. So L2, L3, and L4 were all fractured.

I did say my last goodbye to my family and my friends that, you know, please give them the strength. You know, praying is of course, right, you know, give them the strength to get through this terrible time.

And I drifted. I stopped. I gave up on breathing. So I do recall that, you know, experience. And at that time, they lifted up the car. There was about 20 people that had to lift up the car to get me out from under.

And I was lifelighted to Herman Hospital. And during the time that I was lifelighted to Herman, I do recall coming to consciousness and the paramedic had said, oh, you know, I got you.

I got you. And I said, well, I just want to close my eyes. And he goes, well, darling, if you close your eyes one more time, I may lose you permanently.

When I got to the emergency room, there was a surgeon that was waiting there and he was the best person that I could have ever had, you know, there. He said, you know what, I'm not going to operate on you.

I'm like, hello, do you do you remember or did you see the report of what happened to me? How are you not operating on me? I have no idea what happened to me, but I'm in pain, you know?

And he said, well, I mean, You are 21 years old. I just read the report. You are conscious and he's like, and I'm looking at you. I'm like, this is all that's happened.

So I believe that you can heal on your own, but I'm going to give you a week to see if you can do that. You know, if you start to see some good progression, then I'm going to just not come near you and allow you to to be able to heal.

Although that was pretty, you know, advanced for that time as well. You know, we just didn't have some kind of integration, I guess, at that time, you know.

So I was in the hospital for a little bit. And then, you know, of course, back then, too, like insurance could kick you out real fast. But I did have some therapies with tear and being able to learn how to walk again, because both my legs were run by the tire of the car.

and called my acupuncturist again and said, hey, can you fit me in your schedule for like acupuncture therapy? Because I really want to go back to college.

I really want to finish up my degree in nutrition at University of Houston. All these other doctors are telling me my last semester, you know, this happened in December and I was supposed to graduate in May.

So my last semester, you're going to have to take it off. And I said, no way, no way. I'm going to go come, you know, I have to be in a wheelchair or crutches, anything.

I will finish up my degree on time. And he said, OK, fine. You come to get acupuncture done three times a week. And I did. I went three times a week. And then after that, you know, there was no cell phones.

I'm going to age myself right here, but there was no cell phones and things like that. So there was always one friend that would take me to acupuncture, another friend that would pick me up from acupuncture, take me to the University of Houston.

And then, you know, so there was a there was a teamwork, if you will, like just get me to be able to finish up my last degree. And of course, for them, too, you know, they they were also in classes as well.

In all honesty, like, you know, when I was thought about the fact of this man gives me hope that I can walk again without having to be in a wheelchair without having to have some other kind of assistance, or even emotionally like my hair was shaved off my.

You know, I had staples from ear to ear. I had burns throughout my lower back. I had, you know, hematomas. I lost my memory. There's a couple years of my life that are just like Swiss cheese.

You know, they're holes. And he gave me hope. And I thought, this is actually what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to do this. I want to be an acupuncturist.

So once I started to get better motivated to pursue that career, I was so inquisitive with him and asked him all the questions.

Training in China and Integrative Practice

He goes, OK, well, you go get your nutrition degree first and then we talk. And I graduated valedictorian from University of Houston. That was the first time.

Awesome. Thanks. The first time I was able to wear heels was to walk across the stage. Oh, wow. Nice. So I was really super proud of the fact that I could wear some heels.

And then, you know, I enrolled into Oriental Medical School and I absolutely love what I do every single day. That's awesome. What a great story. Thank you so much for sharing that.

You bet. That's really amazing. From your time living and training in China, what wisdom or treatments did you bring back that continue to guide your practice today?

You know, for being in China, it was actually only for like a short period of time. It was for one month with our residency program because we do a lot of our residency here in the United States with an affiliated hospital.

So I was so fortunate to do it with Memorial Hermann and also with UT. When I was in China, I got to see 100 patients a day with all different kinds of conditions.

There's no HIPAA there. In your room, in your office right now, I could easily see like 10 patients. Do you see what I'm saying? So there would be like chairs for people.

And if there was an elderly person there and there was a table, then the other patients would actually give up the table for the elderly person to be on the table.

Yeah. So there were quite a few patients that did come in with different ailments that we would never see here in America. And so in that sort of setting, in the hospital setting, it's very different than what we have here in America.

There's herbs that we can use in IV drips. There are prescriptions that we can fill for herbs and they go right downstairs to the pharmacy and they get that fulfilled.

So it's a pretty cool process. You know, the coolest thing that I found was that I had a question mark for somebody's gastric acid output. And so I thought, you know, I really, really want this patient to get a gastroscopy.

