Please Stick Me Now

please stick me now
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

I had my first acupuncture session yesterday. It was a wonderful experience even though the procedure was painful and it made me very sick afterward (say it with me: "you must have been flushing toxins.")

How can getting needles stuck (sometimes very painfully) in your face, neck, ears, belly and knees be a good thing?

I think when the whole encounter with the medical profession doesn't feel vaguely judging and Calvinistic, and someone sits with you for an hour and takes notes about *every* aspect of your health (including psychic health), it's more an experience of healing rather than fixing.

And that's a good thing.

I like my regular doc -- she's smart and caring, but she always seems like she's looking for a parking space in the mall the day after Thanksgiving -- slightly harried and frowny. Also, I'm not sure she has ever eaten a Funyon, and she probably bakes her buffalo chicken wings.

This was slow and friendly and attentive. The practitioner was open and curious and made lots of interesting (but not so far out as to cause me to roll my eyes and make Shirley McLaine jokes) connections between my health and my life in general. No one squished my arm with one of those torture cuffs ("My blood pressure's not high? Really? How could it not be, when I'm in AGONY?") or weighed me or threw a piece of paper with a prescription on it at me. I don't have to take 7 days of nasty pills. I have some nice herbal tablets and an Rx to rest,drink lots of water, avoid "hot" foods ("hot" as opposed to hot/spicy-- it's a Chinese medicine thing) and then I go back tomorrow to get some more pins stuck in my face.

Also, I get to eat seaweed. That is so much more fun than what you get with Western medicine.