Acupuncture. Or, A Good Reason To Cover Your Body In Tiny Needles
photo by natashalatrasha
You guys are spot-on when it comes to unlikeable actors and actresses. I’m not responding to comments on yesterday’s post because doing that would mess up the count and all, and I’d hate to run a contest where I’m the one who royally screws up the entries. So I’m keeping mum. But I will say Matthew “No Shirt” McCaunahey and Jessica “I’m Too Sexy” Biel are at the top of my Hate List. (Which The Man hates, by the way, because Jessica Biel happens to be in man movies like Stealth and Blade and A Team. I refuse to see a movie with her—yup, I dislike her that much—so The Man’s forced to find another movie buddy to catch those totallyawesomeamazing movies.)
Continuing this ramble (I swear, I so didn’t intent for my bashing to go on this long) I agree with Jessica and Ameena, who threw Will Ferrell under the Craptastic Actor bus. I assumed I was the only one who didn’t find him funny. But, thank goodness, I’m in good company. I can’t force myself to sit through another movie where he pretends to be an idiot, gets naked, and yells incoherently. The end.
Not really. Just the end of my rant.
So the other day I was talking to my mother about acupuncture because her brain is nearly exploding and there isn’t enough Excedrin in the world to treat it. In other words: She gets constant headaches and the drugs just don’t cut it anymore. I’m in the process of convincing her to try acupuncture since there’s good research that says it works like a charm. (Well, really the research says something more like “acupuncture leads to persisting, clinically relevant benefits for primary care patients with chronic headache, particularly migraine.” But c’mon, you know my summary is just as good.)
Anyhow, our conversation got me thinking about acupuncture in general. Here’s something I bet you don’t know about me: I tried acupuncture on my knees a couple years ago.
I was in the midst of having a midlife crisis of sorts—my knees were kaput and The Man was carrying me around the house like a mule. Not cool. So I scheduled an appointment with an acupuncturist who was a former NIH doctor and begged her to heal my knees. ASAP, if possible.
I had two sessions and I’ll tell you what:
- It doesn’t hurt. I’m not sure why I thought those hair-fine needles would somehow make me flinch with pain, but they didn’t. (And now that I get a 4-inch needle full of blood platelets jammed into my knee for PRP I laugh at Old Tracey and her stupidity.)
- It’s relaxing. My acupuncturist’s office was part doctor’s lair, part spa. Minus the cucumber-flavored water, deep tissue massage, and $200 bill. There was a bed and dark room with soft music, and after the doctor was done jabbing me with needles she let me snooze for a half hour.
I’ll be honest: It didn’t work for me. I know, this is a shocking ending to what you must have assumed would be a glowing review. (I’m tricksy like that.) I so wanted it to work. I gave it two tries. But the fact is, the needles made my Baker’s cysts on the back of my legs ache. And I already had plenty of pain thank you very much. So I stopped going.
The thing is, I still think acupuncture has its place, if not on my legs. I still think it can work, and I think it’s a smarter move than, say, chugging a bottle of Excedrin daily. So I’ll let you know when my mom goes—and whether she’s cured of her daily mind-exploding headaches.
And also: My Totally Awesome Beauty Package Contest is still going on, so head here and enter if you want to will 11 different beauty products. Weee!
Have you ever gotten acupuncture? Would you?
28 comments
I would totally get acupuncture. I don’t have a good reason, I’m just really curious!
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Acupuncture is so relaxing. I’ve done a couple sessions for menstrual related issues and it has put me to sleep during more than one of them. It’s a bit intimidating, but it’s such a wonderful philosophy behind it.
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I’ve had acupuncture once before. I pulled a chest muscle and she offered me two free “trial” sessions. How could I turn down something free?
It was very relaxing, but it could’ve been the nice music or nice smells. My chest did feel better, but… i can’t help but wonder if it healed because my body healed it… or was it the acupuncture? Who Knows…
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I’ve never had it, but would try it.
I support alternative medicine a lot. Like you said, def. better than chugging pills all the time.
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Acupuncture really freaks me out. I don’t think I could get into the mindset to relax during the process. My boss tried it and loved it. He swears it worked for his back. So I guess I’m also giving it a mixed review of sorts?
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I have never had acupuncture…but my dad has and he swears by it!
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No way could I do acupuncture, brave girl.
However, I had to sit through Biel in Valentine’s Day and between her and Taylor Swift, I think I’d take a needle.
Hysterical post:)
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Tracey Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:07 am
Sounds painful–the Jessica Biel movie, that is.
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I have never tried acupuncture but considering how much my dumb knees are bothering me lately, I am definitely entering the “will try anything” territory. Acupuncture, blood letting, a witch doctor – will do anything if it will enable me to bend at the knees once again.
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Tracey Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:08 am
I’ve been there–let me know if you find that witch doctor.
Oh, and you might want to look into PRP. I’m not sure what your knee problem is exactly, but I’ve been having success with it.
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I remember your last post on this topic and I remember writing that I totally want to try acupuncture. And I still haven’t done it. I am quite slow to take action apparently. I do think it has helped quite a few people! Maybe you need to find a different acupuncturist?
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Yeah, it doesn’t always work that’s for sure! It’s like most things – different for everybody. I give acupuncture to clients (Basic levels) – and some love it and have results, and others there is no change.
But you could try another one too.
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Tracey Reply:
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:36 am
Interesting–I had no idea that’s what you did!
