August 13, 2024 • 17 mins
Ever wondered how a combat veteran transitions into a healthcare provider specializing in acupuncture? Our guest, Dr. DeWayne Baugus, offers a fascinating glimpse into his journey from military service to becoming a licensed acupuncture physician. With a background in nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare instruction, Dr. Baugus shares how his military training shaped his unique approach to healthcare. He recounts his initial foray into patient care as a massage therapist and how his experiences have given him a deeper understanding of the emotional and psychological aspects of managing stress and health challenges.
In this enlightening episode, Dr. Baugus opens up about the transformative power of acupuncture, particularly for cancer patients enduring chemotherapy and radiation. He provides compelling insights into the use of acupuncture within the U.S. military, revealing its effectiveness and legitimacy in pain management on the battlefield. Through poignant stories and practical advice, Dr. Baugus highlights the integration of Eastern and Western medical practices, making a powerful case for acupuncture’s role in modern healthcare. Join us for this captivating conversation that underscores how diverse experiences can shape a holistic approach to wellness.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. DeWayne Baugus (00:07):
Welcome to Balancing Life in Medicine.
I'm Dr DeWayne Baugus.
I'm an acupuncture physicianlicensed in the state of Florida
, but I'm also I have a practicein Tulsa, Oklahoma.
So I'm working in my nativestate, where I grew up, where I
was raised, and I wanted todiscuss a little bit about my
training.
So, in other words, who am I?
(00:28):
Am I just some guy that doesacupuncture?
The answer is no.
To talk about my education alittle bit is, I think,
informative as far as youunderstanding my mind, my
thought process, as far as youunderstanding my mind, my
thought process, how I'm lookingat each individual patient and
(00:50):
what information I'm using tohelp you find a healthier,
happier way of life.
So I'm a veteran, I'm a combatvet, I was in the military for
many years.
I have a background inunderstanding emotions,
emotional imbalances.
In fact, I personally have beenable to help manage my own PTSD
(01:14):
, anxiety and depression throughmultiple methods, not just one.
It's not just one thing thatfits us all, just finding
answers wherever I could.
I think, just like anybody outthere, is trying to find what
helps them feel better.
We don't really care what it is, as long as it's healthy for us
and we can do it.
We want to.
We want to make our life easierand healthier.
(01:35):
One of the things that I did inthe military was communications.
I started off in thecommunications field.
I started off in thecommunications field and learned
real quick about electronicsand circuit boards and antennas
and radiation and all kinds offun things.
In fact I was with the PatriotMissile System, desert Storm era
(01:57):
.
So if that dates me a littlebit, so be it.
Some of you guys have nevereven heard of that.
Maybe you were born way after.
I'm just getting used to that.
So with that came a lot ofunderstanding of multiple
cultures.
My experiences overseas, thetraining in the military, was
(02:18):
really good and actually helpsme today with understanding how
to look at the body.
One of the things that I didget into while in the military
besides communication was I wentto school to be a nuclear,
biological and chemical warfareinstructor.
So I didn't just docommunications, I did a whole
(02:43):
lot more as well as training anddevelopment.
The military toward the end ofthe last few years that I was
serving put me in positions towhere I was helping train
individuals on desert survivaland warfare tactics.
I was a part of a team here inthe United States after 9-11.
That started training oursoldiers and getting them ready
(03:03):
for a different world.
Essentially Going to thesandbox is what we call it,
going overseas.
But that entailed not justshowing you how to do things,
but it also entailed the rightmindset, encouragement,
compassion, believe it or not,understanding what they're going
to be dealing with.
So a psychologicalunderstanding of how to ready
(03:26):
yourself, prepare yourself foran upcoming battle, and I've
seen that translate into mypractice.
Today I have patients that comein and they're battling so many
different things.
They've got a cancer diagnosis,they've got some kind of
illness that they're dealingwith and my job is to support
(03:46):
them and encourage them and getthem ready for that battle
because they will win it andthey will fight it and I will
encourage them to do so.
