Raymond Pang

I hope it will let me write a new review of Dr. Pang as my original is quite out of date though still relevant. I have now been with Dr. Pang as my primary healer for 7+ years, seeing him almost weekly since Nov of 2007. Dr. Pang is now 75 years old and going strong. He talks of retirement but those of us devotees keep hoping that’s still a little ways off.
Dr. Pang is unique and my greatest sadness, is that he doesn’t have a disciple. Dr. Pang is not «just an acupunturist», or just a healer. He’s a man operating on another level than most of us. As can be seen from the handful of reviews, people have different reactions to his personality — the outward. He’s an elderly man, who lives very structured life and is very spiritual without the frou frou affects. He does not have an office manager and there are elements to dealing with him, that if you are overly sensitive or don’t know him well enough might be mis-​interpreted. He is DEVOTED to his patients. And if you provide basic respect and common sense, he will give you his all. He has driven to my house in two different locations to check it out for environmental stress and then did impromptu feng shui. It’s impossibelt explain his skill set. He is gifted and if you beleive in energy — then he’s your person. He also is very healthy himself and walks the walk. He’s not going to be taking too many new patients so if you have a tricky situation, or you are getting grim choices from the MDs, you might want to get in there. He’s not more powerful than your own spirit force. He has helped me greatly, but I still must do my part. Things existed with me that predate him and without proper exercise, diet, and living right — he can only do so much.
I know young acupuncturists who graduated college and start seeing Dr Pang to learn so much more. He is a loving spirit. He can read your charkras and tell you a lot of stuff but he won’t push it on you. It is true he doesn’t like a lot of questions, because we talk about our health and bodies in a way that is not the way he does things. I learned over time, to just trust him — and not ask him too much. In time, you will learn a great deal. For the women who mentioned bleeding w needles. That is usually rare and not because he pricked you. It happens when he removes the needles and is an indication of a toxic point or a point that needs a lot of release. I’ve come to CRAVE it happening because I usually feel a HUGE release when ithappens. He is a master. Like few. He knows a great deal. but he will not engage you on the level of Naturopathy. You can’t come in with all your articles from the web or FB and expect him to talk to you in new age terms about diet and such. He knows far more than you do. But not going to talk necessarily in your terminology. He doesnt say a lot about diet, which most of us are obsessed with. he thinks about food more in terms of energetic balance. Ying and Yang. I’m Yang deficient so he will recommend I get ‘heat’ in my food. He can desensitize you to anything including a food, or a person. He can tell you if you are compatible with your partner though he rarely would do so. My ex had trouble with sensitivity to the needles. Not everyone can hack it. He cannot leave them in for 2 hours like they do in China. But he gives you what you need.
I now have a deep affection for Dr Pang as a person and healer, and all I can say, is while he’s not for everyone — because its a symbiosis. If you don’t feel right with him, he won’t be effective for you. I have sent people to him over the years, some dug it, some not so much. I would give it a month. The initial visit, the herb visit, then 2 – 3 treatments. See what you feel. When he says «liver phase 3», it’s not the same as a liver MD telling you you have elevated liver panel. He’s operating in a different paradigm. Not everyone can get with it. And if you need a western explanation or interpretation you will piss him off get him defensive and be disappointed.
Dr. Pang is a RARE RARE healer.

Dr Pang got my cholestrol and blood pressure level from a stroke threatening point to normal range in 4 ½ months!!! My mother was on blood pressure pils for years!!! I wanted a more holistic approach, herbal rather than chemical. I had to drink a powdered herb every morning and also drink a different herb which I had to boil, 3 times per week and also take an herbal capsule 3 times a day and acupuncture once per week. Dr Pang is a wizard– go see him!!! I now only need to see him twice a month but still on herbs but way less. Yes he is an old curmudgeon but loves to chat about other things (only when he’s not concentrating on something DON’T INTERRUPT HIM) and his secret passion is show tunes! PS– he’s always right! and don’t be late!
PPS a little blood flow when he removes one needle is a release of stress (usually you’re stressed out and I was) and he explains this to you. He will also put a needle in until you feell it and you’re supposed to let him know when you do «…yep, yep». He has spot heaters to keep you warm around the office because he keeps the windows up slightly to always allow fresh air to flow– so if you’re cold sit in front of a heater. Yes it is acceptable to fall asleep and snore– I do it all the time.
if you’ve been told you have something that cannot be cured– go see Dr Pang, we know someone that moved across country just to be under his treatment– he is that good and you will get used to him ranting on you about you don’t exercise enough, you drink too much or you need to quit smoking whatever your bad vice is.

