Acupuncture

Today I had my first 1.5 hr Consultation with an Acupuncturist. I've always wanted to do this, and my amazing Extended Health Plan covers $500 a year! I filled out am enormous form about my health, and any current concerns or issues I've had in the last 6 months.

WHAT IS ACUPUNCTURE?

Acupuncture is an ancient form of Chinese medicine involving the insertion of solid filiform acupuncture needles into the skin at specific points on the body to achieve a therapeutic effect. No drug is injected. The needles alone create the beneficial effects of acupuncture. Acupuncture is used to encourage natural healing, improve mood and energy, reduce or relieve pain and improve function of affected areas of the body. It is safe and effective and is often successfully used as an alternative to medications or even surgery. Relief is often obtained with acupuncture when traditional medical therapy has failed. Dr. Karen Lam did a few quite strange things, that I wasn't ready for and didn't really fully understand. First, she did a "body test". I lied down face up on the table and I placed my right arm out pointing away from the side of my body. She got me to put my left hand on certain body parts like my nose, neck, ribs, lower stomach, etc. while she moved my right arm back towards my body. My job was to resist her pressure with my right arm, while my left hand was on a particular body part.  Apparently there were certain body parts that I was touching with my left hand that were weaker, and had a difficult time resisting to her pressure on my right hand. Does any of this make any sense?  It's difficult to explain. She was basically searching for weak areas in my body while testing my reactions when my body was in different positions. I was thinking to myself as she was doing this, "I could just push harder or lighter against her arm, and it could make a lot of difference in her "reading" of me. " It was kind of ridiculous, but I tried really hard to surrender to the process and respect what she was doing.  Then, she took my pulses. Yes, that is plural. She described it as the pulses of your lower, middle and upper body energies, rather than the actual pulse of your heart. Each part of your body has a certain energy that can be detected through both of your wrists. She put her fingers on my wrists in different places (she did both left and right) and held them for quite a long time. I watched her as her eyes were closed and she was "listening" to my energy.  Before the tests, I told her that my Mother and Oma had both had heart surgery. I told her I had issues with my bowels and digestive tract as well as my weight as I gain and lose a lot. She detected from the "pulses test" and "body test" that my heart, bowels, and thyroid were having the most problems. How much of her reading was just from the form I filled out in the beginning?  I know, I'm not being very respectful of the Medicine, but it seemed very coincidental that the three main things I talked about were the things she detected in the body tests. What's the point of the tests, if you can just get all that from the forms and conversation though, really?  Lastly, and the real kicker to the ridiculousness! She prescribed me with $125 (that is not covered by my medical) of herbs- a thyroid herb, a digestive enzyme, and some other one.  She did the "body test" again, put a bunch of random herbs on top of my stomach, and tested my pressure against her hand again, to see if there was an improvement. Apparently my body told her which medicines would be better than others!!!!???? This was soooooo weird.  She told me to lose weight in order to fix the heart problem! She also told me that I had a lingering sadness or depression; possibly grief, that I needed to work out? Not sure where this comes from, as I'm probably the happiest I've been in a long time! Not too sure about this one? There were no needles and very little mention of Acupuncture itself in the whole appointment. She wants me to start taking the pills and if nothing improves, than they'd start an Acupuncture treatment. I don't think I'm going to fork out the money; I wasn't convinced.  I'm glad I went though, as it was an interesting experience to say the least. .... 19 firsts, 19 days, 346 to go!