And the doctor that my attending was like, well, then I think you should write a script for a GI scope. And I thought, well, I'm not going to get results, you know, for another like maybe three to four days or something.

He goes, nonsense. You're going to write that script. He's going to go down to the third floor. He's going to get it done. And then he's going to come back up in a few hours.

Wow. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Sure enough, he came back and he had his report in his hand and I was able to help him out with herbal therapy.

I think that as far as bringing some of that resources back into what I do every single day is actually being quick. So like being able to utilize herbs as soon as the patient is starting to talk to me about what's happening, I'm already picking up on acupuncture points, I'm already picking on herbal therapies that would help them out.

Not second guessing, you know, well, I'm not too sure if this is going to help or not. It's that spontaneous sort of movement that has to happen in a quick setting because acupuncture and herbal therapies are also utilized in the ER setting over there.

And so, you know, there are times when you have patients that have excess of bleeding and things like that. We can use charred herbs in order to actually stop that bleeding.

And again, you know, these Chinese hospitals back in 2002 did not necessarily have the same resources that we have, you know, in our ERs. So you are utilizing what you can.

What you have, yeah. That makes total sense. And it would be great if our ERs would employ some alternative therapies like that too. I think that would be great.

Yeah, for sure. You hold a doctorate and have been published alongside MDs from top institutions. How do you bridge the gap between traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine in patient care and research?

It's so important to acknowledge both Eastern and Western medicine, right? Without Western medicine, we would not be here. Without aspects of Eastern medicine too, though, we would also not necessarily be here because there Eastern medicine is what started it all, you know, right?

We did medicinal things centuries ago and before even Western medicine was really established. It's knowing though that look, there are limitations though for Eastern and Western medicine and making that union.

We're not on just one side versus the other. It's actually trying to integrate and doing that integrative medicine techniques. I have residents from Memorial Hermann that get to come in and shadow with me.

And I think that it's real important because back, you know, 2009 when, you know, when you were first coming to Texas, but just 2008, even 2007, do you remember when the Joint Commission, like, basically said, hey, you guys have to do something different here because we have an opioid crisis?

And in the the opioids were prescribed to patients for pain management but they were abused and overutilized so when acupuncture came into the picture.

It was because we were giving, you know, patients a different way and providers a different way to treat patients. And so, you know, a VA hospital acknowledges that, you know, as far as being able to utilize the acupuncture in lieu of medications and.

Bridging Eastern and Western Medicine

There is such a great response because it does not just help out with pain management. It helps out with stress. It helps out with ETSD. It helps out with so many other things that is just not geared towards one thing.

If you give somebody gabapentin, is not just for pain, but it's a specific, it's nerve related pain. And here you are like, well, I don't know if it's nerve related pain or not.

I mean, let me just add in a muscle relaxer too, an added flexor or something like that as well. Okay, well, now the patient's on two medications. Is it working?

They need to go to work. So they are now sleepy and tired at their job and not efficient. And so this gives them a different way of being able to utilize therapies.

And one of the biggest things that I did when I was at Memorial Hermann was that I went into a conference room, of course, Memorial Harmon executives were not necessarily looking at me thinking that, oh, this is the acupuncturist coming in, obviously.

I mean, they were really looking at me as, who are you? And so when I said, look, I'm the acupuncturist, and I really, really want you guys to just listen to me for a couple minutes here.

The medications that you're prescribing to your patients have about this much research and not, you know, it's like a folder, a folder of research. And you're asking me about the side effects of acupuncture and etc.

But also within that folder of research for your medications, there are so many side effects that are noted with the medication. Yet with acupuncture, I can fill up this entire conference room with research, positive research, and minimal side effects.

So that's how, like, if you have some of these open-minded doctors, which there are plenty of them, they're geared towards, you know, giving them at least the alternative.

So you're credentialed in fertility, facial acupuncture, oncology, and more. How do you decide which modality to apply to each patient? A lot of times it's referrals from their doctor that do come in.

So for facial acupuncture, I mean, I've done fine lines and wrinkles, but really is actually for Bell's palsy stroke patients. It's going to be for my patients who have had a history of Bell's palsy and they have a PTSD of, hey, I'm an extreme stress stressful situation.

Can you help me out with getting that stress to reduce? And the universal thread with acupuncture is that it really does help out with dropping cortisol levels real fast.

Like I can drop somebody's cortisol levels within five minutes. So as far as like oncology, I work with MD Anderson still. I love MD Anderson and Memorial Harmon also has a phenomenal like oncology department.

