This is not the place to go if you're looking for acupuncture that is strictly clinical without any new agey spiritual sorts of elements incorporated. The acupuncturist told me things such as that the angels were gathering in the room to be with me and a bunch of stuff about heartache, the universe, and past lives that made little sense to me. This is totally fine if you're into that type of stuff. However, as someone who isn't a very spiritual person, I was very uncomfortable and kind of wanted to run out of the room and back outside where people spoke my language and I didn't have to nod along with a bunch of stuff that I didn't believe in. \r
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As another user noted, he does stick needles through the clothing, which didn't strike me as particularly sanitary (he also did not wipe down my skin with alcohol before inserting the needles like my previous acupuncturist did). Again, if you're comfortable with this, by all means, different strokes and such. However, I wish he would have asked my permission before inserting needles into my clothing. I had just bought the shirt I was wearing and certainly did not want any needles, no matter how thin, in it. \r
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I also didn't personally get the impression that the acupuncturist himself took the Chinese medicine modality seriously. He halfheartedly felt my pulses while explaining that acupuncturists basically never agree on a pulse diagnosis so as to suggest that it was pretty pointless, but he'd go through the motions out of obligation. Then he literally told me, ""Let me look at your tongue for the heck of it. Okay, it's a good tongue."" He hurriedly inserted what felt like easily over 40 needles in me while explaining that he was taking a ""blanket"" approach to my visit. I think what he meant was he was just going to needle many or all bodily systems instead of needling points aimed at addressing certain symptoms, but I'm not sure. His entire approach felt, well, sloppy. It didn't seem as though there was much rhyme or reason behind what he was doing, nor did I get the impression that he particularly cared to address the specific reasons I had come in for. I'm not sure if he even looked at my forms, which by the way, are not nearly as thorough as those I've seen other acupuncturists use. All he wanted from me was my contact info, where I'd heard about him, whether I had any allergies or was on any meds, and a brief description of why I was there.\r
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I wound up asking to leave early because between the music in the room, the smelly stuff he had sprayed, the extremely hot blanket beneath me, and the blankets/eye pillow he had covered my face and body with, I was feeling very sensory overloaded, dizzy, and suffocated. His assistant came into the room and removed the needles for me. She missed several that I noticed while getting off the table. I don't want to think about what could have happened had any needles been left in my skin unnoticed, but it wasn't her fault since she wasn't there when he inserted them to see where he put them all.\r
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I then sat in the waiting room waiting for the acupuncturist for a few minutes. He came in and told me that what I was feeling was good and a sign that the energy was flowing through me. Except I knew that wasn't the case because the sensory overload feeling wasn't anything new to me..it often happens when I'm in environments with too much external stimuli. I told him that no, it wasn't good, and I wanted to go home. He continued to insist that it was a good thing and tried to convince me to come back in after I had explained that I had no desire to return for any further visits. Eventually, he let me pay and leave, and that was the end of my...interesting experience.\r
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I wouldn't necessarily advise people against visiting Coastal Acupuncture, as different approaches resonate with different people. However, I would advise them to have an idea of what they're getting into before scheduling an appointment.
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