Acupuncture Girl

I had a lot going on last week and never finished my report on my treatment from July 16th.

I had an amazing experience with SI 19 (Listening Palace) and LR 14 (Gate of Hope).  I felt hopeful again, not all angsty, and able to address the issue.  And I felt heard, briefly, when I called my teacher the next day.

My acupuncturist told me to go home and look up SI 19, and when I did, I saw in the Lonnie Jarrett book the quote I had read the day before, aloud in my Theory class, about ‘listening deeply’ and how that can be all the treatment a patient needs.  I had not gotten the quote from that book, but from a monograph by the same author I read in the library when researching another point.

That was freaky enough, since this author has written thousands of pages and the one quote I read aloud in class the day before was right in the description of the point chosen for me.

And when I called the teacher the next day, she agreed to give the whole class a point back on the quiz. I would argue she should have given us back  2 points, but she is very hard to argue with.  And agreed to provide practice questions for us. (In class later she was more tentative about this). I felt that she had heard me, though, in the phone conversation.  I don’t usually feel heard by her.  It seemed miraculous, considering that the point includes effects on

• the hearing
• the ability to listen deeply
• the ability for others to hear you

This caused me to marvel at the power of acupuncture.  Plus I had hope for the first time in a long time, that everything would be all right. (LR 14 is called Gate of Hope).

The spleen in Chinese medicine includes our actual spleen, but is a reference to so much more. It is a reference to our ability to transform the food we eat into our flesh, and also to ‘incorporate’ learning. And more, of course.

Apparently my spleen is tired.  And no wonder, with finals for my acupuncture program during the next two weeks. I have a lot to memorize!

I went to my acupuncturist with my wood under control, having transformed my anger into creativity (in the form of a rap about my teacher, which made him laugh and then somberly caution me not to email it to anyone… and then he was chuckling to himself again later).  I also had my joy and laughter going on, so my fire was healthy.  So now he is worried about my earth, and said, “If you were any more earth, I could stand on you”.  I thought about this and made a joke about ‘my gravitational field’.

I had reported the strange shift that is going on in my body.  I weigh the same, but I feel like I have gained 10 pounds.  A lot of this is a shift in my waistline, which has expanded, and my thighs (they have always been so toned, and within the last six weeks something awful has happened to them!).  And yes, I’ve cut back on working out, due to shingles and school time pressures, but seriously, folks, this is rapid deterioration in terms of clothing fitting and shape shifting.

Niall told me that it is the spleen’s job to hold everything together, so that if something is ‘sagging’, I need to address the spleen.  Hmm, shapely thighs in six weeks?  SP 3, here I come!!!!  And he said that a tired spleen would hurt the brain too.  No one likes a saggy cerebellum.

Seriously, though, I also reported a lot of worry about my parents and about my Theory class, and worry is a sign of Earth out of balance.  So we did source points on Spleen and Stomach points, which are on the foot.  Afterwards he sternly recommended that I *not* study this evening.  What???!!!  How will that help me not worry about failing in school??

Still since he was insistent that more studying could be counterproductive, I took the evening off and went to find the closest dojo to allow me to get back on the mat.  I’ve been thinking about it recently and I finally got my gi’s out of storage last weekend when I was down in Richmond.   I’m not as sore as I might have expected today, as I thought  my neck would be very sore.  I did something to my left knee, not sure what, but it was really fun to get on the mat and see that I knew all the techniques they were doing. I couldn’t exactly do them the way that they did them, which was my goal - it isn’t great to go to another school and just do things your own way, as that comes across as arrogant.  And I have 9 years of having studied in another style, so old habits die hard.  At least they could see what I can do.  I held my own against a 17 yr old and a solid fellow who looked to be late 20s early 30s.  Technically, I may have outranked both of them, by the way, but when you go to a different school, it is tactful to wear a white belt.  In fact, it is useful to hold the idea that you are a beginner at someone else’s school, no matter what rank you hold.

Exams start on Monday!!!

Where to start?  It is a long story.  Let’s just say that there is a situation that feels really kind of pivotal to my future, where I feel that one person is using their power to block me from my desired future.

I have been nice, and then confrontational with this person.   I was met with rigidity both times.  It does not help my self-righteous attitude to know that there are many others who are also struggling with this person, and I believe some are in despair.   And it hardens my attitude when I see her being a bully to my beloved ones.  I feel huge anger and want to jump in and defend them.  I don’t - these are adults who are capable of defending themselves and need to make their own choices.  And this does not stop me from feeling like I want to save my friends from the school yard bully like a superhero.

