I am so excited! I had my first acupuncture session today. I have wanted to try it for some time because I really do believe in it. My new insurance is apparently very generous when it comes to out of network providers so I was just looking into it. Imagine my delight when I found that there is an acupuncturist in Maplewood on Springfield Ave! I gave her a call a few weeks ago and spoke to her at length. She has space 2 days a week inside Shakti Yoga where I took prenatal and Mommy&me yoga. (Man, I miss yoga!) Because the first visit is so long I could not get in till today.
I had to fill out an extensive health questionnaire before hand that the practitioner and I went over in detail. We discussed my asthma and allergies; digestive issues; menstrual issues; stress and my desire for weight loss. She let me know that she can definitely help me with all of the aforementioned issues except weight loss. Rather, weight loss could be a side effect of the other issues being corrected. That was what I had figured, but I was happy for the clarification. Some recommendations she made initially are to cut out dairy as much as possible for both the asthma and digestive issues; try to have gluten-free pasta instead of regular; cut out the diet soda; have a warm breakfast, like oatmeal; and to look into Dr. Weil's anti-inflamatory diet. Apparently conditions like asthma cause the body to have inflammation on a cellular level and it is helpful to eat foods to reduce it/avoid it.
Most of the needles felt either like a prick or nothing as they went in (or came out) but 2 in particular stung a lot as they went in and as they came out. During the session (about 45 minutes) I did not feel them at all. In fact I went into a state of deep relaxation and almost fell asleep. That feeling lasted most of the day. Even when Lilly was having a meltdown I was able to keep my calm. I know that this is not necessarily going to last all week, but the feeling of calm was nice. I know nice sounds kind of blah, but since my norm has recently been stressed and edgy, calm is really nice.
I am very hopeful that my allergies and asthma will improve. I know that I have frequently mentioned in this blog (here and here and here for example) that I want to lose weight and change my diet. I am hoping and praying that this is the time that I can make that commitment and stick with it. Giving up diet soda...no problem. Eating a warm breakfast...same, in fact, delicious! Giving up dairy...oh lordy. I have done it in the past and my digestive issues did get better. I just LOVE cheese and ice cream. I think that I could still have the cream in my coffee since that is minimal. At least for the beginning. I am not so keen on soy substitutes so I would just do without. She did say that if I was going to have dairy I should try to have sheep or goat's milk. I am not sure how I feel about that...but I am looking forward to my next session already!
Does anyone else use acupuncture or other complementary medicines? Tell me!
2 comments:
Acupuncture is a wonderful way to help your body do what it needs to do naturally. I tried it for a while during my pregnancy when the nausea was super-bad, and it helped a little bit, but never gave me 100% relief. Then when I was dealing with the immediate aftermath of the miscarriage earlier this summer, my OB recommended that I try acupuncture as an alternative to the drug that she had given me and to which I had had an absolutely horrible set of side effects.
You're fortunate that your insurance will pay for your treatments - our insurance doesn't cover anything like acupuncture or therapeutic massage (both of which I have found extremely helpful in the past), so we end up paying through the nose. But to avoid surgical procedures and drug side effects, it's totally worth it.
The first time I had acupuncture, I noticed that I fell asleep. I was sitting there in the chair, full of needles to try to alleviate some of the nausea from my pregnancy with Colden, and I fell asleep! Then when I had the treatments after the miscarriage this summer, once again, after she had me full of needles, I fell asleep. It was fantastic.
I hope it works for you!
Oh, and the Dr. Weil diet? Fantastic. We tried it a few years ago for Tom's asthma and other issues, then went off it, and are now back on it for his other health issues. You'll really love it - you can basically eat as much as you want of high-fiber, lot-fat filling foods like veggies, whole grains, and you can also use olive oil (which we love!) for cooking. You really will notice a difference!
I know I am so fortunate that my current insurance covers it. I have never had one that did before!
I am really confident that it will help me. I have to really look into Dr. Weil's diet...I have not really had the time yet. I am glad to hear that it helped Tom's asthma, since that is the main reason I would be trying it.
I love how we have conversations in our comments!
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