The other fun stuff the NBC,what we call nuclear, biological
, chemical side, thecommunication side that was the
(04:09):
very beginning of me reallylearning about healthcare, the
mind, the body, how things workfrom a military perspective and
of course that was just a smallsliver.
After the military I wentthrough my understanding of
emotions and navigating emotions, understanding them, gaining an
emotional IQ, but also learningabout how I could help others.
(04:34):
I found that there wasgratification in helping others,
not just working jobs that Ijust didn't feel fulfilled in.
So that's one of the ways thatI got into healthcare.
It's not because I was anofficer in the military,
actually I.
The ways that I got intohealthcare it's not because I
was an officer in the militaryActually I was not.
I was enlisted.
So I became a physician after Igot out of the military.
It's not an area that I wentinto initially.
(04:55):
It's something that I got intoas I seen the need for it in
myself as well as helping thosein my community.
So the first big bulk oftraining that I went into was in
Florida and it was as a massagetherapist.
I learned that working with thebody, helping people relieve
(05:15):
pain through massage and bodywork, was it, was.
It was great, it was tremendous.
It was gratification of helpingpeople change their life by
just helping them relax Right.
And the other thing is, as amassage therapist I learned a
lot about people.
I mean you're stuck in a littleroom with someone for like an
hour to two hours and you'redoing massages on them.
(05:36):
Sometimes you hear things youdon't want to hear, yeah, and
then there's other other thingsthat come up and you start to
learn.
You start to learn what'snormal for one isn't normal for
another as far as theirlifestyle, their stress, their
perspective of life, and that'ssomething that you learn to
(05:57):
respect.
I learned to respect thatbecause that respect came from
seeing how it hurt people if itwas the wrong perspective.
If it was the right perspective, how it could change someone's
whole existence.
It could change theirtrajectory in their life into
something great, instead ofmaybe where they were going in a
negative way, seeing peoplechange their mindset and I refer
(06:20):
back to the Bible when it comesto that repenting or metanoia
right To change one's mind, tochange how we think about
something.
Sometimes it's as simple aschanging how we look at
something, and that's what I'veenjoyed learning over the years,
and massage was one of thefirst places that I got to see
that.
I got to see people who werebound up in stress and really
(06:42):
had little to stress about, butthey didn't know that their
world consisted of maintaining acertain level of stress and
that was their normal.
When I met others who were CEOsof massive companies and they
should have had all the stressin the world, yet they didn't.
They managed it.
They seen it as a blessing tobe able to serve so many and to
(07:04):
be in a position to provide ajob for individuals that were
supporting families.
In other words, completelydifferent perspectives and they
all had different backgrounds.
Within the first three years ofworking as a massage therapist,
I got my hands on a little over5,000 patients and it was great
(07:25):
because I was working for ifanyone's familiar with Massage
Envy, that's when it very it wasjust brand new and I was one of
the first 15 therapists thatthey hired to work at their
locations in Sarasota, florida.
So it was a demographic thatwas very interesting, from youth
(07:47):
multimillionaires to yeah, Ihad several 105-year-old
patients and all kinds of wisdomand knowledge that someday I'll
get there.
I hear the words, you know.
We hear wisdom from others, butwe're not ready for it yet.
Yeah, expect that for the restof your life.
That's always going to be there.
Some things just come with time.
(08:10):
But I got a lot of words ofwisdom thrown at me while I was
working with those greatpatients.
There were clients then as amassage therapist, but I will
say that there was somethingthat changed my trajectory, my
career path.
Working with so manyindividuals, I had a lady who
was a client of mine and shereferred a good friend of hers
(08:33):
that she had met at a daycareand this was a game changer.
This story really was somethingthat was pivotal in my life
because it changed everythingabout my outlook and my
perspective.