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Acupuncture scares me, to be honest. I’ve heard of acupuncture on the HEAD, which scared me even more.
Wei Wei
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I haven’t had acupuncture, but I definitely would be willing to try it!
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yes i LOVE IT!! IT totally took away my migraines! I only get them about once a month now.. praise the Lord! it works SO well! and its SO relaxing. i fell asleep every time i got it done!
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[...] Acupuncture. Or, A Good Reason To Cover Your Body In Tiny Needles … [...]
I’m not sure about acupuncture. I’ve been getting it off and on for a while now and I think it has helped some things and not so much with other things. I do think that the more you go, the more it will work…It’s a slow acting solution but I like it because it’s natural with no side effects and it’s also really relaxing. My naturopath plays guided meditation while I get my acupuncture, and I get to relax for 20-ish minutes, which is probably the only part of the day that I can actually calm down. It’s definitely worth a try, at the very least.
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I’ve never gotten acupuncture, but I *have* gotten acuPRESSURE. I’m a believer! I’ve gotten it a few times for stress-related issues, and it totally worked. I was actually a major skeptic before AND after I got acupressure the first time (my mom semi-forced me into it). But a few months after the session I realized that I had been much less stressed than ever, and the only thing I could think of was the acupressure! Maybe it was the placebo effect, but either way – I had results!
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I’ve tried acupuncture a few times, and, this might sound weird, but I actually liked the feeling! Something about it is just so relaxing.
Acupuncture is not supposed to have immediate effects. Unlike Western medicinal practices (which treat the symptoms), Traditional Chinese Medicine practice focuses on the root of the symptoms. For example, instead of dousing a headache with pain killers, they would try to find what caused the headache in the first place. Sometimes what you thought of was a simple headache could have been caused by a myriad of other seemingly unrelated health problems that have accumulated in your body for years. That’s why going for acupuncture sessions for a couple of times won’t have any drastic effect and may seem to induce more pain.
Lol I think I got a little carried away here!
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Yes I have done acupuncture before and really liked it. It is been awhile since I have had it done. I would recommend it because I saw some benefits from it though I wish I stayed with it longer to see more benefits.
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Re the actors ( I wanted to comment on your post yesterday, but since I am Canadian I didn’t want to “mess up” the comment count either!)…I really am not a fan of Julia Roberts (hence the sight of EPL makes me kinda nauseous). There is something very very very (very) irritating about her. And I really don’t want to hear about how she e ate so much pizza and gasp, gained 10 lbs. She just………
anyway, I think Diane Lane would havebeen a great fit for EPL.
Just sayin’.
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I’m a first time visitor to your blog but followed the link from another blog after seeing you wrote about acupuncture. I’m currently undergoing 10 sessions of acupuncture for chronic lower back pain. I’ve had the pain non-stop for over 5 years, have done a year of chiropractic treatment, a year at a back clinic run by doctors and physical therapists focused on building up core strength by working on special weight machines. I did the after care program (using their equipment on my own) for a year. And all of these helped somewhat although the pain never went away. And I was having nasty side effects from taking too much advil and aleve. After 5 acupuncture treatments I was painfree for 10 days. That’s never happened since the problem began. I did a cross country roadtrip and am now having some slight pain again. But nothing like before. I highly recommend acupuncture – it really works for some people (but not everyone). I dislike the part while he’s inserting the needles although it doesn’t hurt. And then I feel complete and total relaxation – the best feeling ever. I love the sessions and always leave feeling much better than when I went in. And by the way, my son suffered crippling depression when he was a teen but refused to take any medication. Acupuncture treatments provided great relief for his depression. I hope your mom gives it a try, it could help and certainly won’t hurt. I had daily migranes for years, turned out it was caused by the medication I was taking for my alergies. Once I stopped the prescription I’ve not had a single migrane. Wish it were that simple for your mom! Good luck to her.
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Tracey Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Sorry to hear about your back pain! Though it’s a different problem than mine, I can definitely related to 5 years of chronic pain. I’m so glad the acupuncture helped. Thanks for your great comment. I’m going to send it straight to my mother!
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I just gave it a try last month and my next appointment is coming up in a couple of weeks. At this point I am not sure I noticed a difference yet, but I believe it is much like chiropractic or any other natural approach, it takes a few treatments to correct what is blocking your bodies natural healing process. I am willing to keep going because I did find it sooooo relaxing.
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It worked for me! …on horrible, terrible GI problems. Calmed it down like a miracle for about six weeks, when I would need another session. Important sidebar: my whole problem turned out to be gluten, but it was life-saving in the interim.
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I love acupuncture; however, it’s been adopted by many types of doctors who practice it a little differently. I get acupuncture done by my naturopath who takes a very holistic approach to acupuncture. She always assess my tongue map before pricking me with any needles because both tongue and pulse diagnosis are two important diagnostic tools in Chinese medicine. I’ve heard that some general practice doctors do not preform this analysis.
You’re right in that it’s not for everyone. Everyone’s body and need for acupuncture is different therefore, it will have a different effect.
The first few times I had acupuncture it hurt for me as well…it felt tender, and achy. But as it turns out, this is a GOOD feeling. The achy feeling means that the needles are unblocking negative energy and an imbalance within.
Hopefully your Mom has a good experience with acupuncture!
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Tracey Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Hm, interesting that hurting can be a good thing. I think in my case the needles being in the cysts were aggravating the condition, but it’s good to know. I’ll pass this info on. Thanks!
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