Prue Klausener and Family Volunteer in Talamarang, Nepal for MMW 2025

Are there any memorable patient experiences?

Prue treating patient in Talamarang using palpation and acupuncture

"There was an 88-year-old man who lived near us, and he was coming to the clinic every day with severe, systemic pain, peripheral neuropathy, minor tremors, and just very, very disturbed. His shen was really just all over the place, and you could tell that he was in a lot of pain, both physically and mentally, spiritually,  and so on. I approached it with the ‘Okay, let's try and resolve the pain first’ because, doing systemic approaches, you are always trying to get to the root. We had him leaning on the bed and just doing the Huatuojiaji, and I think a few Ren Mai treatments, just sort of simple.

And so I did his first treatment, and he kept coming back the next day, and it was like a tiny improvement, but things are still bad. You could see in his eyes that his spirit was just in agony. And he kept coming for about four or five days in a row. Mina had told me that within the last year, in a very short period of time, he'd lost a son, a grandson, and a wife, all in separate but quite tragic circumstances, and I started to contemplate the effect that that had on his shen. I kept going with this sort of Jiaji protocol, thinking that if we just keep plugging away at that, the small results will accumulate. This fifth time, I thought, Okay, he's not going to come back, I don't think this is really working. And, it was distressing. I just thought maybe this is the reach of my limitations. And so I decided to just treat the spirit.

I did Mingmen. I did Kidney 25. It was four points just opening the spirit gates. Left it at that, and then I didn't see him for a day or two. And I mean, I believe so much in the spirit gates, but I didn't want to think maybe it didn't work, but I hadn't seen him. And then I ran into him, and his whole spirit, his eyes were alive. It was the most beautiful thing. And he hasn't come back for treatment, but he keeps coming back, and he'll just come in the door and watch what's going on. Every time I see him now, he gives me a little bow, and we acknowledge each other, and I see in his eyes that he's just lit up, and you can tell that the pain is gone. And he told us he's feeling good. But the amazing thing is, just seeing it in his eyes like that is just beautiful. And I just love that testament. That's the essence of the medicine, isn't it, when we treat the spirit and we get to the root of the problem.”

Prue's daughter helping out with moxabustion which is helpful for pain related to deep cold

That was a very special one. And the other one was a little more recent. So there's a man coming in. I think he's about 40, and he came in with his main complaint being that he has elevated uric acid levels, and that's all he's sort of said. And I said, “Well, how's that manifesting for you?” Just pain. He just had pain. And you're kind of thinking, okay, well, why do we have the high uric acid levels? What's going on with the kidneys?

I said, “Oh, what have you done to manage the pain so far?” He takes non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. “How many of those do you take?” And it was about 10. I was like, ”Oh, okay, 10 a day. So, wow. Okay, and how long have you been doing that?” “For 15 years.” I tried not to drop, you know, and you're trying to keep your poker face on and your eyes not bulging.

I was like, ‘Okay, so maybe there's the explanation for the uric acid levels.’ And what came first, I don't know. I said, “Right, okay. Well, look, you're here for acupuncture now. With acupuncture, our aim is to resolve the pain here, so let's start the treatments. Do you think that you could straight away halve the amount of medication so that you can see if the acupuncture is starting to work a little bit?”

So every time he would come back and just take a couple a day, that’s great. You know, that's a huge improvement already. Yesterday was his fifth session, in, I would say, probably three or four weeks. And I said, “How's it going? How's the pain? How many pills are we taking a day?” “Zero,” He is off the pain medication after 15 years. So, that's pretty cool if you can help somebody achieve that; that's remarkable.

Prue and her translator and host mother, Mina