After working on this lady andthe lady her friend that she had
referred, for several months,interestingly, they both
(08:55):
developed breast cancer.
And not only that, it was aweird one, they developed breast
cancer in the same breast, samelocation, at the same time and
I had all kinds of questionsabout that, because there comes
a point in massage therapy whereyou cannot massage someone
who's going through cancertreatments.
In fact you can make thesituation worse and that comes
(09:18):
with contraindications formassage therapy.
If you're looking at massagesand say you have cancer and
you're watching this video,understand there's some things
that won't help or may makethings worse.
Please do research on that.
So there came a point withthose two ladies where I
couldn't do massage anymorebased on their therapy or their
treatments that they werereceiving.
(09:39):
But while I was in massageschool a few years before, there
was a lady that talked aboutacupuncture.
Now I was not interested inacupuncture or oriental medicine
.
I didn't want anyone gettingclose to me with needles.
I was not into that world.
In fact, the introduction thatwe had in that program was it
was, thankfully, very shallow.
(10:01):
We didn't do any needling.
We didn't do any of that.
In Florida it's very strict youcan't do acupuncture unless
you've got medical degrees andmedical boards and licenses.
So for acupuncture, thankgoodness, because I was
terrified of needles and didn'twant them touching me.
But in that intake, in thatlittle block of information that
I got in massage school, therewas a lady who mentioned that
(10:24):
acupuncture was great for chemoradiation, the side effects of
those treatments that patientsare sometimes going to be going
through a mess.
Their body is going to turn on,they're going to feel horrible,
they're going to feel nauseated.
There's so many things thatcome along with neuropathy.
There's pain, there's thingsthat happen night sweats.
But acupuncture can actually beused while the patient is going
(10:48):
through those treatments,although massage cannot be used.
So, as these ladies, I was aboutto depart from them and say,
hey, look, I can't do thisanymore.
I want you to look upacupuncture, though, because one
of the ladies was having areally rough time with her side
effects and her cancer treatment.
Now the lady I'd mentioned thisto, she said that sounds great,
(11:11):
I'm going to look them up.
I gave him a business card.
The other lady Um, the otherlady, uh, I found out months
later the the woman that Italked to.
She came back after her cancertreatments were over and she
said thank you for recommendingacupuncture.
Um, it did great.
It helped me get through mytreatments.
I recommended it to my friendand she told me to take that
(11:36):
phooey stuff away.
Don't talk to me about that,that stuff doesn't work.
And unfortunately, that ladywas overwhelmed with the side
effects of her treatments,stopped her cancer treatments
and she lost her life and lefther toddler.
And that was a pivotal point inmy life.
(11:57):
When I heard months later thatthis had happened, there's
something that hit me.
It hit me really hard that Iwasn't educated enough to
explain what oriental medicine,acupuncture, alternative
medicines can offer, can offer.
(12:22):
I wasn't educated enough toexplain it in Western terms as
far as a Western doctor wouldunderstand.
So I couldn't translate thatinformation to that lady because
I didn't have it.
I wasn't educated enough.
And that changed my perspective.
I remember hearing what hadhappened to her when she stopped
her treatments and from thatday forward I felt empty.
(12:42):
I felt like I was providing agood service, but it just wasn't
enough anymore.
So I started looking upinformation on medical schools,
alternative medicine,acupuncture, those kind of
things, even though I don't likeneedles I can't stand them but
(13:06):
if they help people then I'll doit.
Just like a service member inthe military I don't want to go
do this, but if it's going tomake your life better, if it's
going to give you freedom, ifyou sleep better at night
because you're being protectedin that safety that comes from a
soldier's duty, then I'm verywilling to do that, as a
physician or whatever school Ihave to go through.
And that's the trajectory Iwent on.
My perspective changed that dayand I started pursuing a better
(13:31):
education Not better, I wouldsay a more in-depth education on
how to help people, a morein-depth education on how to
help people.