Today I had a treatment that was amazing in helping me be peaceful about all of this. Later I will read up on these points.  For now, i just list them:

• GV20 (top of the head)
  
• LV 3 (on the foot)
  
• LV 14 (just under the rib cage)
  
• SI 19 (medial to the ears!)
  
• Wood points on the Fire Meridians:  HT 9 and SI 3 

What a powerful treatment.   I feel amazing.  Truly amazing.  That blissed out yoga savasana feeling has lasted since about 4 or 5 pm (it is 11:30 pm as I type).    Wow.  Updates to come after I get some sleep.

So I’ve had Shingles twice in one year. The first time I didn’t have acupuncture and it took three times as long to heal.  And I also rested more this time.    Here’s what I have learned - and this might just apply to my own body, but still I share it in case it ever helps you.

1. Catching it really early and getting prompt medical attention helps.  The first visible symptom for me has been the tiny patch of raised blisters on the skin, although both times I thought it was a bug bite at first, and then a staph infection.  With the first outbreak on my forehead, near the hairline, the tissue below the outbreak was tender prior to the outbreak, as if I had banged my head on something. 
   
2. The very best action I took both times was to get on Valtrex (1 gm) immediately.  An OB/GYN I know told me to double the first two doses to speed the recovery.
3. Shingles is not generally contagious.  If someone were to catch something from you, it would be chicken pox, not shingles.  Most people have already had chicken pox, so you don’t have to worry too much.  However, be very careful around little children and pregnant women, just in case!
4. Acupuncture helps!  My outbreak began late on Monday.  I had an acute treatment (AE) on Tuesday afternoon,  started the Valtrex Tuesday night, and had a regular session with my acupuncturist on Wednesday afternoon. 
   
5. Rest helps!  I slept about 30 hrs between Weds & Thurs, and the swelling went down by Saturday (the shingles outbreak was medial to my eye, on the right side of my nose, near the bridge; so the area around my eye including the lid and the upper cheek was very swollen for a few days: My roommate joked that I looked like Rocky Balboa).
6. OUTCOME:  My skin cleared up almost completely by Wednesday a week later.  I had no pain whatsoever, and I understand that shingles can be very painful.  The patch of skin where the inflammation was stopped spreading within 24 hrs of starting the meds and having the first acupuncture treatment.  My most persistent symptom post-recovery is needing about 25 - 50% more sleep than usual.  And I can live with that.  It’s better than still being sick.  Seriously, at this point a lot of people would still BE sick.

Footnote: Because of the shingles, I now have this kind of ‘scar’ on my skin, on the side of my nose adjacent to the eye.  It’s not really such a huge patch, but on one’s face things tend to be pretty noticable.   I’m writing this footnote month later, and the skin turns bright red in that one spot when I get hot from emotion or exercise.  For anyone who knows me, they might agree that the last thing I need is a huge red splotch on my face to signal that I’m emotional.  My emotions are already transparent on my face as it is!   I’m calling this my ‘Harry Potter’ scar, since the hero of this series could always tell from the burning of his scar when danger was near.

Maybe sometimes it is about who your practitioner is, and not the points they needle on you.  Or maybe it the combination of your practitioner and the points.  Either way, today’s treatment was phenomenal.

Today the clinic supervisor was Kaiya, who is also one of my teachers.  I’m completely in love with her - not in the romantic way, but in the “I want to be her when I grow up” way.  I didn’t realize this until today.  She is a very cool teacher and she is an even cooler clinic supervisor.

How to describe this?  I’m at a loss for words just now.  Let me just say that Kaiya took me to task for the shingles.  She asked me, “Shingles is a pretty serious message from your body.  What are you doing that your body had to get your attention this way?  Is there something stressful going on?”

At that the tears came…  I spoke just briefly about  my concerns about my parents,  and she gave me a talk on bottling up grief.  She said, “When I see you in class you look so happy, very joyful… this is a whole different side of you I haven’t seen.” and reminded me of the obvious idea about bottling up grief creates the symptoms I’ve just had.  She suggested that I don’t cry enough (and that is just the opposite of how I feel about it!). 

The thing that amazed me was how she got in my face, but in a loving way, to say, “Look, you need to take care of yourself, let the grief out!” and directly addressed the issue of my avoidance of my fears about my parents recently - at the cost of my health.

