Chronic fatigue brought on by Lyme disease nearly debilitated Tina McDermott until a holistic dentist removed the last amalgam filling from her mouth.

Diana Fleck tried over and over again to lose weight but couldn’t fight the cravings until she started attending a group auricular acupuncture session.

Every year, Diane Adams’ knee pain gets worse. She’s learned to seek out a variety of alternative practices to deal with her pain, hoping to put off total knee replacement surgery.

Amanda Rosado says her seasonal allergies made her life miserable for years. Conventional medicine never seemed to help. Finally, she saw a Chinese herbal medicine specialist who prescribed a concoction to clear up Rosado’s sinuses.

A national government survey in 2007 showed that 38 percent of adults over age 18 use some form of complementary and alternative medicine, also known as holistic medicine, according to the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which conducts this survey every five years. the usage is up 2 percent from 2002.

“Holistic medicine is the belief that the body should be treated as a whole system,” says Judith Broida, provost and executive director of academic affairs at Tai Sophia Institute, “while Western medicine is more reductionist, focusing on one point of the body.”

More Howard County residents are exploring holistic practices, and the reasons vary. in some cases, over-the-counter and prescription drugs haven’t worked. others are wary of pharmaceuticals doing more harm than good. for some, it’s cost or a different belief system about how the body works.

Whatever the reason, they are turning to the growing number of holistic medical practitioners in the county who use acupuncture, herbs and even musical vibrations to treat their problems and restore them to health. is it the tools or the practitioners? or do the answers lie in the spiritual, mental and physical state of a person? maybe it’s all of the above.

The soothing effects of music are as old as the ancient stories of David playing the harp to calm King Saul’s fits of uncontrollable rage. was it battle fatigue, insanity? the cause is not clear; it only says that music helped the king find peace. St. Agnes Hospital has brought a harpist in to play in its surgical waiting room to promote a sense of calm for the waiting family members. Nursing homes, schools, hospice services and mental health treatment centers use music therapy to treat pain, depression and aggression. Who can remember banging out their teenage heartbreaks on the family piano?

While music therapists have been practicing in the United States for more than 50 years, one of them, Carol Joy Loeb, has taken the healing art to a new level. a registered nurse with 30 years of experience, she started playing the guitar, flute and lap harp at patients’ bedsides six years ago. Then she learned about vibroacoustic therapy through the Music for Healing and Transition Program, a national certification program that prepares musicians to provide live therapeutic music at the bedside. Loeb learned to play the harp and to assess its effects on the body and is now a certified music practitioner. her work uses musical vibrations to reduce pain and stress.

“We know it works on a deep cellular level,” says Loeb, a Columbia resident who practices out of the Woodland Wellness Center in Ellicott City. “It kind of shakes everything around,” she adds, using the example of how vibrations can stir up a bowl of water into various patterns depending on the notes.

Her 40-string harp is connected to an amplifier that is wired to a special treatment bed with speakers embedded at its head and foot. the clients lie down on the bed, fully clothed, and can have a blanket put over them to keep warm during the session, which lasts 45 to 60 minutes. After getting a medical history, Loeb plays each string and records where the client feels the vibration in the body, and how it feels as well. After writing down the responses, she improvises as she plays the harp, primarily using the strings that resonate where the pain is felt most. Occasionally she sings, mostly vowel-like sounds, if the client likes that. (Loeb is also a trained opera singer.) As she plays, she watches her client’s breathing and body for signs of agitation or pain and changes the music as needed. the goal is relaxation.

“By using live music, the therapist can alter the music according to the patient,” says Loeb. her work has been featured on National Public Radio, and in Nursing Spectrum magazine and the Washington Post.

“It’s something that I never felt before,” says Diane Adams. “You feel like you’re part of the note,” says the 58-year-old, who had multiple knee surgeries as a youth. After just two one-hour sessions with Loeb, she’s noticed a decrease in her knee pain.

“The vibrations, the tones, it’s wild how it just homes right in on the pain. I think it’s something that’s going to work,” she says.

As healing treatments go, vibroacoustic harp therapy is an emerging practice. It’s starting to gain attention for helping people who suffer with unrelenting body pain from fibromyalgia, a chronic condition mostly affecting women. the number of published case studies on vibroacoustic harp therapy is small, but they show encouraging results.

