Acupuncture

I'm not a fan of needles. That's why I when I gave birth, I refused the anesthesia until I was 19 hours into labor and with only 6cm in dilation to show. However, as mentioned in my previous post, I was suffering from a bad case of pinched nerves and I haven't had a decent night sleep in 3 days.

I went to Tokyo Healthlink this afternoon to schedule an appointment with a Rehab doctor. I came in at 330PM and was fortunately first in line. I went home afterwards as the doctor won't be in until 530PM. I just returned at 5PM.

When the doctor came and checked my arm, I almost cried when he began twisting and bending my left arm. He asked me if I'm open to acupuncture. I just paused for a bit as I haven't tried it before but I'd try anything to alleviate the pain. Not giving me the chance to change my mind, I was brought into the treatment room.



I was made to lie down on a cot and next thing I knew, needles were being inserted on my forehead, arms, legs and feet. It was not painful at all. In fact, the bite of an ant is more painful. I could immediately feel myself relaxing and that somehow was part of the healing process.

The needles were left in my skin for 20 minutes and after taking them off, the doctor tried stretching my arm. It still hurt but at least the degree of pain is smaller than before.

I'm due to return tomorrow for therapy (hot compress, ultrasound etc. Same as what they did to treat my de Quervain's Tenosynovitis almost three years ago.) Best of all, the consultation and therapy was covered by my HMO (go Maxicare!).

Hopefully, I can sleep peacefully tonight without waking up to the pain.