New Patients
Whether you are new to functional medicine or acupuncture, or are looking for a new acupuncturist in Modesto, CA, GoldStar Acupuncture is ready to be your holistic healthcare provider.
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What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is rooted in the philosophy that human beings are an integrated whole system. It aims to uncover and address the root causes of poor health and improve overall well-being and quality of life by considering all facets of an individual’s life—spirit, mind, and body.
Functional Medicine is used to evaluate and elevate a person’s total well-being by looking closely at all aspects of health. The goal is to create a personalized natural health treatment plan that produces no harm, addresses a person’s unique needs and promotes holistic balance and wellness in all areas of an individual’s life.
Functional Medicine & Acupuncture
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), known simply as acupuncture, is one of the oldest and most commonly used systems of Functional Medicine in the modern world. It is a comprehensive, functional system of medical diagnosis and treatment primarily developed in China over thousands of years, and now integrated into modern healthcare settings worldwide.
Acupuncture is the foundational system of Functional Medicine, with principles that have guided whole-person care for thousands of years and continue to do so today. Its approach focuses on identifying root causes, understanding the connections between body systems, and creating individualized treatment plans. These long-established principles helped shape modern Functional Medicine, which repackages them in the language of systems biology, biochemistry, nutrition, and laboratory medicine, presenting them as a contemporary model of care.
Acupuncture views the human being as an integrated and indivisible organism consisting of spirit, mind and body. These different aspects are not separate from one another. Rather they work inseparably as a holistic system through mutual and complimentary interactions, and a network of intrinsically dynamic functional relationships.
Acupuncture does not solely rely on a Western medical diagnosis. Using its own unique system of holistic diagnosis, acupuncture views the body similar to a tree— an interconnected unifying whole system that is in dynamic functional relationship to its natural environment.
Acupuncture takes into account not just the manifesting symptoms of disease (branch), but it also identifies patterns of imbalance at the root of poor health. This allows acupuncture to address all of a person’s needs simultaneously using highly individualized and complete treatments geared towards functional vibrancy and preservation.
Acupuncture is named after its popular holistic treatments involving the insertion of very thin therapeutic needles into specific points on the body. However it also includes a variety of other functional therapeutic practices, such as nutrition therapy, herbal medicine and meditation.
By integrating these different modalities into a cohesive holistic treatment plan, the goal in acupuncture is to promote a person’s natural self-healing capabilities, foster natural balance and cultivate overall functional well-being.
More About Acupuncture
Acupuncture typically involves the insertion of ultra-thin therapeutic needles into specific points on the body to help provide natural relief from a wide variety of symptoms, promote self-healing, regulate functional health and strengthen resistance to disease. But there’s more to acupuncture than just needling— a lot more!
ACUPUNCTURE USES NUTRITION THERAPY
Acupuncture uses dietary modification and nutrition as part of treatment. Nutrition therapy in acupuncture promotes eating a diet consisting mainly of fresh plant-based foods that are the most vital and free from chemicals, preservatives, and over-processing.
ACUPUNCTURE USES DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
Nutrition therapy in acupuncture also incorporates the use of dietary supplements such as herbs, vitamins, minerals, compounds, and digestive enzymes. Dietary supplements help add essential nutrients to the diet to ensure nutritional requirements are met, supporting biological function and overall health.
ACUPUNCTURE USES HERBAL MEDICINE FORMULAS
Acupuncture treatment also includes the use of herbal medicine formulas. Herbal medicine formulas used in acupuncture primarily combine various parts of plants, such as flowers, fruits, seeds, twigs, leaves, barks and roots, as well as many fungi species. They are well known for their excellent ability to help regulate detoxification pathways and metabolic function, improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and promote healing.
ACUPUNCTURE USES MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS
Acupuncture treatment also includes the use of meditation and mindfulness. Meditation and mindfulness help clear the mind from unnecessary or distracting thoughts and feelings, and bring awareness into the present moment to help the body and mind cultivate natural healing and wellness.
How Does Acupuncture Work?
Acupuncture Heals From Within
Acupuncture works by activating a person’s own natural self-healing mechanism. In traditional acupuncture theory, this self-healing mechanism is regulated by the body’s most vital energy, called Qi, that infuses every organ and tissue of the body.
Acupuncture balances the flow of Qi in the body to help it protect and heal itself, supporting the natural ability to respond and adapt to any number of stressors that challenge homeostasis.
While not well understood scientifically, research suggests acupuncture activates the central nervous system and immune system, triggering a system-wide self-healing response involving the regulation of blood volume and pressure, immunity, hormones, neurotransmitters, digestion, mood and energy usage.
