Join host Gwendolyn Mitchell on the Love Letters to Our Bodies podcast as she sits down with Dr. Crystal Terry, an anesthesiologist and acupuncturist with over 34 years of experience serving the East Bay. They explore Dr. Terry’s integrative approach to pain management, bridging Western and Eastern medicine. The conversation contrasts Western medicine’s linear approach to pain with Chinese medicine’s philosophical framework and benefits of integrating Chinese medicine, particularly for cancer patients. Tune in to hear Dr. Terry’s message of hope for women navigating pain management and learn how integrative care can make a meaningful difference.
Key Points From This Episode:
• Dr. Terry’s journey from conventional anesthesiology training at UCLA to acupuncture training at the Helms Medical Institute.
• Dr. Terry unpacks the mysterious phenomenon of anesthesia.
• How anesthesia and acupuncture view and understand pain differently.
• Dr. Terry discusses how NSAIDs work to help the healing process.
• How Western and Eastern medicine each see different aspects of health.
• How practicing both modalities changed the way Dr. Terry thinks about the connection between the body, mind, and pain.
• Where acupuncture has made the most meaningful difference in her experience.
• Her advice for advocating for integrative pain management approaches.
• She reflects on how the East Bay’s approach to pain management and integrative medicine has evolved over the past 34 years.
• Dr. Terry expands on the different barriers to integrative care.
• Her framework for clinical decision-making: acupuncture vs pharmaceutical intervention for pain management.
• What she wishes physicians would understand about the role acupuncture can play in comprehensive pain management.
• Her thoughts on the body’s capacity for healing: sleep is the new gold.
• Dr. Terry shares her message of hope for women who feel they’ve tried everything for their pain.
Quotes:
“The most important moment that I have with a patient is before they go to sleep.” — Dr. Crystal D. Terry [0:16:17]
“One of the most peculiar aspects of pain is that it cannot be seen. I can only understand that you're having pain if you report it to me. If you demonstrate this is your experience, but I cannot look on your body and see that pain is happening because it's all through neurotransmitters.” — Dr. Crystal D. Terry [0:19:18]
“I think that the combination of the two modalities is an opportunity to really improve the experience of the patient — the person is having a life during treatment, not just after treatment.” — Dr. Crystal D. Terry [0:27:48]
“Sleep is the new gold — All good things happen with deep sleep. All of the body's healing powers come forward in sleep and do the repairs that are possible and bring things into alignment.” — Dr. Crystal D. Terry [0:46:57]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Love Letters 2 Our Bodies is sponsored by Moyo Institute, Inc and the Lloyd Symington Foundation
Gwendolyn Mitchell on LinkedIn
MOYO Institute, Inc
instagram.com/moyoinstitute