An ear full of needles

Auricular acupuncture is founded on the principle that the ear is a hologram for the body, with more than 100 points that reflex to the rest of the body. five needles are used in each ear, and they stay in for 30 to 45 minutes while the patient remains quiet.

It’s mostly practiced by “community” acupuncturists, performed in a group setting, and is considered a subset of whole body acupuncture practitioners. There are certain advantages to it, such as a lower price, accessibility of the ear (no need to undress) and the opportunity for group members to share with each other what they’re experiencing, says Diane Juray, a licensed acupuncturist who offers auricular acupuncture at Synergy Pilates & Yoga, in Columbia. She advertises the practice as a way to reduce stress and anxiety, decrease the incidence of insomnia and to lose weight.

Weight loss is why Diana Fleck gave ear acupuncture a try. She went to four sessions originally and found that they helped to lessen her cravings for food.

“I was very much a skeptic,” says Fleck. “It was a reasonable rate, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Plus, it was nonchemical. You couldn’t lose, really.” What Fleck found is that her cravings were triggered by stress, which surprised the semi-retired tax accountant.

“I didn’t even know I was stressed until I felt de-stressed.” Fleck also found the group format supportive. “We may have a little discussion, and we might do a little meditation. I think it intensifies the treatment actually,” she says. As added bonuses, Fleck says she is more aware of how she reacts to things, and she also sleeps better since having the treatments.

“I’d go every day if I could,” she adds.

Juray, who received her acupuncture training through Tai Sophia almost four years ago, says, “It’s not like a prescription. Some people come for one thing and return for another.”

That’s the philosophy of acupuncture, considered an “energy work,” in the realm of holistic medicine. the belief is that disease occurs when energy is blocked. Auricular acupuncture is used extensively for addiction therapy in conjunction with other treatments, says Juray, who uses the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association protocol.

Auricular acupuncture has been used in treatment programs at the Baltimore City Detention Center, the Penn North Neighborhood Center and Columbia Addictions Center with success. Acupuncture is not a cure for addictions but helps by relieving withdrawal symptoms, relapse, agitation and anxiety, according to a Columbia Addictions Center pamphlet on the therapy.

Herbs are the original Chinese medicine, dating back more than 2,000 years. As a healing art, Chinese herbology predates acupuncture but is often used in conjunction with it to treat conditions such as migraines, hypertension, sexual dysfunction, depression and infertility.

But this doesn’t mean that a person should just go to the local health food store and ask if there’s an herb that will improve libido.

“You don’t know what’s in them,” says Jennifer Stukey, a licensed acupuncturist and Chinese herbologist who owns Awaken Wellness in Columbia.

“Chinese herbs are always used in formulas, except ginseng, because it’s self-regulatory,” says Stukey. “You could make yourself very sick if you’re taking the wrong herbs.” Certified through the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM), Stukey went through 660 hours of graduate level work at Tai Sophia Institute before she could become a professional Chinese herbologist, and that was only after she first had become a certified acupuncturist, a prerequisite of ACAOM’s Chinese herbal medicine license.

“There’s a lot of thought that goes into it; there’s a preciseness to it,” describes Stukey, standing in her herbal pharmacy surrounded by bottles of powdered herbs and plastic containers of various dried roots and other plants. Chinese herbal medicine practitioners use pattern diagnosis, looking for patterns of wellness or disease by examining symptoms, pulse and a patient’s tongue, Stukey says.

“The tongue is the Chinese X-ray,” she explains. the tongue’s color, coating, cracks and size give clues as to what’s going on in the rest of the body. Through asking strategic questions to gain as much information about symptoms and a person’s lifestyle, and information from the pulse, and the tongue, she knows what formula to put together to treat the condition. Most formulas are made of six to 20 herbs, some just two herbs.

After suffering for years from seasonal allergies, Amanda Rosado, 23, visited Stukey at Awaken Wellness.

“After trying what seems like every Western and conventional treatment known to man, I turned to Jen. It was only with her custom herbal formula and guidance that I could finally feel at peace with myself during the spring and fall. Instead of focusing on one aspect of myself, my allergies, Jen focused on all of me, which in turn gave me even more benefits than a cleared nose,” says Rosado, of Ellicott City. besides the herbs, Stukey encouraged Rosado to consider making some changes in her eating habits as well.