Some studies propose acupuncture may be specifically relieving excess excitation of the body’s primary stress-response system known as the HPA Axis, which is involved in the body’s reaction to mental-emotional stress, pain, trauma, injury, or infection.
Acupuncture is cumulative
Acupuncture will typically help people feel better quicker when received more frequently at the beginning of a course of treatment (relief stage). As the condition of health improves, acupuncture treatments are usually spaced further apart (healing stage).
By and large, in order to maintain and support effects, and to achieve personalized health and wellness goals, most people continue receiving regular acupuncture treatments on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis (wellness stage).
Benefits of Functional Medicine & Acupuncture
Conditions Treated With Functional Medicine & Acupuncture
Functional Medicine and acupuncture have been recently popularized for use in the treatment of pain, stress, allergies, insomnia, and a wide variety of disorders, diseases, and poor health conditions. Reports by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicate acupuncture alone can be used as effective treatment alone or in combination with conventional therapies in the treatment of many different types of health problems, including:
- Cardiovascular Conditions– stress, essential hypertension
- Eye, Ear, Nose & Mouth Conditions– acute conjunctivitis, toothaches, post extraction pain, gingivitis, pharyngitis
- Gastrointestinal Conditions– spasms of esophagus, irritable bowel, colitis, gastroptosis, gastritis, gastric hyperacidity (i.e. acid reflux), duodenal ulcer (pain relief and without complication), constipation, diarrhea
- Gynecological Conditions– infertility, PMS, dysmenorrhea, menopause syndrome, benign irregular menstruation and amenorrhea
- Hormonal imbalances– metabolic syndrome, diabetes and pre-diabetes, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia
- Immune disorders– seasonal/perennial allergies, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, autoimmune conditions, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, low immunity
- Musculo-skeletal Conditions– muscle pain, swelling, stiffness and weakness, localized traumatic injuries, sprains, strains, tendinitis, contractures, arthritis, fibromyalgia, work and sports related injuries, low back and/or neck strain, osteoarthritis, tendinitis (ie “frozen shoulder”, “tennis elbow”, etc), sciatica
- Neurological Conditions– headache and migraine, trigeminal neuralgia, facial palsy (early stage, within three to six months), paresis following stroke, peripheral neuropathy, Meniere’s disease, neuralgia, disc problems, post-operative pain, Parkinson’s disease, Guillain-Barre syndrome
- Psychological Conditions– stress, depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, insomnia
- Respiratory System Conditions– acute sinusitis and rhinitis, common cold and allergies, tonsillitis, bronchitis, bronchial asthma, respiratory infections
- Skin Conditions– acne, dermatitis, eczema, hives, pimples and zits, rash
- Other Conditions– addictions, withdrawal from alcohol, and recreational and pharmacological drugs, appetite suppression, obesity, infections
Your First Functional Medicine & Acupuncture Visit
Functional Medicine & Acupuncture Pricing | Modesto, CA
Your health is your best investment, and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to receive the best natural care when you need it.
The cost of your Functional Wellness Consultation and acupuncture treatment will vary depending on your individual needs and treatment plan. We will discuss with you the cost of your treatment, pricing options, and each of your available payment options before you begin, so that you can choose what will work best for you.
Office Payment Policy
All payment is due at the time of service. Our office accepts cash, checks, visa, mastercard, discover, and amex.
INSURANCE
We are an Out-of-Network healthcare provider and certain PPO plans that include acupuncture coverage components may be eligible for use with our office (see our FAQs section below).
If you have a PPO insurance policy with acupuncture benefits and would like to try to use it with our office, we will put forth our best effort into giving you a personalized pre-determination of your benefits prior to beginning treatment. Please contact us today to request prior authorization and get started with the verification process.
TESTIMONIALS
GoldStar Acupuncture is fully committed to providing our patients with world-Class natural health and integrative wellness services. Learn more about the high level of dedication and quality we offer from patient testimonials:
Dr Rene has helped me completely transform my health. When I first came in, I was tired and stressed, getting sick all the time, and my joints were really starting to hurt. The acupuncture really helped me feel a lot better than I thought, a lot faster than I thought. I feel like a whole new person!
Dr Rene is unlike any other doctor I’ve met. He really takes his time to get to know you to understand you and your history and get to the root of the problem, and his recommendations have been spot on. Thanks!!
I have had chronic neck and lower back pain for years that woke me up out of my sleep a few times every night. Last night, after my first visit to Dr Rene, I had the first pain-free, full-sleep night in a long time. Thank you!
Dr Rene was very helpful and informative, and helped me find a permanent natural solution. He truly made me feel listened to and cared for, and he always helped put a smile on my face. Would highly recommend to anyone!
