Amy Shouse, MS, LAc is a California Board licensed Acupuncturist and current Doctoral candidate. She is also a third-generation medical professional.
“My father was an internist and ER doctor. My grandfather was an OBGYN. My uncles and aunts all pursued medical degrees and my sister is a nurse. I grew up surrounded by a library of medical literature. Our culture as a family strongly skewed toward a clinical outlook. I knew I wanted to be in that world on some level. But I also knew that I needed to balance my approach with a holistic lense.”
Amy’s experience growing up in a medical family gave her a lot of resources and tools to explore the human body, use her mind critically and to live with an unending sense of curiosity about life. However, it was her own experience with a litany of mysterious symptoms where Amy began to butt up against some of the limits of Western Medicine.
“I had what I now know is a somewhat common experience in our culture. I was not feeling well. Most well-meaning MDs I saw did not have a very good answer, or at least what I felt was an adequate answer to my medical concerns. So I did what I do best, I began to research, ask questions and explore options. This led me to acupuncture and a holistic MD in particular. I started to get better, much better. My experience made it clear to me that I valued my access to mainstream medical care for acute issues, but chronic issues often need a complementary approach. For me, acupuncture and traditional herbal medicine provided a fresh perspective that helped tremendously.”
It is from this place of illness and recovery where Amy began to understand the importance of looking at the human body as a complete entity with interdependent systems. The balanced approach of acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine tempered with a researcher’s mind has become the thrust of Amy’s approach to treating everything from acute and chronic pain to complex health issues.