So that's where I got intomedical school With my
background in the military oftraining, development, the
chemical, biological side of it,my background as far as a body
(14:00):
worker and massage therapy.
I also started to help othermassage therapists that work for
Massage Envy, train, understanddifferent methods and practices
to maintain their body whilethey do that kind of physical
work.
So working with individualsserving others has been a
lifelong passion of mine.
I enjoy it.
I know there's many questionsabout whether or not acupuncture
(14:21):
works.
It does.
To give you a little background, there's 48 states at this
current time that recognizeacupuncture as a method of pain
management.
48 states that licenseacupuncturists, acupuncture
physicians, to work within andalongside hospitals and health
(14:43):
clinics.
So we are recognized in 48states.
Unfortunately, oklahoma rightnow is not one of them.
There's another state, Ibelieve it's Alabama but the
reason I say that is becauseit's legitimate.
So if a state recognizes it andinsurance companies recognize
(15:04):
it, that means it's effective atsome level.
The trick is going to befinding the right acupuncture
physician to help you inwhatever you're battling.
The other bit of informationthat people are usually
surprised to hear is themilitary.
The Army, as well as otherbranches of service, have been
using acupuncture and orientalmedicine on military bases and
(15:28):
on the combat field for wellover a decade.
That's right.
The government has been usingacupuncture on the battlefield.
If you've ever heard the termbattlefield acupuncture, it's
not as ferocious as it may sound, but there's treatments and
protocols that we have found areextremely effective for pain
management.
In fact, a few years ago,before I left Florida, the last
(15:53):
word I got was every militaryinstallation in the United
States has an acupuncturephysician on it.
That means your service membershere in the United States have
access to acupuncture and thegovernment does use it.
So is it legitimate?
Does it work?
You bet it does.
I'm a walking testimony that itis effective and it works.
(16:14):
In fact, I've tailored my wholelife, my career, toward helping
others, using not justacupuncture and oriental
medicine, but both Westernmedicine as well.
So, knowing that alternativemedicine, eastern medicine, it's
Eastern medicine, and what weuse allopathically or here in
(16:36):
our hospitals is Westernmedicine, I love to combine them
all.
So I hope this gives you alittle bit of information about
me understanding my background.
I'm not just someone who usespeople as a dartboard.
In fact, there is a method tomy madness, and it's not just my
method.
It's a 4,000-year-old methodthat helps people feel better.
(16:56):
I'm Dr DeWayne Baugus.
Thank you for spending yourtime with me.
This has been Balancing Lifeand Medicine.
Welcome to Balancing Life in Medicine.
I'm Dr DeWayne Baugus.
I'm an acupuncture physicianlicensed in the state of Florida
, but I'm also I have a practicein Tulsa, Oklahoma.
So I'm working in my nativestate, where I grew up, where I
was raised, and I wanted todiscuss a little bit about my
training.
So, in other words, who am I?
(00:28):
Am I just some guy that doesacupuncture?
The answer is no.
To talk about my education alittle bit is, I think,
informative as far as youunderstanding my mind, my
thought process, as far as youunderstanding my mind, my
thought process, how I'm lookingat each individual patient and
(00:50):
what information I'm using tohelp you find a healthier,
happier way of life.
So I'm a veteran, I'm a combatvet, I was in the military for
many years.
I have a background inunderstanding emotions,
emotional imbalances.
In fact, I personally have beenable to help manage my own PTSD
(01:14):
, anxiety and depression throughmultiple methods, not just one.
It's not just one thing thatfits us all, just finding
answers wherever I could.
I think, just like anybody outthere, is trying to find what
helps them feel better.
We don't really care what it is, as long as it's healthy for us
and we can do it.
We want to.
We want to make our life easierand healthier.
(01:35):
One of the things that I did inthe military was communications.
I started off in thecommunications field.
I started off in thecommunications field and learned
real quick about electronicsand circuit boards and antennas
and radiation and all kinds offun things.
