I finally did what all the people have been telling me to do for ages! 

I tried acupuncture!

Just to bring you up to speed on the colitis situation, I will no longer be receiving Remicade infusions because – long-story-short – it was making me feel worse, not better.  My last infusion was about 10 weeks ago so by now my liver(?) should have removed most of the drug from my system.  I have also stopped taking all of my oral medications (Colazol and 6-mp) making this officially the first time since my diagnosis that I’m not on any western drugs.  To be honest, I’m willing to deal with the symptoms of colitis for a while just to give my body a chance to reset, detox, and cleanse itself of all those chemicals, aka poisons. 

I’ve decided that now is the perfect opportunity to try something different; something more holistic such as Chinese medicine. 

My First Acupuncture Experience

Yesterday afternoon I had my first appointment with the acupuncturist.  When I arrived she brought me into a dimly lit, small, calm and quiet room and told me to make myself comfortable.  Then she began reviewing my paperwork and asking me questions – some completely relevant to my condition, and others made no sense to me whatsoever.  Like “are your hands and feet ever cold or hot?” 

What? Who cares? What does that have to do with anything? I came here to get help with my colon.  If I needed to warm my feet up I would have taken a hot shower for free. 

Why yes, yes they are!  In fact they are always either ice cold, or throbbing hot.  More often cold than hot, but there’s no middle ground.  She also seemed very interested in my night sweats, occasional nightly fevers, and body temperature regulation in general, which I thought was interesting.   Before I knew it she was checking my pulse on both wrists and sticking my shins, ankles and the top of my head with teeny, tiny needles.  It didn’t hurt, except a couple on the side of my leg that dully ached after she inserted the needle.  She said dull aching was a good thing. 

She positioned an infrared heat lamp over my stomach, placed a call button under my right hand told me not to move for 20-25 minutes.  She then turned very soothing music on and left the room.  Before she left she warned me that I might start to hear and/or feel gurgling in my large intestine.  Sure enough, within about two minutes, the gurgling began.  It was perhaps the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced.  Not painful, not even uncomfortable.  Just plain weird.

Other than some gurgling, I didn’t feel much except very relaxed toward the end.  I was sort of in a half-conscious state during most of the session, but too aware of the fact that there were needles in my body to actually fall asleep.   Finally she returned and took the needles out and told me to sit up very slowly as not to get light-headed. 

Before I left, she went over her recommendations with me.  The plan is to receive weekly treatments for 6-8 weeks, and then once every two weeks for a few months.  Eventually, the goal is to get to a place where herbal remedies are the primary form of therapy.

Then, (this part took me by surprise) she told me to avoid all cold and raw foods.  No juices, smoothies, raw veggies, raw fruits, salads, etc.  Why?  No clue!  But I’m going with it because I have a strong gut feeling that this woman will truly be able to help me.

On my way home, my stomach continued gurgling to the point that it felt like I was mid-colon prep… aka “Uh oh!”  Luckily I made it into the co-op in time, but had I hit a red light I would have been in trouble. 

To say that I am fascinated by this whole thing would be a huge understatement.  I’m absolutely mind-blown that such little needles IN MY LEGS  could have such an extreme effect on my colon so quickly.  As soon as I got home I called the acupuncturist and told her what happened and she explained that that sort of reaction is completely normal and means that it’s working.  She said things would most likely get worse before they got better because my body needs to get itself back into balance. 

And that’s how my first acupuncture visit went!  I know this post is wordy, but I wanted to include as much detail as possible!  I’m excited and very hopeful that something positive will come out of these treatments :)

Time to squeeze in a workout before heading to Dartmouth to see my gastroenterologist!  Have a great day!!