Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Acupuncture Adventure*-One Needle At a Time*

Have you ever got to the point that you are in so much pain that you are reaching out for any medical treatment possible that you haven't tried? Well, I decided to try Acupuncture for the first time due to doctors' referrals and friends' advice.

With all my crazy medical treatments I have had in the last 12 years, You may think I would enjoy smaller pin needles. Well, I wish I was.

Past experiences: I have had needles put through my skull to inject some kind of medicine in my head. I'll never forget the time they did the injections in my head and I heard the crunching sound of the needle going through my skull. It gives me the creeps to this day, just thinking about it. I had that done many times. Also there was the time I had an anthrocentesis procedure where they inject the inside and outside of my jaw more than eight times with some steroid stuff - or - the time I had a procedure where they maneuvered the needle in my jaw joint to dislocate it and then shoot cortisone stuff in there.

Wow, I am feeling better now that I am telling you all about this...

Well today, I had the acupuncture appointment. First, the doctor said I was the youngest patient he ever has had. Then he looked over my medical history and realized why I was there. He put extreme pressure on all the painful areas he thought would need treatment for today.

Funny Stuff: He told me to lie down and put my head on this table and pillow with a hole in it. (I have only seen these in the movies). He asked if I was okay; I said I couldn't breathe. He then realized the table and pillow was the wrong size for my tiny head, then he realized the paper for the pillow and table was covering the breathing area. After that adjustment, I laughingly told him that everything was cool and I was able to breathe again, thank God.

Treatment:
No.1 He had to prepare each section of treatment.
No.2 He had to find the extreme painful tender spots of my back, neck, and shoulders by applying great amounts of pressure on the knots and tender points.
No.3 He stuck me with a tool in each place he wanted these needles to go in
No.4 He put these needles in each of the spots that he previously stuck me in.
I had tiny needles all over.
No.5 He put a heat lamp on my lower back with the pin needles already in me
No.6 He said "I'll be back in 20 minutes" and turned off the light.

Slight problems:
No.1 I realized my head wasn't accurately in the table pillow, but I couldn't move because of the pin needles poking me.
No.2 I tried to relax, and listen to the quiet music, but the crickets in the song were driving me crazy.
No.3 I tried to relax even more, so I closed my eyes and prayed. Well, I tried, I guess he had a pin needle in one of the nerves that reaches out to the eye lid. I could only close one eye at a time. When I tried to close both eyes, it made the pin needles in my neck poke me even more.
No.4 Through all of this, I realized I was all tense, so I took a deep breath and seeped deep into the cushioned table I was laying on, but then I realized the table pillow was too high for my head. My neck was in too high of an awkward place, so I tried to change positions, yet the pin needles stuck me even more.
No.5 He took out all the pins and then rubbed this herbal cream on that burned tremendously. Even though he took out all the needles, I kept grabbing my back because it felt like the needles were still there.
No.6 He then tells me I will be in more pain because it triggered muscle spasms.
No.7 He said that he'll see me this Monday because I am in lots of Chronic Pain. I want to say: umm, you caused more pain. Of course, I am in pain... well anyway... So I have scheduled 3 more appointments before I go visit my mom on September 25. Let's see if this works. I'll let you know.


After the treatment: My neck was okay, but boy, my back was in burning pain for 4 hours. I went home and put an ice pack on my back.  Right about now, I am unable to sit back on the chair because it is in excruciating, burning pain and there feels like 50 needles are stuck in me. The things we do for treatment. I just pray this works for me...
Well, now you know how it feels, sounds, and is with acupuncture.
Until next time,
signing off for now,

(By the way, after going to 2-3 treatments, I had to stop because it was just too much pain and didn't have a great result. I called the doctor and told him about the head to toe muscle spasms and pain I was feeling after each session and he said, "that doesn't usually happen.")