Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Acupuncture Session 5?

Final part of my 5 part blog of life with Acupuncture. This comes late, reason explained later. I forgot to write down my notes for this last session. Ain't I a great reporter? I'll try to break it down from what I can remember and if not, I'll make up something. First off, I got pains Western Medicine couldn't help me with so I sought out alternative medicine via this Acupuncture School. Read previous posts to get the full jisto.

I saw the very first intern doctor I had here in the waiting room. He asked how I was doing and motioned the shoulder, so I was impressed he actually remembered me from 5 weeks ago. Maybe it's the herbs he probably takes or maybe the classes at the school study my medical files. The same intern doc (older guy) that I've been seeing took my vitals, even blood pressure too, then we went straight to therapy. I undressed and got on my side. I had about 2 extra needles in the back, none on the knees, 1 in the head. The supervising teacher did that one. All were pretty gentle. Wow, I was really hoping something miraculous would happen so I could say "Ha, ha western medicine". But really I feel no great change in myself. Maybe worse. All I got was a lot of anxiety, anticipating the pain of needles. I can humor myself and think my dry skin is slowly getting better, but I still got neck and shoulder pains when I sleep on them. If anything, they recover pretty fast once I get up. But I can't say if it was Acupuncture affecting it. But you know it is really hard to say if the pain I felt 5 weeks ago is as intense as it is now. So results are inconclusive. Luckily I had this blog to reread and when I really do think about it, I have been feeling better. Here is where the delay in this Part 5 occurs. I decided to extend my Acupuncture sessions with another 5. Why? Well I really want it to help me and I think 5 sessions wasn't enough to change anything. So I signed up for 5 more sessions. This time I have been proactive on the healing. Before I kinda let the Acupuncture do its thing and document it straight on the Acupuncture like a blind study with no variables. But you know, you can't do that. Believe it or not, before I used to accept the therapy, go home and sit on my ass and bitch and moan if I wasn't better but now I totally try to exercise, think positive, try to figure out if I can sleep in a different position to avoid pain, etc. I realize now, I really gotta work with the acupuncture to heal myself. Anyways, I am coming to my 10th session. Do I have a judgement on Acupuncture? Well the daily pain that started this quest in my neck, shoulder and chest is gone or goes away quick. And really, I've only been proactive on working with it recently so I think overall Acupuncture has worked for me. Stay tuned for updates.