20.6.08

intro to acupuncture

as some of you know earlier this year i had surgery. to explain--i've been dealing with a wide array of 'girlie issues' and horrible pain for nearly a year and a half and the surgery was merely a diagnostic procedure to try to figure out what's wrong. i've been to so many doctors and had so many tests done and yet still no answers even now. i've been feeling a bit like a guinea pig and if the eight vials of blood taken from me for tests just this week are any indication of things to come, i think answers may take a while.

i am ok with this because i've decided to turn to complementary health to supplement what i'm doing/will be doing with traditional doctors. a month or so back my gp {regular family doctor} recommended that i try acupuncture to help w/the pain, my auntie gail had suggested chinese herbalists a while back and i had seen doctor oz on oprah praising alternative medicine {including acupuncture} on oprah as well. after all these recommendations i figured heck why not try it. it may not work at all, but at this point i've got to be open to all options.

well anyway, i had my first appointment this week. i was given 3 bags of herbs to boil and drink and that will probably taste like @$*! but hopefully may do me some good. i then had about 20-30 needles stuck in me to start treatment. the actual needle part i was quite nervous about cause i really hate needles. the first one hurt slightly but then after that i was totally cool with it. she left the needles in about 20 minutes and then lit what looked like a cigar under my feet to warm the points. you get the strangest tingling sensations throughout your body and in the end i felt pretty darn relaxed. the only other weird thing for me was seeing that many needles sticking out of my stomach. i think maybe from now on i'll keep my eyes closed.

i have to admit part of me during the experience felt like i had visited a shaman or some voodoo doctor, but i did feel really good afterwards. i do know that more and more people now are turning to alternative therapies and acupuncture is becoming more and more respected as a treatment in the medical field. anyway-we'll see if i notice any benefits in about 4-6 weeks and i'll report back!

{image from here}

7 comments:

Lori Ann said...

You are so brave! I don't know if I could do acupuncture. I hope it helps.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, I have a Chinese friend who once told me how much he hated the herbal brews his Chinese grandmother made up for him and insisted that he drink. "Well," I asked, "were they effective?" "I never got sick," he responded, "but I sure hated the taste." Have you thought about buying the gelatin capsules, filling them with your hergbs, and just taking them with water? I take tons of herbs every day, but I don't taste them.
Also, your cousin Jennifer has tried accupuncture for her constant pain, and as much as she hates needles would try it again because she felt it really worked.
I'm wishing you all the best!

Elizabeth C said...

YOU ARE DEFINITELY BRAVE! OUCH! THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT WOULD BE REALLY PAINFUL!!

sherrie said...

let me know if it works for you. i don't think i could do it!

enickel said...

Yikes! I guess if you are in need, you will try about anything to get the result you are looking for. I am glad it worked for you.

Carly said...

I have friends that swear by acupuncture. I don't think that they have any severe health issues, but they love going. I am interested to hear your opinion after a few more visits.

Jess said...

Alternative medicine is a gem. I hope it works well for you. I've had acupuncture a couple of times and it was actually quite relaxing it. I didn't think it hurt, but it was weird looking at them all over my body. I don't think I had the smoke thing happen at my feet though. There was one time that a couple of the needles were hooked up to a machine that made them vibrate a little.