I’m still on the fence about Dr. Pang, as I’ve only been seeing him for about half a year and it is too early to tell whether he is helping/​has helped/​will help my longer-​term issues. I am convinced, however, that he is sincere and truly wants to help people and help heal them.
Dr. Pang is not for everyone, however. He doesn’t have the most pleasant of personalities. He is testy, crumudgeonly, irritated, and moody. He doesn’t like questions. He doesn’t want to be bothered. He prefers simply to do his thing and not to be distracted. Even when I attempt to bring up a scheduling problem, it requires multiple attempts before he listens. At first mention, he shrugs his shoulders, though I have enough experience with him now to appreciate that he’s not processing much of what I say to him. For most issues — other than recent, acute injuries — Dr. Pang is utterly uninterested in one’s subjective opinion or report about her pain or improvement. He uses his own kinesthetic model to determine whether he’s on the right path and couldn’t be less interested in whether she reports benefit or not. In fact, he never asks.
Dr. Pang also uses thick-​ass acupuncture needles — much thicker than any other acupuncturist I’ve ever been to. He then screws these needles into the acupuncture point until I feel a jolt of pain (as if he struck a nerve) and then he backs off. I understand that he needs to know that the needle is in far enough so that the patient will receive benefit. I merely raise this issue because if one has had acupuncture before, it is quite possible (if not likely) that he won’t be prepared for this type of needle torture. Like a Pavlov dog, I begin to sweat in anticipation of the needle pricking he’s going to do as soon as I get on the table. While the pain is only for a few seconds (as long as I don’t move), the initial shock of the needle finally hitting the right depth is agonizing.
As others have mentioned, his office is a bit on shabby side. He uses space heaters to warm the rooms, but as is always the case with such devices, the air is uneven and sometimes — depending on how close or far one is from the heather — the air is too hot or brutally cold.
I like that Dr. Pang supplements the use of his acupuncture with Chinese herbs. I couldn’t tell you what those herbs are. They change each month and their inscriptions are in Chinese. He charges an additional fee (of $ 12) to have his assistants separate the herbs into daily packets. When he makes conversation, it’s usually about some complaint he has about the world, the noise, the parking, or the like.
I believe that despite his limitations he is among the better acupuncturists I have visited. Ultimately, I am interested in alleviation of some longer term issues, and unlike what I would have expected, I have not received material improvements in those areas (other than what I also would have received with time). To be fair, however, Dr. Pang is attempting to treat the entire organism each time. While all acupuncturists claim to do this, they do not. Dr. Pang is treating every system and moving to place the entire body into optimal harmony. It’s like moving a 1000 lb gorilla: it only moves one inch at a time. When I’ve asked Dr. Pang to be more aggressive with one issue or another, his responses (other than to indicate he dislikes my questions) suggest that he doesn’t believe in upsetting one body-​system to address another. Other acupuncturists I’ve been to would — they would address smoking cessation or weight loss or back pain or whatever. Dr. Pang makes it perfectly clear that he doesn’t want one to smoke or drink to excess or eat too much, etc., etc., etc., but he doesn’t intervene in those processes. That sort of balance is primarily the responsibility of the individual. He’s not a magician, as much as I sometimes would like him to be.
His pissy moods don’t bother me. After five months, I’m used to him snapping at me at every appointment. Last time, it was because my white socks shed some lint when I took them off and it was showing up on his carpet. He gave me a good thrashing about that and instructed me to wear colored socks from now on. Dr. Pang is not the archetype of balance and calm, as one might expect. He is a healer in the abstract and a misanthrope in practice. In the end, it is I who couldn’t care less as long as this long, drawn out process does provide a more optimal balance for my health. Time will tell.

