Did I mention that my shoulder is killing me? For a while now (2 months), my right shoulder is a mess. I didn't hurt it, I think it's from the leftover chemo - which can cause some lingering joint and muscle pain, or maybe it's something else but it hurts like a mother all the time.
So, I'm trying this! Acupuncture. My first appointment was last night after work. Obviously, things probably will not be back to normal for a while, but I'm willing to see if this works for me.
I got a recommendation to see a woman that my hairdresser sees - and I really like her so far. She has a very nice calm and comforting vibe - so from the get go I like her. She interviewed me for quite a while, and once she understood my "issues" - she has a pretty nice plan to get me back on track. She also told me quite a bit about how it all works, but I'm not sure I absorbed enough to tell you all that, you'll have to google it. Ha.
The action: I layed down on a massage table, face up, and she began to insert needles down around my feet, ankles, and up my calves a tiny bit. Then she worked up to my hands, inside the crook of my arm, and then my forehead, ears and between my eyebrows. Many of the needles go in with no feeling, a few make sort of a tiny electric shock feeling, and some cause a little shiver. But none of them hurt, it's pretty cool. Once she had some in, she asked me to move my shoulder and I have to say that some range of motion came back immediately and the pain settled down quite a bit. She said not to expect it to last because it's a cumulative process, but that immediate help indicates that she is on the right track.
Once the needles were in, she turned down the lights and put an eye mask on me, and turned the heat up. Apparently you want a warm room for acupuncture. She left me there for about 25 minutes - so of course I fell asleep and when I woke up I couldn't remember where I was - that freaked me out a little - but still, pretty great. When she came back, she pulled out all the needles, and then used a hand held massage/pummeling type of tool to work on my shoulder to break up whatever it is that is wrecking my life. Then, I got up, made my next appointment (for Tuesday) and went home. I have to say that things felt better for a while but now today - I'm back to feeling bad again. But not exactly in the same place. It feels like what happened yesterday has released some of the tension in one part, and hopefully as we progress things will loosen up all over my shoulder. Can't wait to find out. I am looking forward to the experience. Some of her upcoming treatment will include Chinese herbs to pull out toxins and then cupping - which I've heard of but haven't tried, so that will be really interesting.
I hope the whole thing works - wouldn't it be so nice to solve this problem without using drugs? And wouldn't it be nice to cap off an entire year using Western medicine for solving the big problem, and Eastern medicine for getting rid of the leftover effects of the Western medicine. I think this is going to be good. And it makes me want to go drink some green tea!
Have you tried acupuncture? Did it work for you? I'm curious!!!!
