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Acupuncture Update

March 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It’s been a month since I started getting acupuncture to help with my headaches and with my food cravings.

I haven’t noticed any change for the better in the past week, but that might be due to the extreme stress I’ve been under (the big “C” for a family member). I feel like everything in my life is out of whack so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it feels like the acupuncture hasn’t done anything this week.

I’ve reached for food for comfort this week but it hasn’t provided any comfort, just a stomachache. So maybe the acupuncture is helping because my body isn’t thrilled by the food I’m shoving into it. I’m just so upset that I’m ignoring my body’s signals (stupid of me).

Plus I know I can’t expect huge changes every time I go in for a treatment. It’s not like taking an aspirin that starts to work in minutes. Acupuncture is a much slower form of healing and takes patience (something I’ve never had a huge supply of).

I’m not giving up yet. I’ll keep at the treatments for a couple more weeks and see what happens.

I just wish the needles in the ears wouldn’t hurt so much! One of them that went in today hurt so bad!!!! Maybe I should numb my ears with ice cubes before I go in for my next treatment…..

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My Acupuncture Diary

February 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

My third acupuncture treatment was a couple days ago and I’m losing my skepticism about how “sticking a bunch of needles in me can help alleviate my headaches; and help me control cravings so that I stop overeating.”

Since I started acupuncture 3 weeks ago I’ve lost 8 pounds (yipee!), have less severe headaches (hallelujah!), and I feel calmer than I used (a strange feeling I’m not used to since I’m notorious for being wound as tight as a drum all the time and unable to relax – ever!).

Plus, I wasn’t my normal “bitch on wheels” the 2 days before my “monthly friend” made an appearance, which is probably the first time that’s ever happened!  (I’m really making it sounds like I’m hard person to live with….I hope I’m not.  People tell me I’m nice.  I hope they’re not lying.  They wouldn’t just be saying I’m nice so that I don’t jump down their throats, would they?).

I’m still hating the needles in my ears though.  They hurt enough to make my want to snarl at my acupuncturist (I don’t though – she knows it hurts cuz she’s had it done to her many times).

I really think acupuncture is helping which is super exciting to me!!

I’m getting relief from headaches without taking a bunch of pills that have nasty side effects; I’m not feeling the need to pig out and overeat and don’t need a weight loss pill that can also have nasty side effects to do it; and I’m getting stress relief without having to hum and chant for several hours a day!

All I have to put up with are a bunch of needles in my body (which thankfully I don’t have to look at so I can pretend they’re not there); but I’ll do that any day over going back to taking a bunch of pills again that in the end only made me sicker.

So I’ve decided I’m going to keep going with the acupuncture treatments for at least another 3 weeks and then re-evaluate it.

The only really hard thing about it?  The cost.  Insurance doesn’t cover it and I don’t know why.  Does anyone know of a grass roots initiative to have acupuncture covered by medical insurance or know of a petition I can sign asking for it to be covered?

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Acupuncture for Weight Loss – Round 2

February 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I just had my second acupuncture treatment to help me with food cravings and hopefully alleviate my headaches.

The needles in my ears still hurt like a bitch when they went in, but if I lose half as much weight this week as I did last week I’ll be more than ready for round 3 next week.

I lost 7 pounds in the last week! I’m not sure if it’s because I wanted the treatment to work and thought it would, so therefore I ate less (kind of like a placebo effect); or if it really did curb my cravings. Maybe it was a little of both.

Plus my headaches this past week, while still the same in duration, were a little less severe. My head feels less tight and like there’s less pressure behind my eyes.

Those two things made me ready and eager to subject myself becoming a human pin cushion again this week.

She gave me two new needles this week – in my neck of all places (think of the bolts sticking out the side of Frankenstein’s neck and then replace that image with acupuncture needles and also hopefully with a more favorable image of how I look)

If you think I wasn’t squeamish about the needles in my neck, you’re crazy. I think my eyes nearly popped out of my head when the acupuncturist recommended them because she immediately assured me that they weren’t painful because there a lot of tissue in the neck and the needles don’t go in that deep.

I only felt one of them go in and it wasn’t nearly as bad as though darn ear needles (5 in each ear). Total needle count this week – 20 (10 in the ears, 2 in the neck, 2 in the hands, 4 in my legs, and 2 in my feet).

Even though I tried harder to relax this week I still did a pretty good impression of a statue because I was still worried about moving the wrong way and disturbing the needles. Maybe I’ll do better at the relaxing thing next week.

They went in the side of my neck. I didn’t look in a mirror (would never want to see myself with the needles poking out because it very well might make me so light headed that I would faint and poke the needles all the way in which is

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Acupuncture For Weight Loss?

February 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Have you heard about acupuncture for weight loss? One of my sister-in-laws told me about it a couple weeks ago when I asked her if she had lost weight or was just wearing a sweater that was way too big for her. She’s lost 16 pounds so far and going to an acupuncturist to help with cravings is what’s helped her do it. I’m so happy for her!

That finally got me to make an appointment to see an acupuncturist myself even though my doctor has been trying to get me to go for a couple years now in an effort to relieve my headaches.

What had been stopping me? My official excuse what the cost, but the truth? Well even though I’m not technically afraid of needles because I had weekly allergy shots for several years as a kid and several more as an adult, it’s one thing to get a shot in each arm every week and quite another to have so many needles stuck in me at once that I could qualify as a human pin cushion! And on top of it, those needles stay in a while and don’t get pulled back out right away!

But the thought of alleviating my “hungry all the time” feeling was a bigger lure than multiple needles sticking out of me even though my sister-in-law warned me that several of those needles would be stuck in my ears and that they could very well “prickle” a little.

So I made an appointment and surprise of surprises, my husband said he would try it too to see if it could help him lose his pudge (and also hopefully help him with his snoring and his high blood pressure).

“Prickle” isn’t the word I would use for how those needles in my ears felt though, A couple of them hurt pretty bad when they went in. Luckily the pain subsided right away, although honestly it didn’t go away completely.

The acupuncturist also put needles in my hands, legs and my feet and those I barely felt at all. They were like a little “ting” and that was it.

Then it was 20 minutes of supposedly relaxing but I was more worried about making sure I lay completely still so I didn’t disturb those needles and prayed that I wouldn’t get an itchy nose because even though I knew there were needles in my hands I didn’t want to see them! And I certainly didn’t want to accidentally push one in further than it was supposed to go! So I did my best impression of a statute for those 20 minutes (and did quite well, thank you).

I’m not sure what it’s going to do for me yet although after even one session I feel different (the acupuncturist was up-front about needing to commit to several sessions before deciding whether or not it was helping). I feel less pressure in my head though, especially behind my eyes, so I have hope.

Although it’s not cheap, it’s also not nearly as expensive as I thought it would be (it’s costing me $60 for each weekly session). If it helps me get rid of my headaches and helps me lose weight, it will be money well spent. If not, then I guess I’ll chalk it up to a learning experience (I’ve certainly spent that much money on stupider stuff).

So now my question is whether or not you’ve tried acupuncture for weight loss or if you know anyone who has. I would love to hear what you’ve heard or what your experience has been. Please share in the comments section.

P.S. I’ll update every week to let you know how it’s going. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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