In fact I was with the PatriotMissile System, desert Storm era
(01:57):
.
So if that dates me a littlebit, so be it.
Some of you guys have nevereven heard of that.
Maybe you were born way after.
I'm just getting used to that.
So with that came a lot ofunderstanding of multiple
cultures.
My experiences overseas, thetraining in the military, was
(02:18):
really good and actually helpsme today with understanding how
to look at the body.
One of the things that I didget into while in the military
besides communication was I wentto school to be a nuclear,
biological and chemical warfareinstructor.
So I didn't just docommunications, I did a whole
(02:43):
lot more as well as training anddevelopment.
The military toward the end ofthe last few years that I was
serving put me in positions towhere I was helping train
individuals on desert survivaland warfare tactics.
I was a part of a team here inthe United States after 9-11.
That started training oursoldiers and getting them ready
(03:03):
for a different world.
Essentially Going to thesandbox is what we call it,
going overseas.
But that entailed not justshowing you how to do things,
but it also entailed the rightmindset, encouragement,
compassion, believe it or not,understanding what they're going
to be dealing with.
So a psychologicalunderstanding of how to ready
(03:26):
yourself, prepare yourself foran upcoming battle, and I've
seen that translate into mypractice.
Today I have patients that comein and they're battling so many
different things.
They've got a cancer diagnosis,they've got some kind of
illness that they're dealingwith and my job is to support
(03:46):
them and encourage them and getthem ready for that battle
because they will win it andthey will fight it and I will
encourage them to do so.
The other fun stuff the NBC,what we call nuclear, biological
, chemical side, thecommunication side that was the
(04:09):
very beginning of me reallylearning about healthcare, the
mind, the body, how things workfrom a military perspective and
of course that was just a smallsliver.
After the military I wentthrough my understanding of
emotions and navigating emotions, understanding them, gaining an
emotional IQ, but also learningabout how I could help others.
(04:34):
I found that there wasgratification in helping others,
not just working jobs that Ijust didn't feel fulfilled in.
So that's one of the ways thatI got into healthcare.
It's not because I was anofficer in the military,
actually I.
The ways that I got intohealthcare it's not because I
was an officer in the militaryActually I was not.
I was enlisted.
So I became a physician after Igot out of the military.
It's not an area that I wentinto initially.
(04:55):
It's something that I got intoas I seen the need for it in
myself as well as helping thosein my community.
So the first big bulk oftraining that I went into was in
Florida and it was as a massagetherapist.
I learned that working with thebody, helping people relieve
(05:15):
pain through massage and bodywork, was it, was.
It was great, it was tremendous.
It was gratification of helpingpeople change their life by
just helping them relax Right.
And the other thing is, as amassage therapist I learned a
lot about people.
I mean you're stuck in a littleroom with someone for like an
hour to two hours and you'redoing massages on them.
(05:36):
Sometimes you hear things youdon't want to hear, yeah, and
then there's other other thingsthat come up and you start to
learn.
You start to learn what'snormal for one isn't normal for
another as far as theirlifestyle, their stress, their
perspective of life, and that'ssomething that you learn to
(05:57):
respect.
I learned to respect thatbecause that respect came from
seeing how it hurt people if itwas the wrong perspective.
If it was the right perspective, how it could change someone's
whole existence.
It could change theirtrajectory in their life into
something great, instead ofmaybe where they were going in a
negative way, seeing peoplechange their mindset and I refer
(06:20):
back to the Bible when it comesto that repenting or metanoia
right To change one's mind, tochange how we think about
something.
Sometimes it's as simple aschanging how we look at
something, and that's what I'veenjoyed learning over the years,
and massage was one of thefirst places that I got to see
that.
I got to see people who werebound up in stress and really
(06:42):
had little to stress about, butthey didn't know that their
world consisted of maintaining acertain level of stress and
that was their normal.
When I met others who were CEOsof massive companies and they
should have had all the stressin the world, yet they didn't.
