Patient Cases

Insomnia 

Patient Presentation
Jeff was a 31-year-old Paramedic and Firefighter from California who I met in New York City while I was treating rescue personnel in the days following 9/11. He was basically healthy and doing ‘righteous’ work, as he put it, but he also told me, almost as an aside, that he was a life-long insomniac who slept only two hours a night. He had lots of energy, but he also often felt tired, though he could not sleep.

Examination and Diagnosis
I met Jeff while I was treating patients at the Javits Center in a glassed-in pavilion that overlooked the floor of the huge arena that was a hub for all rescue teams from around the nation and even some foreign countries. Combine the noisy, brightly-lit chaos just outside the sleep curtain with the psychological distress from working twelve hour shifts at the “Pile” and it was clear that finding replenishing sleep would be a necessity for these workers. However, it was clear, too, that even if one did not have a history of insomnia, sleeping might pose a challenge under these conditions. Jeff had the additional disadvantage of being a chronic insomniac before he arrived.

Sleep, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is thought to be the domain of the Heart. We say, ‘the Heart houses the mind’. In Jeff’s case, and this is often true of young men, his vitality and fiery energy had begun to dominate his softer, cooler side.

Treatment
I offered to treat Jeff with acupuncture for his insomnia, however I told him that it was unlikely one treatment would make a huge difference on a problem with which he had suffered for years. Still, I was there to be of service, just as he was, and we agreed I would do what I could in our one opportunity together.

Treatment Results
There is a phrase in Hospital Emergency Departments, ‘treat ‘em and street ‘em’. It sounds harsh, but it is exactly what we did after 9/11. We would treat whoever came through the door in need to help prepare them to go back out to the “Pile,” hopefully in better condition than before, and typically we would never see them again. Only rarely did we obtain any feedback about a treatment. Jeff’s case was such an exception.

It was at the end of my ten hour shift and I was in the ‘chow’ line waiting to get dinner when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see Jeff beaming at me, refreshed and looking rested. He told me that shortly after the acupuncture treatment I had given him eight hours earlier he had gone back to his cot and slept soundly for five hours. Five hours, he repeated, grinning! For him, that small amount of extra sleep was remarkable and, for me, his gratitude made it extremely sweet.


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