Acupuncture

This is a photoless post because I didn't have my camera with me.... I'm not sure if I could have snapped any pics if I had it with me anyway though!

But, I went back to the acupuncture place on Thursday. Again, the first twenty minutes found us in his office where he looked at my ears and arms and felt my pulse.

The day before, we started the bonus room redo. We were ripping up carpet and I was complaining to Dustin that I had heartburn. While feeling my pulse, he says "You have some acid... have you been having heartburn". I laughed as I picked myself up off the floor and said yes.

I have decided:

Either he's good....or... he has our house bugged :)

He also saw a few other things.. once again my back (always, my back), and some other joint problems (I was a distance runner for quite some time), a lot of neck pains (I was sitting on the floor the day before all hunched over pulling up staples) and things like more congestion in my lungs and some other smaller random things.

Then, I was taken into a room with a recliner, a sound machine, and needles. I got all reclined back and he placed a needle in the top of my head, one in the tops of each of my feet, two in my left arm, and four in the back of my right hand.

Before he placed the two in my arm, he pushed around on my arm in three places and asked which was the most tender. The middle spot was and he said that made more sense because my back is a continuous pain rather than just when I lift, etc. So, he put those two where it was more tender when he pushed.

I didn't hardly feel any of them except for two that were in my hand. In the split second before he put them in he said that they might feel more than the others. They did. It was just a dull pain that went away after a few minutes (and, as long as I left my hand resting there... which I didn't totally do once I was alone and wanted to look at my hand...).

He covered me up, told me to relax, turned off the lights, and left me there for half an hour.

It took me a while to be able to relax. I was sitting there with nine needles sticking out of me. But, I did and was almost to the point where I could sleep when he came back in.

I got a new round of "herbies", as they are now called in this house, and was on my way. This week, the herbs aren't as dark, smell sweeter, and manage to have an even stronger nastiness in flavor.

I go back next Thursday, but I believe that it will be to just refresh and remix my herbs after he looked at my ears, arms, and pulse again.

As for today, when our neighbor gets home to help reassemble the spray gun (it cleaned up super easy, I was told), Dustin is going to get the ceiling sprayed and hopefully the walls. We're using latex for the rest of it all, so the smell shouldn't run us all out of the house today.(crossed fingers)

Acupuncture and a concoction

My craftiness has been slacking lately. But, with Dustin only have FOUR more days of work, our project list is about to take off!!

I haven't done anything crafty this week, but, I did do something interesting on Monday.

I've mentioned our quest/trouble to bring home a baby in passing here. You name the tests, we've had them. Name the specialist, we've seen him... and  his peers for a second opinion. The medical community throws up its hands at our situation. On paper, we are baby machines. In reality, we've had 4 miscarriages and lost our son at 37 weeks.Nothing is connected; there is no easy solution.

On Monday, I went to an acupuncturist. Our most recent 'game plan' includes me giving myself 2 blood thinner shots a day once we are pregnant. I decided that if I am going to have to do that, what's acupuncture?

It was an experience! I ended up not having a treatment that day. I was even told I will be an easy patient. I'm the patient who can't be figured out in most cases, so this was a shock! He was also MUCH more confident that our situation wasn't a problem and that he had answers than both specialists have been... and anyone else for that matter.

The first 20 minutes of the appointment found me sitting in a chair in his office. He knew nothing about me but my name. He didn't even know why I was there. He looked at my ears and the underside of my forearms and felt my pulse in my wrist. From that, he asked me about a few things... all are true:

• I have a lower back injury
• I have low blood pressure
• I am dizzy from time to time
• I'm ALWAYS cold. ALWAYS
• I am anxious (HA) to the point that he's surprised I don't have stomach trouble
• I am taking a medicine that is altering my hormones
• I need to watch my sugar

I can't remember what else. But, all of these things are, in fact, true. And, he discovered all this by doing nothing but looking at my arms, ears, and pulse. I was a bit skeptical (I'm still cautious) but starting off like this helped. I know Chinese medicine has been around for a few thousand years :) but, we are raised in a culture where you take medicines and go by blood tests and often just try things just to see if they work.

Our first job: warm me up and calm me down. Two things I will greatly enjoy having taken care of :)
However, our treatment plan currently is for me to mix 3 spoons of this in 2 oz of water and drink it 3 times a day.

Imagine chewing up a beef bouillon cube or just shooting the packet of seasoning that comes with Ramen Noodle. That would be better than this stuff :)

And the thing is, I was so out of my element and clueless that I had no questions for the man. I don't even know what is in this stuff that I am choking down three times a day :). I saw him mix it up. I assume it is a herbal mixture. I do know that we are "bringing balance to my body". I'm all for that. But, when I go back next week, I'll be ready with my list of questions. Especially the one that asks "So, what is this stuff?"

I am also waiting the arrival of a book he suggested. It is called Healing With Whole Foods.  From what he said, it sounds to be a bit Book of Home Remedies in a cookbook. I'm excited about getting it. We have slowly been altering what we eat to be healthier (even though we really do like Tuna Helper :)). This will help us to be more informed along that process.

This is definitely To Be Continued.... on Wednesday of next week, as a matter of fact!