Claudia Laufer

Dr. Claudia Laufer, DAOM, L.Ac. is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine with specialization in Healthy Aging and Integrative Medicine. She is a licensed acupuncturist and medical herbalist in the State of California, acupuncturist at Being Alive, a non-profit organization offering free services to the HIV community, and is clinical supervi... sor and faculty at Yo San University. Dr. Laufer studied psychology at Antioch University, and then proceeded to study Traditional Chinese Medicine. She earned her Masters degree in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (with highest honors) and her Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM) from Yo San University in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Germany, where holistic and herbal medicines were common even within mainstream medicine, Dr. Laufer was introduced to holistic health care early on: "It always fascinated me that simple remedies like sage tea or linden flowers were powerful enough to treat certain diseases. Many of the herbs we used at home were often plants that grew along the roadside, like valerian, nettles or yarrow. The idea that nature grew medicine sparked my life-long interest in learning as much as I can about natural medicine." It was Dr. Laufer's own struggle with hyperthyroidism due to Graves' disease that lead her to study TCM. "The endocrinologist I saw at the time told me that the prognosis for Graves' disease was pretty grim, that I most likely had to get my thyroid ablated which could lead to permanent hypothyroidism, and that there was little I could do about it. I really didn't like that answer, so before I decided on a course of action, I did my own research." In the end, she opted for an integrative approach: Western anti-thyroid drugs in combination with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, qi gong exercises and dietary changes. The results of this approach amazed even her doctors; within 6 months, all symptoms of the disease had vanished, and the thyroid function was stable without further need of medications. This success ...Read More