Most of the folks I have worked with have been so, so supportive.  I like supportive, don’t get me wrong.  I feel like she didn’t just rubber stamp the treatment, or look at it as a job.  She was reaching in to touch my soul, to make a difference in my life, as if this might be the last acupuncture treatment I ever got, and it would be a good one.  I was in awe of how she worked with me, very directly, genuinely, and well, directly, caring,  and directly.  I felt like she was looking right down into my soul, and that was a little uncomfortable, and on some level I didn’t mind. It felt connected, a little scary to be so vulnerable, and good to be so worthy of having someone take a lot of time to really probe to see what was going on.  It’s the kind of deep caring you see when a family does an intervention.  “We love you so much that we are willing to be vulnerable with you and give you tough love”.

Niall is an amazing practitioner —- and it was a terrific combination to have Niall with Kaiya together working with me.  And of course my treatment was this really amazing treatment, with CV12, KI 25, and the metal points on SI (SI 1) and HT (HT 4).   After the treatment I felt blissful — blissful in that way when your house is clean and everything is put away.  A peacefulness.  A load had been lifted. I felt lighter, in the sense of the word that is opposite of the word ‘dark’ and opposite of the word ‘heavy’.

The intention of these points was to fill me up, to give me the sense that “I am enough”.  CV 12 has a boring name, “Middle Duct” and Kidney 25 has a great name, “Spirit Storehouse”.  I can’t wait to go look these points up (Yes, I’m an acupuncture geek!).  Niall always tells me more about what the points are intended to do and in the moment I get it, and then I forget by the time I get home.  Metal points on the Fire meridians (Little Marsh and my favorite, Spirit Path) was supposed to put me in touch with my essential self, I think, since he is treating me in Fire.  For me, Spirit Path is like my inner yellow brick road, only colored silver.

The first point he did was CV12, and the needle met resistance as he was inserting it the first time, so he stopped and then started again.  I felt it was hard to breathe properly while he was inserting the first needle.  Not sure if that was because he was needling close to the lungs and I was afraid to breathe at the wrong time.  After he got the needle in, I asked him if I should be experiencing a huge emotional release, because I could feel that huge wave a-comin’, just as if you are standing in the ocean and feel all the water suck out from under you - you know a big wave is about to break over top of you.  After he did KI 25, I felt this peace a bit like after the end of yoga class, when we do savasana.  And the metal points were a bit painful, and I felt the ‘buzz’ of energy afterwards.  Now I feel a bit drained, but crying always does that to me.

I gave Niall a copy of a book called “Healing with Whole Foods” as a token of thanks for taking care of me all of these weeks. I found out he didn’t have a copy of anything similar so I was really happy to give him my copy, although sorry that it was a little bit pre-loved on, with some bent pages and a stain on the side (since I myself bought it used). Still, he seemed pleased to receive it.

I have a friend who is seeing my Richmond acupuncturist, Ann Furniss (www.qinurse.com).  I asked her to tell me about her experience with Ann, and she gave me permission to post her reply here.   I was excited that an ailment she had for twenty years seemed to have vanished overnight.

Caveat:  In my tradition, acupuncture is not meant to ‘fix’ a person’s symptoms, but to return each individual, as a whole, into balance.  And sometimes that means remarkable healing happens.

She had not had acupuncture previously with a Five Elements practitioner, only some years before from a chiropracter.  (Grrr.  It doesn’t help my future profession when people with licences in other specialties try to do acupuncture… when it ‘doesn’t work’, people assume that acupuncture doesn’t work, not realizing that there is a point to the almost four years of training I am undertaking!).

Ann did an “Internal Dragons” treatment on my friend, and this was her experience after working to deliver mail the next day:

