I am one of the lucky few people to grow up with not one, but two nurses as parents. I call myself lucky because every time I was sick or something was a bit off with my health or I needed surgery, my parents knew what to do or who to call. Medicine has always been a part of my life; when I was younger my dad used to take my brother and I to the surgery center on the weekends, we would go with my mom to Scripps hospital and know every person we ran in to, and my parents always had the contacts to get us in to the best doctors and surgeons. With this immersion in medicine my whole life, I can almost self diagnose most of my illnesses and problems, know the right medicine to take, and I have a bizarrely large knowledge of medical facts and conditions (partly from parents and partly from Grey’s Anatomy).
Growing up I have had plenty of friends who believe in Eastern medicine techniques and practices, which I always respected but never really believed in due to the environment I was raised in. My family has always put our full faith in Western medicine and its approach, so I never really took a deeper look at what Eastern medicine could offer until this past year.
Towards the end of 2015, I seemingly out of nowhere developed chronic headaches that would strike at least three to four times a week. After taking Advil constantly without much relief, my mom took me to a doctor to see what they could do about my headaches. She did a full work up; I had my blood drawn multiple times, multiple MRIs, and I tried a myriad of medicines. In the end, nothing came up in my blood work, my MRIs were clean, and none of the medicines even touched my headaches. We exhausted all our options, but in the end nothing worked.
One night several weeks after all our failed attempts to cure my headaches, I was babysitting, and the mom of the kids said she had the same chronic headaches I did when she was a teenager and still today. She said she tried over 40 medicines with no relief, and the only thing that eventually helped her was acupuncture. When she told me this, the thought of Acupuncture terrified me, why would I want someone to stick a bunch of needles in my back? I was skeptical of how Acupuncture would really help me, but since I had already tried everything else, I thought why not give it a shot.
In the next couple of weeks, I had my first appointment. I was nervous, I wasn’t used to alternative medicine and my mom couldn’t tell me what to expect like she could with all the doctors appointments I’d gone to throughout my life. The whole idea of Eastern medicine was completely new to my whole family, not just me. During my first appointment, as my Acupuncturist put each needle in my back, I flinched expecting pain, yet I never felt any. When all the needles were in, I felt so relaxed and peaceful and I honestly did not want to get off the table. After my first appointment I didn’t know how the treatments would help my headaches, but even if all I got out of it was an hour of relaxation, that was good enough for me.
Over the next many months I continued to go to acupuncture once a week, getting different treatments specialized for exactly my needs and what would benefit me. The decrease in headaches did not happen right away, but after a few months I saw a significant decrease in the number and severity. I was no longer afraid of getting an awful headache at school or right when I was in the middle of doing work or writing an essay. Acupuncture allowed me to get control of my life back and live pain free.
Starting acupuncture has opened my eyes to the effectiveness of Eastern medicine and different methods of healing other than the traditional methods I was raised with. It’s really difficult to branch out and try something you aren’t necessarily comfortable with, but if I hadn’t I’m not sure what kind of pain I might be experiencing today. If you are curious about how acupuncture might be able to help you, I encourage you to try it, the benefits are truly amazing and have changed my life for the better.
