What is acupuncture — and why you should give it a try
If you, such as me, suffer from chronic pain or anxiety and try to avoid taking medicine for it regularly I have great news: acupuncture can help! I suffer from temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and it causes me a lot of pain and my fair share of migraines. I’ve been struggling with it for two years now and have consulted with doctors, specialized dentists and a physical therapist to try to solve it. It all helped a lot, of course, but acupuncture was the real game changer.
And I have to admit I did not expect that.
Acupuncture is a oriental treatment derived from Chinese medicine that is based on the use of needles in specific points on the body. The goal is to activate energy in your body — or in a more formal way to stimulate your nervous system so that it can produce important substances. One great example are (natural) pain relievers, like endorphins.
Apart from the needles, the therapist may also apply some electrical current, use seeds and crystals, among other techniques, to help you with what is disturbing you. The treatment is considered alternative and is always personalized to your complaint and current state.
After one year and a half of medication and physical therapy I was tired and running out of time. It was two months before I would leave on an exchange program and I needed to feel better soon — so I decided to try one more thing: acupuncture.
In my first session the Therapist and I talked about my pain, my current state of mind and context and she examined me. Then, she placed some needles on my neck and stomach and left them there for a couple minutes. I was lying there thinking “What am I doing here? How did I even consider this woman would heal me by stitching me?”. The session was over and I came back home feeling the same — or even worse.
I had already paid for a package, so I went back and lied there, with the needles in me. One more session in the same week, same process. Then I had my first migraine-free week in 3 months. I kept going and suddenly I began feeling my gut was working better, my migraine had disappeared, the pain was bearable and although it was only a month before I moved to a different country I was still able to sleep. Important detail: a few weeks before I was so anxious I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep at night.
She combined the treatment with homeopathy,the use of essential oils and tea and I followed all of her advice. I started asking questions about the points where she placed the needles (they changed each session) and the things I was feeling. Slowly I started to feel the difference in my body I could connect it to the work she was doing.
Because of my moving I could only attend one month and a half of sessions. Though I was feeling much better I was not healed and would face a very stressful period when starting a new life in the Netherlands.
I traveled and, as expected, lived some of the most challenging situations of my life after I got here and, to my surprise, did not retroceed. It was almost a full month before I began feeling considerable pain again — with no pills and no physical therapy. I was not even exercising properly here in the first few weeks. Even now that I do feel some pain, it is not as bad as it used to be. And I attribute it to acupuncture.
The number of sessions I had was not even big enough for what would be considered a real treatment and it already had a great impact in my life. Acupuncture is really powerful. That is why when I get back to Brazil I intend to go back to it, not only for my TMD, but also to work on my body energy balance and to feel better as a whole.
Though based on a very ancient knowledge, acupuncture still remains relevant and- in my case- transforming. Having seen what acupuncture did to me, I believe more people should know about it and give it a try. I was completely skeptical at first and it still worked!
If you’ve been feeling off or have a big complaint, look for a therapist in your city and, if it is possible, arrange a few sessions so that you can feel the benefits and assess yourself if it works as well as it did for me.
Healing is not easy and living with chronic pain is really hard, I know. We are together in this and I have hope that this kind of alternative therapies will help me and you on this journey.
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