We were lucky to catch up with Lisa Nicholson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
I’ve been a licensed acupuncturist for over 20 years. Initially, my practice focused on sports and occupational medicine and most of my patients were either healthy athletes, veterans, or younger women trying to manage horrible cycles.
Then, in 2017, I found a small lump in my left breast. I went through all the steps – mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy, and was ultimately diagnosed with breast cancer. I was scared to death, as much about the treatments as the disease. I had watched my mother’s mother die from ovarian cancer, her father die of prostate cancer, and then my father’s mother die from breast cancer. In all three cases, my grandparents were seemingly healthy until beginning treatment, and then everything went sideways in a hurry. Desperate to find an alternative to conventional treatment, I dove into the medical literature. I wasn’t going to risk my life with a highly treatable cancer, but if I could find a viable alternative to chemo/radiation I was definitely going to give it a try.
Ironically, my own acupuncturist had passed away about 4 months before my diagnosis which left me searching for a new practitioner. It proved to be harder than I expected to find someone who was comfortable working with a cancer patient, but I did eventually find my person. Medical cannabis use had recently been legalized in California, and I scheduled an appointment with a cannabis doctor. Then I read every study published in English about cannabis and breast cancer. Unfortunately, here simply wasn’t enough data to support using cannabis INSTEAD of conventional treatment. But there was a TON supporting its use to control symptoms DURING treatment. The doctor I saw knew NOTHING about how to dose, which strains to try for which symptoms, or even how to access products. I was told to go talk to the folks at a dispensary. Let’s just say the average bud tender knew nothing about the needs of a cancer patient’s medical use. I left with a few products, none ideal, but enough to start experimenting and learning.
Meanwhile, I had the lump removed from my breast along with 7 lymph nodes which thankfully were not cancerous. I pushed for a test to determine the degree of risk for recurrence, and while it was fortuitous that I did, it gave me information I didn’t want. My tumor was very high risk, and chemo was recommended. It later was determined that my entire family carries the BRCA gene. The recommended treatment was straight down the “standard of care” for the stage 1 cancer I had, and my literature searches went from trying to figure out how to avoid chemo to figuring out how to survive it with minimal damage to the rest of me.
Through chemo and radiation I kept reading, kept studying, and kept experimenting. I also kept working and seeing patients as much as I could. I didn’t mind being a little bit high but didn’t want to be impaired, so cannabis strains high in CBD and low in THC became my jam. My doctors knew virtually nothing about cannabis as medicine, and even less about acupuncture for managing side effects, so I started sharing studies with them as I found them. As I encountered side effects, I dug into the literature, figured out solutions, and started teaching classes to other patients. Most women taking hormone blocking medication have sexual side effects which really don’t get talked about before they start treatment. Loss of libido, inability to lubricate, and eventually atrophy are very real issues which horribly impact quality of life. I tried so many products to figure out how to solve this issue, and developed a protocol which not only works, it works really well and doesn’t involve using hormones. I also figured out how to manage things like hot flashes, joint pain, neuropathy, and sleep disturbances which are all common in breast cancer patients. These aren’t the big concerns everyone thinks about like nausea during chemo and radiation burns, but they have a profound and longer-lasting impact since most patients have to take hormone blocking medication for 5 years or more. And it’s not just breast cancer patients – prostate cancer patients experience many of the same issues when they are deprived of testosterone as part of their treatment.
Meanwhile, my acupuncture patients started asking about cannabis, so I created a class to teach lay people about what it is, what it can help, and how to navigate dispensaries. It became clear that there was potential for interaction with other drugs, so I did more reading and added herb-drug interactions to my classes. There was obviously a HUGE gap between what patients needed and what physicians and dispensaries knew, and most of the advise people were getting was not just wrong, it was potentially dangerous. Who better to fill that gap than an HERBALIST who lives and breathes “entourage” effect when creating formulas for patients??? The trajectory of both my life and my clinical practice changed.
