Human Pincushion

Today, I went to an accupuncturist.

Seriously.  Given my fear of needles, it's nothing short of a miracle.

I did this after a friend went to see this doctor for back problems.  For weeks, she'd been barely able to walk and was in constant pain.  A neurologist diagnosed a ruptured disk and a herniated disk in her lower back.  A friend of hers recommended this accupuncturist.  After two treatments, she is pain free.  She showed me the accupuncturist's brochure.  It listed treatment for all sorts of things.  I went to see him for weight loss and relief from carpal tunnel syndrome.

He came in, talked with me a bit, and gave me some herbs to swallow.  Then he had me strip down to my underwear, lie down on a table, and cover up with a paper sheet.  A few minutes later, he came back into the room and started pressing around on my body.  "Which is more tender, one, two or three?"  When I'd call out the number, he'd jab a needle there.  He worked on mostly on my legs and belly.  On the top side of each wrist he stuck one needle, and he stuck one right between my eyes.  The whole thing only took a few minutes, and it was not at all painful; I might have felt a tiny prick with the first needle in my leg, but not even a twinge after that.  Once I was all pierced, he left.  The nurse pulled a srong red light over to the table and shined it on my stomach.  She told me to rest for 15 minutes.  During this rest period, I opened my eyes and looked down my body.  "Pincushion" was the thought that came to mind.


When she came back, she took out the needles (also painless), taped my belly button full of some little black Chinese herb beads, taped more beads to my abdomen and left ear, and said we were done.  She said not to eat any meat, oil, nuts, or peanut butter for 24 hours.  I'm supposed to press these beads several times a day.

They also gave me an assortment of herbs to take at home, before and after meals.  I'm also supposed to drink a daily cup of green lotus tea. 

I'm going back tomorrow for another treatment.  We'll see what they recommend next.

I know one thing:  choosing to go to this doctor today has screwed up my Friday Night Margarita outing.  :-\