Acupuncture Changed My Life

When the Bottom Drops Out

There are moments when the floor just gives out. One minute you’re standing. The next—you’re falling, heart in your throat, no safety net, no control.

For me, that moment came when my daughter was born too soon (at just 29 weeks of gestation) and rushed to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).

The NICU is its own universe. Time both drags and disappears. Monitors beep like a cruel soundtrack stuck on repeat. Love and fear move in together and take up permanent residence in your head.

If you know, you know.

If you don’t—you pray you never will.

Needles and the NICU

At the very same time, I was in school to become an acupuncturist. Which felt absurd, honestly. I was trying to memorize meridians and organ systems while my real life was unraveling under fluorescent lights and sterile air.

And this was after I’d already taken a dramatic U-turn—walking away from my path to psychiatry for something that felt closer to my own heartbeat. Somehow, against all odds, those two worlds—needles and NICU, textbooks and monitors—braided themselves into a rope strong enough to keep me climbing when everything else was falling apart.

Acupuncture as a Lifeline

When I started receiving acupuncture myself, everything shifted.

Acupuncture gave me something I didn’t even know I’d lost:

Space to breathe after hours of unrest.

Space to calm my nervous system that was unraveling.

Space to remember that my body still knew how to heal—even while my heart was aching.

That space became my lifeline.

Healing in Community

The NICU also taught me that healing is never a solo act. I leaned hard on my daughter’s doctors and nurses, on my classmates, my teachers, my family.

Healing happened in the way we steadied one another when life knocked us flat. In the way we celebrated even the tiniest wins—like a half-ounce of weight gain or one rare, quiet hour without alarms.

Community became medicine, too.

What I Carry Forward

That season changed me. It made me a better Mom and a better acupuncturist.

My clinic isn’t just about treatment plans and punching the clock. It’s about creating a space where people feel safe, cared for, and seen. A space where my team holds each other up, too—because authenticity and love are part of the medicine. Patients feel that. People need that.

The NICU was one of the hardest chapters of my life. But through acupuncture—both as a student and a patient—I learned resilience, connection, and the radical truth that healing is never a solo act.

If you’re a NICU parent, a preemie parent, or just someone carrying invisible scars—you’re not alone. Your story matters. I’d love to hear it. Because when we speak these truths out loud, none of us has to carry them alone.

What was pivotal for you in your healing journey?