I had been to many different doctors and no one had been able to help until I went to see Dr Rene. I was blown away how helpful and informative he was, and how effective the treatments were. Make the call, you will be forever grateful!
Dr Rene is a good detective and a really great motivator. He was straightforward and honest with me, encouraged me, but wasn’t pushy. The acupuncture was amazing and it really helped. He’s the real deal! Thank you!
Dr. Rene is the best! He always takes his time with me, listens to me, and provides solutions that work! The acupuncture treatments always help lift my spirits and help me feel better.
Thank you, Dr Rene! I truly appreciate everything you have done for me and always making me feel welcomed and cared for. Your acupuncture treatments are amazing! I am grateful to you for helping keep me healthy and balanced.
FAQs
Yes, acupuncture assessment is included at every Functional Wellness Consult and treatment is provided when indicated.
No, we do not charge extra when you receive acupuncture during a Functional Wellness Consultation. Acupuncture assessment and treatment is included as part every Functional Wellness Consult.
If you would prefer just an acupuncture visit without the more detailed assessment and recommendations for diet and lifestyle modification, herbal and nutritional supplements, additional laboratory work-up (when appropriate), etc, we can help you with that, too. Request an appointment to schedule your acupuncture visit today!
Unfortunately, there is no straight easy answer. Insurance coverage for acupuncture varies widely among insurance companies both statewide and nationally, with plans requiring certain criteria to be met before coverage is applied. This criteria is not standardized, and insurance companies all make their own policies, including exclusions, limitations and restrictions, regarding acupuncture coverage.
As a result, even when insurance companies advertise they offer acupuncture coverage, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will actually pay for all of it, or even some of it. Most people with an acupuncture-friendly health insurance plan that want to try to use it to pay for acupuncture should expect to accrue at least some out-of-pocket costs, anywhere from co-pays and deductibles to paying for uncovered procedures and products such as herbal medicine and nutritional supplements. It is also not uncommon for acupuncture-related claims to be entirely denied by insurance companies, leaving insured patients responsible for paying the total amount billed.
Fortunately, our office is well-versed on these details to help you understand how and when it is possible to use your insurance to help pay for acupuncture. For more information, or to begin the verification process and request prior authorization for using your PPO insurance with our office, please send us a message.
No, you do not need a referral to receive acupuncture treatment. California acupuncturists are primary care providers and can provide you treatment independently without referral. Some people may seek a doctor referral for acupuncture to try and use their insurance to cover expenses or for help finding a practitioner, but this is not required.
Acupuncture itself is very safe in the hands of a competent practitioner. It generally presents little to no side effects and rarely makes a condition worse. If these do occur it’s usually indicative of the healing process and any ill effects disappear within days of treatment.
However acupuncture is not for everyone, and there are times when precautions must be made. For example, people who are not eligible for acupuncture include those with hemophilia or contagious skin diseases. On the other hand, people on blood-thinning medication, or who tend to bruise easily, or who are pregnant, can receive acupuncture but should disclose their medical history to their acupuncturist prior to treatment so that certain precautions are made.
Where severe danger exists is in the inappropriate application of acupuncture by poorly trained and unskilled non-acupuncture therapists and physicians, many which do not receive the same instruction and training as licensed acupuncturists. To ensure safety when receiving acupuncture, it is highly recommended to use a practitioner who has received proper education and schooling in acupuncture, and is certified and licensed to practice acupuncture by an official governing acupuncture board, agency, or organization.
In general, acupuncture will not minimize any treatment or medication you have used or will use. Recent studies suggest acupuncture may actually enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of other treatments and reduce some of their adverse reactions.
However because acupuncture and some herbal and nutritional supplements prescribed by acupuncturists can sometimes diminish or potentiate the effects of other treatments, it is advisable that you disclose all of your medical history to your acupuncturist, especially if you’re taking medication or are undergoing other types of treatment, or have recently undergone other treatments, so that any precautions can be made prior to treatment. For more information, send us a message.
Depending on the type of service, total visit time is between 60-90 minutes, with 20-75 minute acupuncture treatment time.
Everyone responds to acupuncture differently but in general the approach we use is so gentle and the acupuncture needles we use are so thin that most people won’t even be aware when the needles are inserted. If they feel anything at all, it may be a slight pinch at the site of needle insertion followed by a brief dull ache that dissipates within seconds. Other common sensations felt during treatment include slight tingling, subtle muscle twitching and spasms, heaviness, extreme relaxation, and warmth in the hands and feet.
Most adults looking for a natural approach to health and overall wellness are candidates for acupuncture. But if you have a specific health condition and you’re not sure if acupuncture is right for you, the best way to find out is to request an appointment for an evaluation and consult.