And I love working with those institutions because the oncologists are also stuck in those situations where they're not able to give this patient additional medication.

They're saying, hey, I'm going to reach out to you because I need you to help out with those side effects. Yeah. And so that's how I navigate that. Fertility has just been my baby and it's been my baby because My grandmother suffered with eight or nine miscarriages before she finally became pregnant with her third child.

And unfortunately, during delivery, she passed away and so did the baby. And it broke my heart after I learned about what happened with my grandmother.

She was 32 years old when she passed away. And I thought, you know, I really want to do some research and make sure that no woman has to ever you know, go through something like that.

Obviously, there's no way to prevent amniotic fluid from rupturing, but there is a way to help out with patients and their fertility, and they're guiding them through that.

So that is where I know that with acupuncture, if I offered the support that I can for the reproductive endocrinologist that I work with and the patients, that they would come to a positive outlook about fertility It's not infertility.

I would say give it a chance. So it would be fertility and also helping out with reproductive endocrinology. As a strong advocate for microvascular health, how do you see acupuncture and herbs supporting cerebral blood flow, brain fog, or cognitive function?

The coolest thing about acupuncture is that herbs and acupuncture both can help out with vasodilation in a nutshell, right, is what it is. Instead of a two-lane road, we give everything a four-lane road to get absorbed.

Fertility, Microvascular Health, and Trauma Recovery

Yeah, there are herbs that can basically be vasoconstrictors. However, differentiating that to begin with would definitely just help out. And, you know, when we have cases that have been at tier where patients have sustained injuries, let's say, for instance, that C1 or have had traumatic sort of car accidents and things like that, we can actually utilize acupuncture to stimulate the brain without having any other medication that would be involved to see what that feedback is.

The patient, which I think it's like just phenomenal. It's the coolest thing ever. It also like that was done with me as well. Vascular chair wise hit down.

I high they were looking out for compartment syndrome with for me, you know, I mean just. I was probably the best example, you know, with having like some good blood flow to help with healing, but also used herbal therapy, even something as simple as turmeric paste and applying it to the legs to help out with circulation, with helping out with swelling.

So there's a lot of good benefits from that using Arnica, Rosemary, CBD. Those are all things that are just in our toolbox that we can utilize too. So they all have some really great benefits and the research for that also dates back multiple generations, centuries.

That's where the medicinal part of that actually comes about too. So we have to give it credit. Yeah, absolutely. Have you noticed improvements in condition like anxiety or memory concerns through your work with the microvasculature?

Absolutely. You get blood flow going, and you just get some of the acupuncture points inside the person. And even those patients who have never tried acupuncture before, probably 90% of my patients that walk through the door, they're like, I don't know about this, but I'm going to give it a try.

And they are open-minded about it. And I think that they just surrender themselves when they're on the treatment table. And that helps out greatly. Because the best acupuncture appointments for those patients help when you just relax completely and allow the acupuncture to do what it's supposed to do.

And a lot of times patients will say, I felt like my body was floating. And that is really when that cortisol starts to just get out of the body, but actually like just go down, you know?

and you can literally feel like that you're, you're floating. So yes, absolutely. And that benefit of also like having the vasculature like just circulation.

If you looked at different MRI studies like from before acupuncture to after acupuncture, you could even see like, you know, scientifically that there are some really great benefits of acupuncture.

And it's versus sham acupuncture too, right? We just put a needle inside of somebody Oh, no, no, it's specific acupuncture points that are utilized. That's the reason why I'm also against dry needling because dry needling actually can tear fascia and you're not allowing that person to actually relax.

You're not doing the pathway acupuncture. Let the pathway acupuncture do what it needs to do and then go in to actually release. That's a better way of doing it.

You mentioned trauma recovery and detox are growing areas of focus at your clinic. What TCM approaches do you use to support general and emotional trauma within the body?

So trauma can be from anything from my, you know, patients who are like in the army or Navy SEALs to patients who have suffered with miscarriages to having teenage patients who come in and they are, you know, went through a traumatic incident.

Like I've had patients where their roommate killed themselves. some really sad things that have occurred. So utilizing even like a regular acupuncture points and then even telling patients, okay, I'm going to put these little needles in your ear and you're going to go and you're going to stimulate yourself, that's actually really beneficial to patients.

If they're not open to that, that's okay. We have over 400 acupuncture points on the body. I'm sure we'll find another acupuncture point that will help out.

But utilizing those combination of acupuncture points and the frequency of acupuncture when they come in. After that, though, we go into a maintenance phase and they know when they have maybe a trigger that's going to be coming up.

I had a couple that was going through a divorce and knowing that the hearing date was coming up, they would use the acupuncture to help to get their stress levels down.