I had a gall bladder attack last spring that had me in the er due to a large stone I didn’t know existed up until that point. While in the hospital, the doctor told me I needed to have my gallbladder cut out. When I asked her how big the stone was, she said she didn’t know, she hadn’t looked at my chart. When I asked why I had a large gallstone despite the fact that I am young, not overweight and have always maintained a low fat diet with lots of exercise, she also said she didn’t know. It struck me that I was about to have an organ cut out without even knowing the source of the problem.
In desperation, I went to Dr. Pang who has a completely different philosophy about how to treat illness. My regular doctor sees a gallstone as a gall bladder problem. Dr. Pang sees the gallstone as a result of a greater imbalance in my body involving my hormones (after having been on the pill for close to 10 years), my thyroid, and emotional issues. He treats the whole system so that even if I still need to have my gall bladder out, the problem won’t present itself again in my liver or elsewhere.
I’ve been using his herbs and acupuncture now for about three and a half months and the discomfort in my gallbladder has greatly subsided. He’s also helped get my hormones in balance (after having me go off the pill). My period was over a week late, he gave me some little clear balls to take, and the next day my period came back. I also had a terrible cold and cough that had lasted over two weeks, I went to him for some herbs, and it was gone in two days.
Dr. Pang’s office is not at all fancy. His demeanor can be a little gruff, but he seems to really care.
My mother died a few years ago from breast cancer that had come back in her liver after a couple years in remission, and I always believed that it came back because they treated the original tumor but not source of what might have caused the tumor. (Which I also believe might have had something to do with her hormone replacement therapy). I only wish I knew Dr. Pang then.

I agree with everyone who says he is the best. I’m a difficult case as I have no thyroid and auto-​immune adrenal issues and he has helped me enormously. I would recommend him (and have done so) to anybody. Sure he is a curmudgeon but he is the real deal which is a rarity these days. If you do what he says you will feel better. I dread the day he retires as well. My advice would be to see him while you can.

Sorry to seem like a hater amidst all these shining reviews, but honestly I really didn’t dig Dr. Pang. I did not like being lectured and admonished several times *every time* I went in there (my vices? – I have a stressful job — that’s pretty much it). Maybe it’s just me, but I’d like to go to a health-​care/​service provider with whom I have a professional relationship, not one where I am having a finger wagged in my face and being «tsk tsk tsk’d» at!
Further, almost every time he put a needle in, it was painful, and I bled a few times. I don’t have a ton of experience with acupuncture, but people I know who do have said that shouldn’t be the case.

It’s hard to convey the full depth and breadth of the Dr. Pang experience. First, he’s genius, and I’m lucky to have found him. But he’s a genius of the old school. Don’t expect a fancy waiting room, or soothing sounds, or aromatherapy. Those are just distractions. Expect results.
Pang is a curmudgeon. Deal with it. He loves you, and he’s going to tell you everything you’re doing wrong with your body. Listen to him. He’s right.
Go see him if you can get an appointment. He won’t be around forever.

I am not a patient of Dr. Pang’s, my father is. I don’t know if he reads these reviews. But thank you Dr. Pang, you gave me my father back.

Read R.A.‘s review for a good rundown on Dr. Pang, from whom I’ve been getting acupuncture and herbs nearly weekly for six years now and I’m seriously lamenting a day when he might retire!
A Hong Kong native living in the US since the late 60’s, Dr. Pang is the real deal. Very knowledgeable about various Eastern healing arts, he seems to be able to cure just about anything, with some self-​proclaimed specialties being blood pressure reduction, the dosage-​lessening or elimination of Western prescription meds, and the detoxification of the liver and other organs affected by those meds. I’ve experienced remarkable personal success with all those, plus allergy and pain reduction, in Dr. Pang’s care. The acupuncture treatments are so relaxing that they usually put me to sleep and I spend the rest of the day totally mellowed out.
Dr. Pang uses kinesiology to «let your body tell him what it needs,» both in terms of where to place the acupuncture needles and what herbs, tinctures or homeopathic remedies to prescribe, or even at what intervals to take your Eastern and Western meds for maximal benefit of each with no drug interaction conflicts.
Although Dr. Pang can be feisty at times and occasionally curt, especially when on the phone, I find him to be utterly charming overall, even frequently humorous, and I look forward to seeing him each week.
The office décor is very basic: cream colored walls with an odd chromotherapeutic blue trim and matching carpet. Dr. P is definitely more concerned with his work than with frivolous decorations, but somehow that makes him even more authentic.
Give Dr. Pang a try. You won’t be sorry!

ok i ususally write a decent bit at least but im not going to today all i want to say is wow. I trust him more then any western doctor. This man is going to save my life.