Dr. Priscilla Taylor-Limehouse

Dr. Priscilla Taylor-Limehouse

Acupuncture Overview

Devised circa 2500 B.C. or earlier in ChinaBased on the concept of yin and yang, and designed to bring these dualities into balance.Focuses on ch'i, the body life force, and aims to help ch'i flow freely through the body's organs.Effective in relieving pain and is often used in China as an anesthetic during surgery.
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Husband and wife veterinary team Dr. John Limehouse and Dr. Priscilla Taylor-Limehouse offer an alternative to the standard small animal practice ; their treatments of choice are acupuncture and homeopathy, with a dose of traditional western veterinary medicine thrown in.

The Toluca Lake practice is one of a handful in Southern California providing these alternative services.Clearly, the Limehouses enjoy their work but more importantly they say, they get results.
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Dr. Taylor-Limehouse came more easily to alternative medicine : I grew up with a mother that had studied medicinal herbs and culinary herbs, so I grew up in that environment to some extent..

In 1980, Dr. Taylor-Limehouse earned her D.V.M. from Colorado State University.While working in Eugene, Oregon, she injured herself running.After rehabilitation, she was told she would need cortisone injections in her knee.I refused, she says, I thought, I will not do this to an animal, I will not do it to myself..

So she turned to acupuncture and within a couple months was out running again.She began to study body work and massage, incorporating them into her practice along with homeopathy and herbs.Then, in the early 1990's she began her IVAS training.One of her teachers was Dr. Limehouse.As he now says with a broad smile, I knew a good thing when I saw it. They began dating and were soon married.Dr. Taylor-Limehouse got her certification and joined the Toluca Lake practice.

While Dr. Limehouse has scaled back his outside interests, Dr. Taylor-Limehouse most certainly has not.She currently studies at Yosan University of Chinese Medicine in Santa Monica and is a teacher for the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society, here and in Europe.Though she makes no mention of it herself, her husband boasts with evident pride, that she will begin serving as President of the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncturists in February.

One Cool CatDr. Taylor-Limehouse enters the examining room where a man is waiting with his cat, a well-fed black and white named Dominique who has been having problems with dry skin and itching.

The doctor begins with some general questions and a basic Western medical exam, palpating the abdomen to make sure there are no masses or obstructions or tenderness.As she does so, she explains, The nice thing about doing acupuncture is that so many components of the Chinese traditional exam are also components of the Western exam : looking, listening, smelling, feeling..

As she speaks, she begins inserting the needles.The procedure is surprisingly lacking in drama.In fact, she had three needles in before this observer realized she had begun the treatment.Dominique certainly gave no indication there was anything going on ; she sat there calm and composed and, if anything, more relaxed once the acupuncture had begun.

In Dominique's case, the needles are inserted in points that help alleviate itching and also help balance her adrenal function. They are left in for a specified amount of time, depending on the treatment and the age of the animal.When the time has expired, a staff member returns and removes the needles and Dominique is on her way home.All in all, the procedure is over in a matter of minutes.

"My feeling is there is a group of veterinarians who feel that all types of alternative and complementary medicine are just plain wrong," said Dr. Priscilla Taylor-Limehouse, a Los Angeles-area veterinarian who is president of the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture."They'd like to use this as a forum to make their feelings known and change policy as much as possible."

Taylor-Limehouse also objects to the way the guidelines lump all alternative therapies together.

"We don't feel that acupuncture is on a par with such modalities as aromatherapy," she said.

Taylor-Limehouse contends that the AVMA proposals are in complete contradiction with a 1997 statement on human treatment from the National Institutes of Health that said "sufficient evidence of acupuncture's value exists to expand its use into conventional medicine."