It really does help out with anxiety. It helps out with the mental fatigue and brain fog that does come along with that. I know entering into menopause right now.

I mean, I could definitely say like brain fog is one of those things that I hear about from my friends as well. And I utilize acupuncture actually for that.

I go and receive my acupuncture treatments because I want to make sure that every day is like I'm on my game as well to be able to, you know, be the best that I can be every single day.

Yeah, absolutely. Can acupuncture help reduce toxic burden, whether from mold, heavy metals or EMF? And if so, have you seen that play out clinically?

Yes. So it does help out with detoxing of the body, especially with the molds and toxic metals. So there are specific acupuncture points that help out with just a detox in general.

I usually couple that in though with herbs if they can tolerate it. There's many times where, especially with toxicity to molds, where they may have a reaction to certain herbs just because of how they are dried.

You know there are some sometimes they're dried in the sunlight and and things like that. So it's really uh, it's a delicate process What I do is I try to use acupuncture first to help to detox patients and then Once they are getting to a point where they actually see improvement with that Then decide on whether or not we should actually use herbs but I try to focus then on their immunity and build up their immunity because Oftentimes, I'll have patients that say, oh, well, I'm allergic to the environment.

Well, I can't change the environment. I mean, it's Texas. I think we all wake up with allergies. And there's always going to be some type of mold, especially right now.

Like, you know, we have rain and then we have sun. They have rain and then we have sun. So this whole vicious cycle keeps continuing on. So we have this like mold everywhere.

And so when we focus on patients, especially like even like my oncology patients, focus in on more so the immunity, like help to build that up. But yes, there is a detox that we do definitely work with as far as doing acupuncture and sometimes we use herbal therapies.

OK, OK, great. Your practice emphasizes gentle, holistic care. How do you help patients stay consistent with detox or fertility protocols, especially when results take time?

That is actually a really good question because, yes, once, like, you know, they start acupuncture, I would say during my consults, like, unfortunately with fertility, it's not like there's going to be a stork waiting for you at the car.

And I really wish that there could be, but that's not reality, unfortunately. Yeah, when I talk to patients, especially like about fertility, I say like three months, like, you know, we are put on a three month seasonal sort of cycle.

Whenever you do something like, as I say, for instance, even like a patient starts on birth control pill. Well, the gynecologist say, wait, wait three months and see what your cycles do.

Right. So even for male fertility, if there is a change in health, it doesn't really affect their semen analysis until three months later, about 78 days later, so about three months, right?

Yeah. Two to three months. So I mean, as far as like doing acupuncture, I would say like give it three months because within those three months, you'll be able to see the changes.

And whenever they get their period, they know, oh, my gosh, this is actually really different in a good way. I have, you know, the PMS because in traditional Chinese medicine, there's no such thing as PMS.

I mean, your period is a sudden surprise. And in med school, I was like, I don't know if any woman who wakes up and is like, oh, my God, this is the greatest surprise ever.

You know, really? The professor explains that the sudden surprise basically has to do with there is no PMS. The period comes when it's supposed to come.

And, you know, there's no precursors. So that makes sense, right? So when they see those benefits happen, then they're willing to more stick with the program.

And then the same thing with other treatments as well. When it be like pain management, with pain management, I can give more so of a timeframe. For chronic pain, you see like a good difference within like about four to six treatments.

It may not completely be gone, but you'll see a good benefit during that time. Yeah, yeah. So once they start to see that, they'll mistake with it. Yeah.

You've authored a fertility coloring book and host community events. How do creative tools like this help engage patients in their healing journey? You know, when we were in kindergarten, first grade, what was the first thing that we learned?

If I say A is four and everybody responds back, apple, right? Yeah. Okay. And we probably pretty much remember above the chalkboard, you know, the laminated banner that was up there with the ABCs.

So I took that analogy and, you know, really I love drawing. I'm an artist. So I took whatever I learned, you know, in grade school and I thought, you know what, let me create something that would draw people's attention.

And it would help out reproductive endocrinologists, too. I mean, I have we have the best reproductive endocrinologists here in Houston and in Texas. And they are phenomenal.

Detox, Consistency, and Creative Patient Education

And so I have asked them, you know, many times, what are some of the, you know, issues that you have with talking to patients about, you know, like hormones and things like that, you know, explaining those things to patients is a difficult topic.

So I ended up creating this cartoon coloring book after I did my doctorate because while I was in class during my doctorate, one of the professors who was supposed to make this presentation about PCLS, she announced that she was going to allow one of the doctors in the room to make this presentation for her and it was going to be entertaining.

