 So you might be seeing this trendy practice called ear seeding on class pass on YouTube or maybe in this little news article that I found on Apple news. Now in this video as a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, I'm gonna share why I don't do ear seeds and I will never do ear seeds. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Alex Hine, doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and author of the health book Master of the Day. Now before we jump into this video on ear seeds, I've put together two very important links right below the video. The first is for a free guide which is four daily rituals that could potentially help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine and the second is if you'd like to have more info on becoming a patient of mine in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, there's a link right below to contact my practice and my clinic. So let's talk about the theory behind ear seeds. I had someone speak to me recently because she knew I'm a doctor of Chinese medicine and she said hey I'm a subscriber to class pass and I noticed there's a package deal for 24 karat gold ear seeds. Do you know what that is or what it really does? So she told me that she got it because she was experiencing anxiety and was curious to see if it could help. Now I know I live in Los Angeles which is trendy BS capital of the world and I know that everyone is trying to make a buck and everyone's trying to survive but ear seeds are basically based on using a micro system of auricular acupuncture which is a modern form of Chinese medicine by the way a modern form of acupuncture I think in the last 50 or 75 years or so and basically there are micro systems in the ear that you can needle or put these ear seeds on that will then stimulate the function of those organs. So it is common to do smaller acupuncture needles to do auricular acupuncture for certain conditions but more recently I wanted to talk about this idea of these specifically 24 karat gold ear seeds because that seems to be the trend here in Los Angeles and I think there are things a lot more effective for for example anxiety which is most often what I hear people going in for. So quick recap ear seeding is based on auricular acupuncture there's a micro system in the ears and utilizing seeds I think one of them is mustard seed and then you place them and stick them onto the point usually with a little adhesive bandage that sticks it on there okay now I have a lot to say about this. So first of all everything is about stages and grades of intervention right if someone comes in with clinical anxiety. Anxiety to the point where they're on antidepressants. Anxiety to the point where they're taking benzodiazepines like they're taking Xanax as needed. This is pretty significant clinical anxiety and in my experience treating really really sick people and getting a lot of people off antidepressants including multiple antidepressants, moderate high-dose antidepressants, antidepressants for 10 years you're probably not going to do that with ear seeds. Even acupuncture frankly a skilled acupuncturist would get way more clinical results for anxiety but in my experience the king and queen of that are Chinese herbal formulas to be able to get people off of for example antidepressants. So my only beef with ear seeds is not that they can't help or not that they can't do something to benefit people but that people are falling maybe prey to a trendy somewhat helpful practice when there are things that are much more valuable and much more helpful within the same profession of Chinese medicine acupuncture and formulas and I thought I would share something to give a case study on how just clinically how effective these classical formulas can be. So I've treated a lot of clinical depression and clinical anxiety in my practice and look I live in 2022 I also live in Los Angeles a lot of people are on antidepressants of some kind I mean it is an epidemic I am certain it is only increasing and one patient in my that had seen that I'm the most proud of had spent more than a decade on multiple antidepressants at a relatively moderate to high dose so depressed and so anxious that was only able to work in bed had a remote job so that all she had to do was get up not even take a shower and work remotely that way because that's all she was able to do for about a decade and that was with the help of those antidepressants that were helping her. Now after utilizing these formulas for about a month she began to notice a big increase in energy and digestion getting much better acid reflux going away was able to take a shower regularly was able to get out and walk dogs which were formerly very very difficult tasks for her they were some of the most significant things she had to do all day and they were not easy after about three months she began to start a little business that she had been bouncing around the back of her head you know is in the back of her mind for a while and after about six months she began to go for walks and begin exercising and was even working from other locations and then after about seven months she decided that you know for years and years and years and years she'd been debating this move and had eventually gotten to the point where she's able to put her house on the market and move to somewhere she always wanted to move that kind of thing in my experience is mostly not possible on ear seeds that's something you need high dose internal medicine Chinese formulas they're working on the exact same physiological pathways same neurotransmitters and that's something that you need real internal medicine for and it's not going to be something as simple as sticking on some ear seeds and voila my clinical anxiety or clinical depression is gone I think it can still help but whenever I see people falling prey to some kind of fad especially because someone is trying to make a buck they're probably selling ear seed kits no surprise there but when there's something that someone really needs medical help for and they're going for something that could not help them as much as something else that's why I wanted to speak up about it I think it can help but my experience Chinese formulas are going to be a hundred times more effective for clinical anxiety and clinical depression and most general internal medicine so that's just my two cents specifically about alternative medicine trends or maybe they're not even alternative medicine but they're kind of as wellness trends in Los Angeles I always want to speak up about them so my two cents on ear seeds before you guys go check out those other related links right below the video for the free guide for daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life and I'll see you guys soon