Ever tried acupuncture?

In December my lower back/hip hurt. A massage therapist helped a lot and encouraged me to get acupuncture. Since I am pretty steeped in traditional health care, I first messaged my rheumatologist to ask her opinion. (I have arthritic stenosis.) She responded with a referral to physical therapy and a prescription for a steroid. (I thought the steroid was a little aggressive but took it anyway, which maybe contributed to my ensuing health crisis.) Next I checked with my friend group – you know, those friends you meet at Starbucks every Saturday morning?

“Why not do dry needling with physical therapy instead?” said one. “Insurance will pay for that.”

Another had previously tried acupuncture with good experience but was no longer physically able to do it.

Then I consulted Google: the difference in dry needling and acupuncture, and local practitioners and their ratings. I learned that dry needling works on trigger points and muscle stimulation while acupuncture focuses on energy pathways and resting the balance of Qi in the body. Hmm…balancing the energy system seemed more appealing.

Still (after three weeks of recovering from acute illness), I went to physical therapy, did my exercises with no relief to the pain, and asked my therapist’s opinion on acupuncture. “Try it,” she said! Then I consulted a trusted nurse navigator in the hospital’s integrative oncology program as to who she would recommend. Finally I had an appointment for acupuncture (which insurance does not pay for).

In a word: amazing. The practitioner, for whom English was obviously a second language, was first of all kind. Immediately she asked if I “worried” (all my life!) and held things in (yep); she was concerned that I was so cold, particularly my hands and feet, and said that my energy was blocked. I could not disagree with that.

I lay on her table on my “good side” fully clothed but with my slacks pulled aside to allow access to my right hip. She was solicitous in propping me with pillows and putting a heat source near my back. Then she inserted needles.

So – I did feel slight pain, especially the two in my ankles, but only at insertion. She turned on soft music, turned off the light, and said she would check on me every few minutes. I lay there praying to not be afraid (fear tends to be another constant with me) and to focus on whatever color I was seeing with my closed eyes.

Suddenly I accessed a place of deep emotion and felt tears. It was not about my son but rather something much older and deeper. I wanted to really cry but that is not something I am able to do, so I tried to stay with the feeling and appreciate the moisture about my eyes.

When the practitioner came back and removed the needles (maybe twenty minutes total?) and asked how I was, I told her about my emotional experience. She encouraged me to release more…as others have done for a large part of my life. I will go back to her next week for a second treatment.

I left there hungry and needing something warm. After a bowl of soup, I crawled into my bed, head under the covers – the only way I’ve ever been able to cry – but instead fell deeply asleep for three hours. Later that afternoon I went to the gym and did my exercise practice. That evening I was able to talk to my daughter and my significant other about my experience.

And my back does not hurt.