And I thought, well, this is up my alley. I love this. And then she announces my name. I said, oh, boy, I don't think so. And so she goes, yes, after lunch, you're going to be making this presentation on PCOS.

Now, the entire auditorium was not there for women's studies. We had many, many, you know, doctors in there that were just forced, if you will, you know, how those continue education, you're forced to be inside the room.

And after lunch, I made this presentation and I cartooned on the board and everything like that. And as I'm cartooning, you could hear like people inside the auditorium just go, oh, like, you know, it's like this connection, aha moment, right?

And I said, what's the O about? And they're like, you visually showed us how PCOS is and that this stroma actually uses testosterone and then therefore, you know, it's like this domino effect.

I thought, you know, This would be great for my patients because I have the most intelligent people that walk through my door. They're engineers. They are doctors themselves, but maybe they're like a dermatologist or other sort of categories in their attorneys, judges.

And the first question they have is like, why am I not getting pregnant? So this is a cartoon book. It holds their attention. It's easy. And you know what?

Coloring is always great as a stress reliever. So why not just put them together? That's a great idea. It's awesome. And we'll put your website in the show notes so people can access that.

Oh, yeah. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. So you've collaborated with MD Anderson, Baylor and Sloan Kettering. What research or proof points are you most excited about in TCM's role in modern medicine?

You know, and Memorial Hermann. I do sit on the Community Advisory Board for Memorial Hermann and my life will always be dedicated to Hermann too. You know, all of these institutions have been wonderful and great to work with or learn from.

I love this new generation of doctors that are evolving into these institutions. And it's not just the doctors. It's actually like the healthcare administration.

They're more open-minded for integration. And that's really where I focus in on. I love integration. I would love to be inside of like a hospital facility, seeing how it is like at Beth Israel, where there is an acupuncturist over there who is inside the hospital doing cupping, doing acupuncture.

At Kaiser Permanente in California, they also, you know, incorporate acupuncture into their system. You know, it's like things happen on the east and west coast and the time slowly trickles into Texas.

So I really would love to have that ability to have inside of Texas and Herman gave me that chance to be inside of their facility at tear doing acupuncture and I absolutely love that that there were that open minded to it.

And MD Anderson has an integrated medicine department, you know, and so they are constantly doing acupuncture over there to help out with the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

They're helping out with things like xerostomia so that the patients can eat. They don't have the mouth sores. And so there is so many different aspects where acupuncture can play a huge role in even like recovery after surgeries.

I'm excited about that this new generation will take us there. Yeah, that's awesome. So what's next for your clinic? Where do you envision expanding your care, research, or outreach in the coming years?

Well, I love Fort Bend. So we are so proud and just so honored to be Fort Bend's number one acupuncture place for the past 10 years. And I'm so thrilled that that was an opportunity that I've gotten just to be able to expand my services throughout the community.

As far as the future for Mervana Acupuncture, I really would like the expansion into the hospital integrations to be able to help out with those patients that need us the most.

And even for providers, too. I think all providers need some stress reduction. Of course. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And they need access to that. And without the downtime, being able to get that stress reduction without having to use pharmaceuticals, you know, because that could also be a malpractice thing, right?

If you're utilizing new medications and things like that. So this would be a great way for for both a win win, you know, being able to expand into and seep into the hospital care situation would really be my goal.

Great. All right. Last rapid fire round here. What is your favorite acupuncture point for calming anxiety? Like a go to? Yintong. Okay. Sorry. The third eye.

The third eye. So what do you mean? Yintong right here. So just between the eyebrows. Okay. That is my favorite acupuncture point. Okay. For when you're out of stress, you just push on that.

Okay. And then how about brain fog? For brain fog, there's a point on top of the head. It's called dew 20. And that is excellent. It brings the chi upwards.

All right. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you for joining me on the functional edge. I hope today's episode gave you fresh insights and practical tools to level up your life.

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For more resources, updates, and behind-the-scenes content, visit drjuliaward.com. And until next time, stay strong, stay healthy, and keep living on the functional edge.

Thank you for joining me on the Functional Edge. I hope today's episode gave you fresh insights and practical tools to level up your life. If you found value in what you heard, don't forget to hit subscribe, share the podcast with someone who needs it, and leave a review.

It's the best way to support our mission of bringing powerful health solutions to more people. For more resources, updates, and behind-the-scenes content, visit drjuliaward.com.

Until next time, stay strong, stay healthy, and keep living on the functional edge.

Sonya Patel

Beyond Medicine: How Acupuncture Heals the Body, Mind & Fertility with Dr. Sonya Patel