They managed it.
They seen it as a blessing tobe able to serve so many and to
(07:04):
be in a position to provide ajob for individuals that were
supporting families.
In other words, completelydifferent perspectives and they
all had different backgrounds.
Within the first three years ofworking as a massage therapist,
I got my hands on a little over5,000 patients and it was great
(07:25):
because I was working for ifanyone's familiar with Massage
Envy, that's when it very it wasjust brand new and I was one of
the first 15 therapists thatthey hired to work at their
locations in Sarasota, florida.
So it was a demographic thatwas very interesting, from youth
(07:47):
multimillionaires to yeah, Ihad several 105-year-old
patients and all kinds of wisdomand knowledge that someday I'll
get there.
I hear the words, you know.
We hear wisdom from others, butwe're not ready for it yet.
Yeah, expect that for the restof your life.
That's always going to be there.
Some things just come with time.
(08:10):
But I got a lot of words ofwisdom thrown at me while I was
working with those greatpatients.
There were clients then as amassage therapist, but I will
say that there was somethingthat changed my trajectory, my
career path.
Working with so manyindividuals, I had a lady who
was a client of mine and shereferred a good friend of hers
(08:33):
that she had met at a daycareand this was a game changer.
This story really was somethingthat was pivotal in my life
because it changed everythingabout my outlook and my
perspective.
After working on this lady andthe lady her friend that she had
referred, for several months,interestingly, they both
(08:55):
developed breast cancer.
And not only that, it was aweird one, they developed breast
cancer in the same breast, samelocation, at the same time and
I had all kinds of questionsabout that, because there comes
a point in massage therapy whereyou cannot massage someone
who's going through cancertreatments.
In fact you can make thesituation worse and that comes
(09:18):
with contraindications formassage therapy.
If you're looking at massagesand say you have cancer and
you're watching this video,understand there's some things
that won't help or may makethings worse.
Please do research on that.
So there came a point withthose two ladies where I
couldn't do massage anymorebased on their therapy or their
treatments that they werereceiving.
(09:39):
But while I was in massageschool a few years before, there
was a lady that talked aboutacupuncture.
Now I was not interested inacupuncture or oriental medicine
.
I didn't want anyone gettingclose to me with needles.
I was not into that world.
In fact, the introduction thatwe had in that program was it
was, thankfully, very shallow.
(10:01):
We didn't do any needling.
We didn't do any of that.
In Florida it's very strict youcan't do acupuncture unless
you've got medical degrees andmedical boards and licenses.
So for acupuncture, thankgoodness, because I was
terrified of needles and didn'twant them touching me.
But in that intake, in thatlittle block of information that
I got in massage school, therewas a lady who mentioned that
(10:24):
acupuncture was great for chemoradiation, the side effects of
those treatments that patientsare sometimes going to be going
through a mess.
Their body is going to turn on,they're going to feel horrible,
they're going to feel nauseated.
There's so many things thatcome along with neuropathy.
There's pain, there's thingsthat happen night sweats.
But acupuncture can actually beused while the patient is going
(10:48):
through those treatments,although massage cannot be used.
So, as these ladies, I was aboutto depart from them and say,
hey, look, I can't do thisanymore.
I want you to look upacupuncture, though, because one
of the ladies was having areally rough time with her side
effects and her cancer treatment.
Now the lady I'd mentioned thisto, she said that sounds great,
(11:11):
I'm going to look them up.
I gave him a business card.
The other lady Um, the otherlady, uh, I found out months
later the the woman that Italked to.
She came back after her cancertreatments were over and she
said thank you for recommendingacupuncture.
Um, it did great.
It helped me get through mytreatments.
I recommended it to my friendand she told me to take that
(11:36):
phooey stuff away.
Don't talk to me about that,that stuff doesn't work.
And unfortunately, that ladywas overwhelmed with the side
effects of her treatments,stopped her cancer treatments
and she lost her life and lefther toddler.
