Wow. I can’t believe it’s taken me a while to get this blog up! Life has been a bit hectic lately.
It was my mum’s birthday on the 4th and she and my sister drove over from Wales and spent the week here in Sheffield. That was 2 weeks ago now!
I have to admit, I was a little worried before they arrived. None of us are 100% fit and healthy, and my house isn’t exactly spacious. Thankfully, everything worked out really well and no one was sick or had any other issues. *Ahem* Well. Except for my mad cat trying to get in the rubbish bin at 3am, which kept my sister awake for over an hour. Yikes!
I really enjoyed spending some proper time with my mum. Going out to the garden centre, walking around the shops and chilling at home. One thing she really helped me with was getting to my first ever acupuncture session! I wouldn’t have been able to go without her. I felt nervous the afternoon before. I was worried about leaving the house, getting a bus, being outside for so long, and of course, starting a new treatment.
In case you’re new here, I have agoraphobia and endometriosis (and I burnt out last year too).
I have tried a whole load of different medications and therapies, yet nothing quite seems to work. After a lot of research and reading, I decided it was time to try acupuncture, and possibly Chinese herbal medicine further down the line.
I barely slept through the night and I woke up feeling anxious as well. By the time we got on the bus, my heart was beating so fast and I felt sick and dizzy. It was awful. Thankfully we didn’t have any time to hang around, and the acupuncturist was outside as we arrived, so we were shown in straight away.
Psst… If you’re new to acupuncture, Medical News Today has a great summary.
The appointment took almost two hours. The acupuncturist spent a lot of time asking about my medical and life history, how things have changed, and what my current life is like in terms of health, diet, relationships, stress, and so on. It was really interesting, but because I’ve been in therapy and had to speak to a lot of medical professionals in the last year, it felt like I was repeating myself for the 9284039284302nd time!
In the final 10-15 minutes, he took my pulses and placed a few needles in my arms and feet. I think I had 5 in total! The craziest thing was that I felt absolutely nothing in the needles that went into my feet or left arm. Absolutely nothing. I kept staring at them to check if they were actually in!
But… he put one in my right arm. And ohmygod I thought my arm had been shocked with electricity. My whole arm, hand, and fingers were buzzing and felt so achy. Apparently, that can happen with that ‘point’ he was trying to get. It’s near a main nerve. It wasn’t painful, but it absolutely wasn’t comfortable and my arm hurt for the rest of the day and into the evening.
Immediately after the treatment, I felt okay physically, but I was nervous because we’d been out for a few hours. Everything felt a bit scary. A bit unsafe. But I wanted to stay out with my mum so we went into a couple of shops. But when we were in TKMAXX a member of staff dropped a candle and it smashed everywhere, making so much noise, and then I started freaking out. We got an Uber and came home.
Once I got home, everything hit me. I was exhausted, shaken up and my arm was really sore. I lay down on the sofa, wrapped myself up in a blanket, and slept on and off for the rest of the afternoon. My mum was great at looking after me! She made some lovely meals and kept me topped up with tea 🙂
It was such a strange experience. I was really trying to get my head around it all. Will it work? Am I wasting my time? Is it going to cause me more pain?
I made a point of taking notes throughout the day and the following day. I really wanted to keep track of everything I was feeling and experiencing, partially to write blogs about it but also for myself.
I was surprised when I woke up because nothing hurt, I didn’t feel sick and I didn’t have a headache. My arm and hand were still a little sore, but it wasn’t anything drastic. I was tired throughout the day, but mostly spent it at home resting anyway, and by the evening I was very grumpy and emotional.
Overall, I was really happy with how the first treatment went and decided I’d definitely go back for more acupuncture treatments.
Have you ever tried acupuncture? I’d love to hear other people’s experiences so feel free to drop me a comment.
Stay tuned for more posts about my experience with acupuncture!
Miss Hillsmith x Languages Louise 