I started my acupuncture career treating orthopedic injuries, mostly in healthy young athletes. Since 2017, my practice has shifted. Most of my patients are now over age 50, many are cancer patients and chronic pain patients. They’re 80-year-old people trying to stay active despite arthritis impairing their grips on their golf clubs and preventing their knees from bouncing over moguls on the ski slopes. They’re walking 10,000 steps/day, eating well, traveling all over the world, and doing their best despite all the aches and pains of aging and all the medications they’ve been given for the conditions they’ve acquired over a lifetime. Virtually all of them want to know about how both acupuncture AND cannabis can help them live the full, active lives they want to be living. These patients are my model for how I want my senior years to look, and I’m learning for all of us. I never imagined I would find my calling and passion working with seniors and cancer patients, even at end of life, but life takes us in unexpected directions. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
In another life, I was a rehabilitation counselor working primarily with people dealing with addiction. Counseling was always going to be a stepping stone to something medical, and I just couldn’t quite bring myself to go to med school. I spent hours looking into medical fields where mind and body were seen as integrated, and kept bumping into Chinese Medicine. Finally, in 1995, I took the plunge, quit my corporate job, moved 3000 miles to California, and went back to school. Chinese Medicine requires a minimum of 4 years of education covering everything from acupuncture techniques to how to craft Chinese herbal formulas to physiology and pathology and how to conduct a physical examination. I worked all the way through school, so it took me a bit longer to finish all of the classes and sit for the state license.
I’ve owned a private practice in San Diego since 2000. My primary tool is acupuncture, but I offer the full spectrum of Chinese medicine. This includes bodywork, exercise recommendations, cupping, moxabustion, nutrition counseling, and Chinese herbal medicine. I’ve completed training in medical cannabis health coaching, and now offer this service as well. I work with patients of all ages (literally age 2 to 92 so far), and at all stages of life including right up to the end. I am one of the few acupuncturists in San Diego who is trained to provide care to hospice patients, and find it to be an honor to be present for a person who is transitioning from life.
While some patients come to an acupuncturist for health maintenance and wellness, most come to ME because they are feeling awful and want to be able to do things they are unable to do because of their pain or medical condition. I really listen to my patients – initial intakes are typically 45-90 minutes so I can get the whole picture and create a plan which addresses all of the things which are holding them back. Since 2017, more and more of my patients are going through cancer treatment. I help them understand their doctor’s recommendations and treatment plans, suggest things they might want to ask their providers about (for example, a referral to physical therapy for post-surgical pain), and provide drug-free solutions to their side effects as they are going through their treatment. We ALWAYS work with the whole medical team so we are working in harmony on the same plan. We also acknowledge that caretakers are under served and need care too. It is common for a patient and their caretaker to come in for treatment at the same time. We provide support and a safe space for the caretaker while their loved one receives their own treatment.
What sets me aside from other acupuncturists is my personal experience. I’ve been through cancer treatment, so I know exactly what my patients are facing and can show them it is possible to come out the other side and live a full and fulfilling life. My passion for working with athletes isn’t random. I’ve been an serial endurance athlete for all of my adult life, starting competitive swimming in college, then backpacking all over the Adirondack State Park through my 20s, downhill and cross country skiing, rock climbing all over the dessert Southwest, and eventually finding true love on a bicycle. I’ve participated in timed events ranging from 55 to 750 miles, including Race Across the West as part of a 4 person team and Paris-Brest-Paris. Going through chemo took my fitness base back to ground-zero and these days I’ve pivoted to pedaling in the 30-60 mile range and returned to hiking and yoga. I’m always active, and managed to do some pedaling, walking, and yoga even through my treatment. Every year I pedal between 55 and 100 miles to raise funds for Padres Pedal the Cause which is a non-profit funding cancer research in San Diego. The organization has raised over $15 million which has ALL gone to fund grants for research in my local area. They’re one of my favorite non-profits and I’m proud to be a part of their fundraising efforts.
The thing I’m most proud of is the community I’ve created and its longevity. Most small businesses don’t survive the first 5 years, and I’ve managed to keep mine going for over 20 years. My practice has survived the dot.com crash, the social and economic uncertainty following 9-11, my own cancer diagnosis and treatment, and now a global pandemic. And I just keep quietly chugging along providing support, treatment, and hope to everyone who finds their way into my clinic. I share my clinic space with a curated group of other acupuncturists, teach monthly community education classes to the public, and run a breast cancer support group out of the clinic. My “why” and reason for being in business is to help people who are going through hard things to get through them as intact as possible with the tools to rebuild on the other side, or to leave peacefully if their condition is leading them to the end of life.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I have to laugh out loud at this question. My entire journey from packing up my car and relocating from the east coast to start a second career at age 30 to starting my business as a second year student after being laid off from a counseling job to sustaining my practice through my own cancer treatment is a story of resilience.
Since I’ve already talked a lot about my cancer journey, I’ll share how my practice got started. It was 1997 and I was working part time as a rehabilitation counselor while going to acupuncture school full time. The company I worked for was very small, and I was the only hire besides the receptionist. As their business ebbed and flowed, I had work or didn’t. When I was laid off for the second time, I decided it was time to be the master of my own financial stability. Instead of looking for another job, I dropped a few classes to give myself time to figure out how to promote myself, maxed out my student loans to pay my rent, rented a one-room office, bought myself a pager, and started a massage therapy practice.
