A new and ancient adventure

It's St. Valentine's Day, and I should be writing something about that, but I don't really have much to say on the subject (other than that we shouldn't need a commercial holiday to remind us to tell our loved ones that we love them!) so I'll just say Happy Valentine's Day to all my Valentines--including you--and direct you to the blog of L'Arche Canada's Executive Director. I love what Nathan has to say about "the Loving Day".

Western medicine is taking its sweet time about helping me with my dizziness (I have to wait until March 21 for an appointment at the U of A Balance Clinic!), so I've taken matters into my own hands. My friend Viet practices Eastern medicine, and after witnessing what he did with acupressure for another friend with an extremely sore back, I always thought that if I ever ran into a situation where I could call on him for help, I would.

So for the past two weeks or so, I've had a few appointments with Viet, who has asked me more questions than any doctor thus far in his effort to figure out how to treat me. Eastern medicine is very old, going back five millennia, and it's very different in that it works through different matrices and meridians for treating different issues. Where the meridians intersect, many different things can be treated all at once. So, while Viet hasn't found the key to treating my dizziness just yet, he's done wonders for my carpal tunnel, and I've been sleeping really well!

Being a diabetic who takes five shots a day, I wasn't at all worried about the acupuncture needles. For those who are needle phobic, let me just say that the needles are so fine, I don't often feel anything except a small pinch as they go through my skin when Viet taps them into place. Occasionally, I feel a dull ache in my arm or leg, but for the most part, I don't even notice them at all. If you look at the picture below, there are three in my left arm and two in my right. Viet and I got into an interesting conversation and I forgot all about them and the fifteen others in my legs. And they rarely bleed when they come out! He's also done some acupressure/massage that has felt terrific!

Viet tells me that he has good success with treating many different issues, from chronic pain to insomnia to migraine headaches to twisted ankles, and I can believe it. Acupuncture has been very relaxing... and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will unlock my dizziness and chase it away soon.