“Because of that change in lifestyle, in conjunction with the herbs that I take, my energy level has been higher, my sleep has improved, and my mood improved, and I can breathe through my nose again,” says Rosado.

Although Chinese herbs are used to treat a variety of conditions, such as cancer, Stukey focuses on women’s health concerns. in the past year, she has treated two women for infertility. One had two failed in vitro fertilization treatments; the other was told she had “poor-quality eggs.” After using the herbal formulas she prescribed, both women got pregnant, one in three months, the other in nine.

“The key is balance,” says Stukey. “The healthier I can get them, the better chance they have of producing good embryos,” she says.

“People are looking for alternatives to pharmaceuticals,” says Stukey. “Side effects, and the fact that there’s no end in sight to taking them, especially for chronic conditions, are some of the reasons.”

More than a tooth mechanic

If people follow Dr. Gene Sambataro’s advice, it should put him out of business, says the Ellicott City dentist. the only holistic dentist in the county, Sambataro goes beyond the standard X-rays and poking at the teeth and gums to help his patients. He spends time with each one, talking about how the mouth is a window to a person’s diet and lifestyle. He’s shifted to a wellness approach with his dental practice.

“There’s a connection between the mouth and the body. when I examine a patient, I look at what’s happening systemically. unfortunately, most of medicine has forgotten that the mouth is part of the body,” Sambataro says.

Looking at bleeding gums and pocket depth aren’t the only tools for a dentist. “It’s not just being a tooth mechanic,” he says.

an increased awareness of the link between poor oral health and heart disease has people reconsidering their dental hygiene, but it’s more than that, says Sambataro, who received his dental training through the University of Maryland’s School of Dentistry. Poorly digested food causes plaque, for instance. And too much sugar affects calcium and phosphorous levels in the body, which affect hormone levels that then affect the immune system, he says. He also has become a strong proponent of removing amalgam fillings, made from mercury, when they show signs of age and decay.

“Mercury is more toxic than lead and arsenic,” says the dentist, who believes it’s just common sense that these fillings are leaching the toxin into the body. but removal is dangerous, he says. He uses a complex process in a special room with ozone and HEPA filters and a specialized drilling method to keep particles from getting into the mouth and down the throat. After the procedure, the patient goes into a massage room for an acupressure treatment, because having an extraction disrupts the electrical processes in the body, he says, which acupressure can restore.

When Tina McDermott contracted Lyme disease, she couldn’t shake the fatigue that came with it, despite being treated with antibiotics prescribed for its cure. Finally, her physician referred her to Sambataro to have an amalgam filling removed.

“You can’t get rid of Lyme until you get rid of heavy metals in your body,” says McDermott, a nutritionist who lives in Bowie. After her primary care physician sent a piece of her hair for analysis, it was discovered she had a high level of mercury toxicity, which she believes resulted from fillings that were removed carelessly years ago and that last filling still in her mouth.

The initial exam in Sambataro’s office took two hours, says McDermott. when she returned for the extraction, she wore headphones through which she could hear music and different sounds.

“It distracts you. the headphones help drown out the sounds of the drill,” says McDermott, who reports that her fatigue was nearly gone within a month after the procedure. “I finally feel like my old self again,” she says.

Holistic medicine is an art that runs long and deep, and it may be hard to know if a specific practice will work, or if a combination of practices is needed. And currently there’s not a licensed triage person in Maryland who can direct a patient to a specific treatment or practice.

“The holistic field is disjointed, but we’re looking at creating harmony between them,” says Broida, of Tai Sophia Institute.

The thing to remember, she says, is that our bodies are a complete package and the best approach is to pay attention to the body’s signals and seek help soon when something doesn’t feel right.

For more information about complementary and alternative medicine, here are some recommended resources from the librarian at Tai Sophia Institute. Library resources can be checked out by members of the community with a valid driver’s license.

MedlinePlus: nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus

What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine? nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam

“Complementary And Alternative Medicine Sourcebook,” by Sandra J. Judd. Omnigraphics Inc. Detroit, 2010.

“Alternative Medicine: the Definitive Guide,” by Burton Goldberg Group. Future Medicine Publications, Puyallup, 2002.