Having fibromyalgia, I will try almost anything to help relieve the pain. My most recent new trail has been with acupuncture. I found an amazing acupuncturist in my town, and she is most definitely worth the drive it takes to get to the complete opposite side of town, well, more or less in a completely different town from which I live. I had never tried acupuncture before and was not at all sure what to expect when I went in. I did a minimal amount of research after making my appointment, but did not really find anything besides hugely conflicting evidence which mostly pointed towards biased and unreliable data and studies. Mostly though, what I did read made me a bit skeptical going in, but I do try to keep an open mind towards anything and everything until I find out if it works for me or not. I will give you a basic rundown of what my experiences at the acupuncture clinic entailed.
Prior to my first visit I was given a decent amount of paperwork to fill out. This entailed the general stuff, of which you also probably know all about. You know, basic history and physical information, family history, allergies, etc. What set this paperwork aside was one sheet front to back with a survey of several questions broken into many different sections. Each question was numbered 1 to 5, 1 being worst, 5 being good. The questions went over almost every single thing I could think of. For once, I did not have to remember to bring a symptom up because it went over every single one of them, well almost all. It asked about bowel functions, urination, tinkling, bladder pain, constipation, diarrhea, fullness feelings, etc. It asked about headaches, migraines, mental fogging or slowing, neck pain, etc. One thing that I was almost relieved that it asked about was libido because this is always something I really do not want to have to bring up, nor do I even remember to bring it up. I did not have to here. It was asked about, as was just about everything else. It also asked about what goals I had in mind for my treatment. Of course, pain management was at the top of my list, as well as stress management and homeostasis.
When I arrived at my first appointment, I was pleasantly greeted as I removed my shoes. "Remove shoes at the door" it says. Relaxing really. Any place where shoes are not necessary is a good place. The acupuncturist, whom is a lovely, soft spoken, and gentle lady, welcomed me in and was eager to get me feeling better. She validated that the pain was real and that it was not all in my head first off. "Don't ever let anybody tell you what you are feeling is not real, it is there and it is very real". I suspect that she must suffer from chronic pain as well by this point. She was open and was very easy to talk to which is one of the most important things for me when it comes to picking any doctor. She listened to each of my complaints and asked about more. She was friendly, funny, and all around an amazing person. You know, one of those people that just feel like they are all around lovely.
We reviewed the paperwork I filled out and she explained that each section correlated with specific body systems. Just has I had learned throughout years of research, my adrenal glands were wore the heck out. My body does not seem to digest food well at all, and my kidneys and liver are functioning below par. Several others were brought up, but these were the most prominently obvious. Mind you; this particular acupuncturist is a board certified medical doctor whom practiced medicine for many years before deciding to start her own acupuncture clinic. I felt myself being able to trust her opinions on whatever she brought up.
After the initial consultation she had me undress in her absence, put on a medical gown, and lay face up on a heated table. It was pretty cozy. I was covered with a blanket so I was not exposed to the world. She proceeded to start the therapy, placing several needles throughout my body, several on my legs, arms, neck, ears, face, and hands. The needle sticks were not exactly painful, but not particularly comfortable either. Some of them I could not feel at all, while others did make me flinch a bit. The ones that were tender on insertion became unfeeling after a couple of minutes. Some points were immediately obvious that they were pressed into nerves. Again, not painful, but brought on a fullness feeling within that nerve running along the nerve pathway. Some muscles felt on the verge of a spasm after the needle insertion. Others felt just as they usually did. Some needles seemed to refer strange sensations to distant areas of my body.
She used some aromatherapies that seemed to have calming effects, and one of which in particular smelt so good that I kind of wanted to sneak the bottle of it home with me. So good in fact, that I went straight home and ordered some aromatherapies online for my own use. (I can't wait to get them.) I laid there for around 20 minutes with the music playing and mysterious aromas filling the room. I used this time for my meditation time and it worked out pretty well. Acupuncture is now officially also my meditation time since I cannot seem to find time for it anywhere else. After awhile, she came in and removed all of the needles with very minimal, almost no pain. She gave me some probiotics and some digestive enzymes to try out, and told me to come back in a week or two.
Right after the appointment I did not feel all that well from laying down midday (that is a weird thing with me, if I lay down for any point of time throughout the day, as soon as I get back up I feel AWEFUL with a major headache). So, it took me a little bit to get out of my haze of relaxation and meditation and for my body to come around, but after a few hours I felt much better. Maybe it was a placebo effect, maybe I just enjoyed the quiet time, but maybe it really was working. I tried not to get my hopes up too much. The needle insertion sights were tender into the night, and my nerves felt a little wound up, but overall I felt pretty good. The next day I felt better than I had in quite some time, but attributed it to the nice weather. The day after that, it snowed and the weather was disgusting and fluctuating, but I still felt pretty good. I continued feeling better for several more days after that. After about a week the stress at work began to get to me and my health started to decline once again, but I will take 4 to 7 days of feeling pretty good anytime. Quite honestly, I would probably go again and again just to visit with my acupuncturist even if it did not work. That is how nice she is.
My second visit, I went in in a fairly crappy mood and in a good amount of pain. I was angry, irritated, and extremely stressed out after the week I had had. After the treatment I was in a daze again, and my body was stiff from laying on the table. I was in a considerate amount of pain after the treatment, and it took hours to wear off afterwards. The insertion sites were a little swollen and tender, but did not hurt too terribly bad. I started feeling better throughout the evening. The day after I felt pretty good but not excessively so. Certain muscles were so spastic that I could barely move them, but my headache was more tolerable which is what she focused on that appointment. I felt more calm and much less stressed out the next few days, so even just that made it worth it.
Overall, I need to do more research and have many more appointments before I can give an honest answer of whether acupuncture works for me or not, but so far I am having pretty decent results and will continue to go. Like I said before, it could be attributed to the placebo effect, or could simply be natural fluctuations that come along with fibromyalgia, but it could be working. I will let you know as I find out more about the mysteries of acupuncture. Until then,
May the Spoons be Ever in Your Favor,
Aimee
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