I feel like a pin cushion
This month I started acupuncture again. It has been about 6 years since I last tried acupuncture in Latvia - unsuccessfully due to the strange schedules that the doctors kept. They only accepted patients during the week and until 4pm, or only during the middle of the day. Times that were just not convenient for me as teacher.
But my first experience with acupuncture in the US was amazing. My doctor in Michigan did so much to help me. He not only cured so many ofmy allergies, but readjusted my hormones so that I was able to become pregnant within two months of beginning my appointments - after 5 consistent years of not being able to become pregnant. I had never felt as healthy as when I was seeing this doctor.
Thus, moving to South East Asia, I knew that I had to try to find an acupuncturist, and I had the possibility of finding a good one. I recently asked one of my Chinese parents to help me find an acupuncturist. It turns out that her brother in law is an acupuncturist who is originally from Beijing and works at an upscale Chinese wellness center. Why am doing this? Because I would like to find a natural way to treat my PCOS and asthma. Along with it might come the possibility for weight loss as a side effect, and I might just regain some sense of having control over my body again.
(Just a warning for those who are squeamish about needles that you might want to skip the rest of this post.)
So since then I have been to 4 sessions. I remember in the US that acupuncture didn't hurt. But here I have found myself with so many needles in so many places that hit energy channels that haven't been open in forever that I find myself wincing from the pain from the initial poke of the needle. After that it only hurts if I move my leg or arm where the needle is - a sharp shooting pain travels through all the points that connect.
Then of course there is difference between the needles. In the US the needles they used were very fine and thin, and went in with a small tap. These needles are steel, and look as thick as a steel pin, so when they go in they really go in. And then to make things worse the doctor turns them to make sure that they are hitting the exact spot. I think my squeal of pain lets him know that he has really hit the mark.
Yesterday he added a needle to my nose that caused my eyes to tear up, not because of the pain, but it seemed to be attached to my tear duct. Right as he was leaving to allow me to lay there for the next hour to let the needles do their work, he said that my PCOS and hormones are likely causing me to be depressed and that the acupuncture would allow me to release my emotions. The next thing I knew I was crying for the first five minutes of the session - once again not from the pain, but from the release of emotions. It had been ages since I had actually cried, and those few minutes were an amazing release.
And today in my treatment I looked down towards my stomach where I saw over 30 needles poking out. I wanted to laugh out loud, I truly looked like a pin cushion! Here's to the look helping me to get well again.
But my first experience with acupuncture in the US was amazing. My doctor in Michigan did so much to help me. He not only cured so many ofmy allergies, but readjusted my hormones so that I was able to become pregnant within two months of beginning my appointments - after 5 consistent years of not being able to become pregnant. I had never felt as healthy as when I was seeing this doctor.
Thus, moving to South East Asia, I knew that I had to try to find an acupuncturist, and I had the possibility of finding a good one. I recently asked one of my Chinese parents to help me find an acupuncturist. It turns out that her brother in law is an acupuncturist who is originally from Beijing and works at an upscale Chinese wellness center. Why am doing this? Because I would like to find a natural way to treat my PCOS and asthma. Along with it might come the possibility for weight loss as a side effect, and I might just regain some sense of having control over my body again.
(Just a warning for those who are squeamish about needles that you might want to skip the rest of this post.)
So since then I have been to 4 sessions. I remember in the US that acupuncture didn't hurt. But here I have found myself with so many needles in so many places that hit energy channels that haven't been open in forever that I find myself wincing from the pain from the initial poke of the needle. After that it only hurts if I move my leg or arm where the needle is - a sharp shooting pain travels through all the points that connect.
Then of course there is difference between the needles. In the US the needles they used were very fine and thin, and went in with a small tap. These needles are steel, and look as thick as a steel pin, so when they go in they really go in. And then to make things worse the doctor turns them to make sure that they are hitting the exact spot. I think my squeal of pain lets him know that he has really hit the mark.
Yesterday he added a needle to my nose that caused my eyes to tear up, not because of the pain, but it seemed to be attached to my tear duct. Right as he was leaving to allow me to lay there for the next hour to let the needles do their work, he said that my PCOS and hormones are likely causing me to be depressed and that the acupuncture would allow me to release my emotions. The next thing I knew I was crying for the first five minutes of the session - once again not from the pain, but from the release of emotions. It had been ages since I had actually cried, and those few minutes were an amazing release.
And today in my treatment I looked down towards my stomach where I saw over 30 needles poking out. I wanted to laugh out loud, I truly looked like a pin cushion! Here's to the look helping me to get well again.
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