I can definitely tell that the session yesterday had some effect.  I didn’t know how to explain to Ann yesterday how I felt when I left.  For years before I got my mail truck I carried mail out of a Blazer sitting on the wrong side.  I drove with my left side while delivering mail from the right side which put me in a position that people just aren’t meant to be in for hours a day.  This aggrevated already existing hip problems that I had had occasionally when I worked in the theater.  It’s been getting a lot better in the months since I got the mail truck but still if I step wrong my right hip will sometimes pop which is not extremely painful but exceedingly annoying and gives me the feeling that if I put too much weight on it it might just not hold me.  Reiki has helped it a lot and A____ always feels that I’m storing a lot of toxins there and it tends to shake quit a bit when he’s working on it.  I’ve had a massage therapist point out how much tension I hold there as well.  So, when I went to see Ann yesterday the hip wasn’t particularly bothering me because it doesn’t usually unless I step wrong getting up or getting out of my car or mail truck. During the treatment the right hip was definitely shaking like it does with reiki but perhaps for a longer period of time.  I also felt some movement of energy in my left hip which I haven’t felt before and was barely noticeable.  The entire experience was quite relaxing and I stayed fairly meditative throughout.  I tend to visualize breathing in energy through either my feet or head and it was slightly unusual yesterday that I was visualizing light coming into me through both my feet and head and culminating in the triangle that the 3 upper needles make.  Not sure if that’s particularly significant or just my own imaginings.  Either way, I enjoyed it. Afterward upon standing I felt some difference in my hip but since it was neither better nor worse than when I came in I couldn’t pinpoint the difference.  Today I figured it out.  I’m putting more weight on my right leg than I was.  I wasn’t aware that I had been favoring my left side but that would make sense since putting weight on the right side is what used to cause the hip to act up.  It’s a subtle difference but I’m quite certain that I am distributing my body weight in a more balanced way. I love the way the universe works.  As if to prove to me that there has been a shift I had an unusual day at work today.  One of the neighborhoods that I deliver was being paved.  The side of the road with the mailboxes was not drivable which meant that I had to get out of my mail truck over 20 times in about a half hour and walk to the boxes.  Now usually I am very mindful of how I get out of the truck because in the past on several occasions if I’d get out in an unconscious normal way my hip would remind me that I really need to shift in the seat first and step down carefully.  Today I just forgot about it.  No, marveled about it actually.  Last week I was bothered by it at least once just getting up off the couch and today it was fine jumping out of a mail truck 20 times.

Ack.  Shingles.  Again - I just had it in August, just less than a year ago.  No fun!

I had an ‘acute’ treatment upstairs at the Laurel Clinic on Tuesday, because I knew I had some kind of infection and could not stop crying.  I know when I’m sick because I am compelled to either SLEEP or WEEP at inappropriate times.  This is one of my teaching symptoms, and it means I have an infection.  I am not sure if SLEEP means bacterial and WEEP means viral.  I’ll have to pay attention to this.

Craig Kerr was kind enough to give me an AE treatment, which is meant to help drain energy blocks.  I was especially appreciative of his presence in the treatment room, because he just was soothing and made me feel better, like it was all going to be okay.  If you need an acupuncturist in Howard County,  MD, consider seeing him!  (His contact information is provided at the link above).

Yesterday was time for my regular weekly session with Niall, and he designed an interesting treatment for me, including a CV point (I think?), plus LI 4, LI 11, HT 5, and SI 6.  I felt better after the treatment, and the swelling went down noticeably.  I was advised to eat cooling foods like watermelon (The Yin of the Yin, Niall said) and also other melons and fruits, but not so bad as ice cream (the dampness trifecta of sugar, fat, and cream).  I decided on chicken salad (beef was out, spicy was out) with a smidge of sour cream, with cucumbers and seedless black grapes and a few walnuts and some dill and some celery.  I figured that was filling and nourishing and still cooling.

I noticed however that after dinner my face began to swell again, noticeably, and I got really tired, so I went ‘to lay down for a few minutes’ at 8:30 pm or so.  At 12:30 am I woke up to let the dog out, brush my teeth, and then laid down again, passed out, and woke up 8 hrs later, face still swollen, and feeling pretty tired, achy, slight headache, just feeling miserable, especially because my eye was swollen ‘Rocky Balboa’ style.   As the day went on it began to subside, probably because I was more upright and gravity took its course, but I didn’t really get out of bed until after 6 pm.

I’m well on my way to healing now.  First signs of the virus were on Monday, a slight red spot on the side of my nose; and today is Friday, July 4th, and while there is a noticable patch on the side of my nose, the size of a dime (which is huge for a blemish on a girl’s face!), my eye is the least swollen it has been for days.  Still doesn’t ‘match’ the other side but I’m counting my blessings.  After all, with Shingles on the trigeminal nerve you have a risk to the optic nerve and your vision.  I had enough energy to write one of our papers today and to talk on the phone to friends.  It’s after 9 pm and I just got two more assignments by email…. and I’ve got at least two other papers due… so maybe I can knock a few things out before bedtime, who knows!?