Dr. Rosanna de la Cruz is a Chinese medicine doctor, functional medicine practitioner, and owner of three women's health clinics in the New York area. She specializes in reproductive health and has spent her career helping women reclaim vitality, energy, and joy — particularly through perimenopause and beyond. She is also living proof that the second spring is real.

In this conversation, David and Rosanna go deep on what women are being told is normal — and what isn't.

What we cover:

• Why most doctors refuse to test hormones during perimenopause and what that's actually costing women.
• The symptoms nobody talks about — vagus nerve dysregulation that mimics fainting, and nighttime heart palpitations that look like anxiety but are driven entirely by cortisol.
• Why a ferritin level of 5 gets sent home with a clean bill of health — and what it's actually doing to your hair, energy, and quality of life.
• The troubling history of gynecology and how unconscious bias still shapes the care women of color receive today, from dismissed pain to disproportionate hysterectomy rates.
• Why the combination of acupuncture, herbal medicine, functional medicine, and lifestyle change is not optional — it's the whole point.
• And what it actually means to determine your own normal and refuse to settle for anything less.

This episode is for practitioners who want a sharper clinical lens on women's health, and for any woman who has ever sat in a doctor's office and been told to just deal with it.

Dr. Jeff Rippey has been a martial artist, anthropologist, and is an acupuncturist with over 40 years in the arts, time studying in China, and a rural Missouri practice running 115–120 treatments a week on under $5,000 a month in overhead. He reached out after watching a previous Dragon Fireside episode — and he had some things to say.

In this conversation, David and Jeff pull no punches on the real state of the acupuncture profession.

What we cover:

• Why the push toward insurance billing is a losing battle — and why the profession should stop fighting it.

• The geographic concentration problem: 44% of US acupuncturists practice in just three states, and what that means for any national advocacy effort.
• The homeopathy warning — a detailed historical parallel for what happens when alternative medicine gets absorbed into the mainstream medical system without protection.
• Why the apprenticeship model and rural relocation may be the most underutilized tools in the profession.
• What it actually looks like to build a thriving cash practice in a town of 70,000 people with a two-week waitlist. And why the last two weeks of every month are pure profit.

This is one of the most strategically honest conversations to appear on Dragon Fire.Side. If you're in practice, considering school, or trying to figure out a path that actually works — this episode is required listening.

Podcast Description:

Dr. Lisa Poole is an 18-year licensed acupuncturist, single parent, MBA graduate, and one of the most honest voices in the profession. After nearly two decades in practice, she's transitioning out of full-time clinical work — not because she wanted to, but because the financial reality of this profession simply doesn't add up for most practitioners.

In this episode, David and Lisa have the conversation the acupuncture profession keeps avoiding.

What we cover:

The 2005–2006 removal of bankruptcy protections for student loans — and how it caused tuitions to immediately double and triple across the country. Why student loan attorneys consistently identify naturopaths and acupuncturists as the hardest-hit professions in the United States. What borrower's defense is and why Lisa believes every acupuncturist with federal student loans has a legitimate case. The debt-to-income data showing most acupuncture schools are charging 400–700% of what the career can actually support. Why schools bear direct responsibility for never building career pathways into hospitals and medical clinics. What real advocacy looks like — from getting acupuncture added as an essential benefit in Oregon to nearly two decades of federal student loan reform work.

And where the real hope lives — because patient demand has never been higher, and the medicine isn't going anywhere.

This one is honest, grounded, and worth your time whether you're in practice, considering school, or just trying to understand why such a powerful medicine is struggling to survive.

Chapters

• 00:00 The Journey to Acupuncture
• 15:00 Challenges in the Acupuncture Profession
• 23:11 Advocacy and Legislative Efforts
• 30:53 Community Engagement and Advocacy
• 40:36 Hope and Resilience