A funny thing happened to me on the journey to diagnose and fix my own health problems.
Acupuncture.
Willing to try everything to get myself back into the game without taking conventional medicine, I decided to give acupuncture a try. I never really expected it to work. Color me skeptical.
I went two times before I realized that, hey, I think I’ve turned a corner. I didn’t immediately credit the acupuncture. I had cut out wheat and dairy, I was drinking an herbal tea blend, I was otherwise being very careful about what I ate.
But the idea that maybe it was the acupuncture – or at least partially the acupuncture – started niggling around in my brain.
After a doctor’s appointment today where I found out my bloodwork was all great – no Lyme, no infections, no nutritional deficiencies (yay, healthy diet!) – and a discussion about all the pain I still have in my body and could it be structural (yes, according to the doctor), and a discussion with a new chiropractor over the phone, I headed off to another acupuncture appointment.
I told him that my digestive issues were healing but that I had a splitting headache and neck pain. He asked some questions, placed some needles (deeper than the other acupuncturist), and I laid there for an hour. At the end of it I told him I thought my neck pain was lessened. He told me he would have been surprised if I hadn’t felt a difference, that neck pain was his specialty. All amazing to me, and I started asking him about how acupuncture works. Then we got into a discussion about herbal medicine.
I still don’t really know how acupuncture works, even after the explanation, but I’m feeling the positive effects of it. That’s enough for me.
So, yay. And now off next to work with a new chiropractor (who is also a naturopath) to fix the pain at the source. First appointment tomorrow. Looking forward to being back to normal soon!
PS The doctor thinks my out-of-whack body is a result of me overcompensating for Columbus pulling me on the leash. It’s all about Columbus. Always. Dang dog. Dang, loveable, dog.
PPS I’m not walking Columbus regularly anymore. He gets to roam around his acre woods. Hopefully, someday he’ll stop pulling and I can walk him again, but I’m not going to even try until I get myself better.