Monday, July 14, 2014

Needles & Radish Seeds

Today I had my very first acupuncture appointment and because it was the first session, and required the consultation appointment, it took nearly two hours! Oh My!

I found myself an acupuncturist who works within a midwife clinic, and knew of my condition when I called. Two scores - she's familiar with vulvodynia and with the womans body.

The appointment consisted of intaking my medical history (vulvodynia, painful periods, anxiety) and then with the acupuncture. She walked through everything explaining how everything worked, and moved throughout the body.

I had about 8 needles today. That's all I could handle. 1 in my left hand, 1 on my right thumb, two on my right wrist, 1 on my left ankle, 2 on my left lower leg/ankle, and 1 on my thumb --- oh and the one on my head to help me relax (along with a mask and some lavender oil)

I wont lie, they hurt. They aren't supposed to be painful persay, but they do cause some sensations. A few of them hurt and she readjusted them to hurt less.

They all reacted a little different... the only in my left leg made me cry. First because it hurt like hell, but then it stopped hurting and suddenly I was crying because I felt emotional, not because I was in pain.

The cool thing about acupuncture, or Traditional Chinese Medicine, is that they do have a point related to vaginal pain. That's cool because to me, Western Medicine is having a hard time getting it's act together about how to treat this condition, mean while the Chinese have identified a specific point on your body that can help overcome that pain.

My other fun fact from my appointment, the therapist noted that Western Culture normalises pain with periods, but that's not really normal. Apparently in Chinese culture pain with periods is a bad thing, and normal is just acknowledging the need to maybe wear a pad/tampon. I'm going to blame the pharmaceutical business on that one... I wouldn't own aleeve if it wasn't so I could survive the first day of my period.

At the end of my appoinment she put some taped some radish seeds onto my ear to help with my anxiety and improve the functioning of my liver (I think). Kinda cool, but they hurt and were uncomfortable. My ears were screaming at me, so I took them of. Maybe I'll try it another time.

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