And that was a pivotal point inmy life.
(11:57):
When I heard months later thatthis had happened, there's
something that hit me.
It hit me really hard that Iwasn't educated enough to
explain what oriental medicine,acupuncture, alternative
medicines can offer, can offer.
(12:22):
I wasn't educated enough toexplain it in Western terms as
far as a Western doctor wouldunderstand.
So I couldn't translate thatinformation to that lady because
I didn't have it.
I wasn't educated enough.
And that changed my perspective.
I remember hearing what hadhappened to her when she stopped
her treatments and from thatday forward I felt empty.
(12:42):
I felt like I was providing agood service, but it just wasn't
enough anymore.
So I started looking upinformation on medical schools,
alternative medicine,acupuncture, those kind of
things, even though I don't likeneedles I can't stand them but
(13:06):
if they help people then I'll doit.
Just like a service member inthe military I don't want to go
do this, but if it's going tomake your life better, if it's
going to give you freedom, ifyou sleep better at night
because you're being protectedin that safety that comes from a
soldier's duty, then I'm verywilling to do that, as a
physician or whatever school Ihave to go through.
And that's the trajectory Iwent on.
My perspective changed that dayand I started pursuing a better
(13:31):
education Not better, I wouldsay a more in-depth education on
how to help people, a morein-depth education on how to
help people.
So that's where I got intomedical school With my
background in the military oftraining, development, the
chemical, biological side of it,my background as far as a body
(14:00):
worker and massage therapy.
I also started to help othermassage therapists that work for
Massage Envy, train, understanddifferent methods and practices
to maintain their body whilethey do that kind of physical
work.
So working with individualsserving others has been a
lifelong passion of mine.
I enjoy it.
I know there's many questionsabout whether or not acupuncture
(14:21):
works.
It does.
To give you a little background, there's 48 states at this
current time that recognizeacupuncture as a method of pain
management.
48 states that licenseacupuncturists, acupuncture
physicians, to work within andalongside hospitals and health
(14:43):
clinics.
So we are recognized in 48states.
Unfortunately, oklahoma rightnow is not one of them.
There's another state, Ibelieve it's Alabama but the
reason I say that is becauseit's legitimate.
So if a state recognizes it andinsurance companies recognize
(15:04):
it, that means it's effective atsome level.
The trick is going to befinding the right acupuncture
physician to help you inwhatever you're battling.
The other bit of informationthat people are usually
surprised to hear is themilitary.
The Army, as well as otherbranches of service, have been
using acupuncture and orientalmedicine on military bases and
(15:28):
on the combat field for wellover a decade.
That's right.
The government has been usingacupuncture on the battlefield.
If you've ever heard the termbattlefield acupuncture, it's
not as ferocious as it may sound, but there's treatments and
protocols that we have found areextremely effective for pain
management.
In fact, a few years ago,before I left Florida, the last
(15:53):
word I got was every militaryinstallation in the United
States has an acupuncturephysician on it.
That means your service membershere in the United States have
access to acupuncture and thegovernment does use it.
So is it legitimate?
Does it work?
You bet it does.
I'm a walking testimony that itis effective and it works.
(16:14):
In fact, I've tailored my wholelife, my career, toward helping
others, using not justacupuncture and oriental
medicine, but both Westernmedicine as well.
So, knowing that alternativemedicine, eastern medicine, it's
Eastern medicine, and what weuse allopathically or here in
(16:36):
our hospitals is Westernmedicine, I love to combine them
all.
So I hope this gives you alittle bit of information about
me understanding my background.
I'm not just someone who usespeople as a dartboard.
In fact, there is a method tomy madness, and it's not just my
method.
It's a 4,000-year-old methodthat helps people feel better.
(16:56):
I'm Dr DeWayne Baugus.
Thank you for spending yourtime with me.
This has been Balancing Lifeand Medicine.
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