I did some back of a napkin math, figured that I needed a minimum of 6 massages each week to cover the absolute minimum of my expenses, and gave myself 6 months of surviving on student loans to either make it work or crawl back to an employer. I still don’t know how exactly I pulled it off, but I have never been “employed” by someone else for more than a few very part-time contracts again.
It really felt like life-or-death, and I was pretty ruthless about getting things done and promoting myself. I lost a few friends along the way who wanted attention I couldn’t give them while keeping up with my studies and learning how to be a business owner. I shared that one room office with one of my classmates, and while it was a side-hustle for her it was the difference between a roof over my head and living in my car for me. Neither of us knew a THING about running a business, and I look back on those days in amazement that we didn’t end up in big legal trouble as we navigated things like business structures and setting up sales tax accounts. For example, neither of us knew the legal difference between a partnership and a sole proprietorship so our business was structured somewhere in the middle. Our intention was two sole proprietorships, but some of our setup was really more of a partnership. You don’t know what you don’t know, and we didn’t even know what questions to ask. I used a lot of help from SCORE and the Small Business Association and learned everything by doing. Then had to unravel the things we messed up and explain my ignorance to various government agencies and figure out how to set it right. It was exciting, scary, humbling, and a great exercise in figuring out how to do stuff and make it work.
Than resilience is what has allowed me to keep this business going, learning as I need to, through everything which has happened in the world for the last 20 years. Thankfully, I’m no longer concerned that I may need to live in my car, and it has been a ton of hard work and creativity and resilience which has gotten me to where I am.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I have to laugh out loud at this question. My entire journey from packing up my car and relocating from the east coast to start a second career at age 30 to starting my business as a second year student after being laid off from a counseling job to sustaining my practice through my own cancer treatment is a story of resilience.
Since I’ve already talked a lot about my cancer journey, I’ll share how my practice got started. It was 1997 and I was working part time as a rehabilitation counselor while going to acupuncture school full time. The company I worked for was very small, and I was the only hire besides the receptionist. As their business ebbed and flowed, I had work or didn’t. When I was laid off for the second time, I decided it was time to be the master of my own financial stability. Instead of looking for another job, I dropped a few classes to give myself time to figure out how to promote myself, maxed out my student loans to pay my rent, rented a one-room office, bought myself a pager, and started a massage therapy practice.
I did some back of a napkin math, figured that I needed a minimum of 6 massages each week to cover the absolute minimum of my expenses, and gave myself 6 months of surviving on student loans to either make it work or crawl back to an employer. I still don’t know how exactly I pulled it off, but I have never been “employed” by someone else for more than a few very part-time contracts again.
It really felt like life-or-death, and I was pretty ruthless about getting things done and promoting myself. I lost a few friends along the way who wanted attention I couldn’t give them while keeping up with my studies and learning how to be a business owner. I shared that one room office with one of my classmates, and while it was a side-hustle for her it was the difference between a roof over my head and living in my car for me. Neither of us knew a THING about running a business, and I look back on those days in amazement that we didn’t end up in big legal trouble as we navigated things like business structures and setting up sales tax accounts. For example, neither of us knew the legal difference between a partnership and a sole proprietorship so our business was structured somewhere in the middle. Our intention was two sole proprietorships, but some of our setup was really more of a partnership. You don’t know what you don’t know, and we didn’t even know what questions to ask. I used a lot of help from SCORE and the Small Business Association and learned everything by doing. Then I had to unravel the things we messed up and explain my ignorance to various government agencies and figure out how to set it right. It was exciting, scary, humbling, and a great exercise in figuring out how to do stuff and make it work.
That resilience is what has allowed me to keep this business going, learning as I need to, through everything which has happened in the world for the last 20 years. Thankfully, I’m no longer concerned that I may need to live in my car, and it has been a ton of hard work and creativity and resilience which has gotten me to where I am.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://balboaparkholisticwellnesscenter.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acupuncturegeek/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BalboaParkHolisticWellnessCenter
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisanicholson/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCktBdNXNxQCOabyWzKOQ0zg
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/balboa-park-holistic-wellness-center-san-diego-2
Image Credits
4 of the images are my own selfies (image credit is to Lisa Nicholson) The image at the finish of the Padres Pedal event is credited to Padres Pedal the Cause.