Acupuncture

Wooh so it's been a few days since I've updated, but my two friends Megan and Patrick were visiting me. I had a great couple of days, I wish they could have stayed longer.

But that's not what this post is about, since it has nothing to do with Japanese or Japan (though Patrick seemed to be having fun practising my Pimsleur with me (more about Pimsleur in a later post) and I think he was doing pretty well, considering it was his first time and I was on Unit 29. XD

No, this post is about the acupuncturist I went to today. It is Asian, after all! And I'd like to share it with people.

As some of you may know, I have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). It's really annoying and lately it had been bothering me a lot more again. A few years ago I had hypnotherapy, which worked very well, but was unfortunately not covered by my insurance ('We will not pay for this, because you can't prove it's worked' 'I can't even prove I have IBS in the first place!' Idiots. >< ).

Anyway, lately I'd been getting more stressed over completely normal things as well. Also, it's not normal to get stomach aches almost every day, it just isn't. So I decided to give acupuncture a try. ^^

I'll give a description of how it went.

First she asked me all these questions about my complaints, finding out what exactly was bothering me. She said there was most likely a blockage in my Qi (the energy flow in your body). In your body, there are 5 elements: water, fire, earth, wood and metal. Wood is the one that responds to tension, stress, change, etc. Wood is also the element that is supposed to control Earth, which is located in your lower abdomen (bowels, part of your stomach). She said that because my Wood was disturbed, Earth was getting disturbed as well and that's why my stomach hurts.
I then asked her if she could do anything about it, and she said: Oh yes, I can definitely do something about that. So that was a relief!

Then I had to lie down on this bed, with my shoes and socks off and my pants legs moved up, as well as my top. At first she felt my pulse, on both wrists, and said she thought it was quite fast. I told her it was usually fast, and I'd noticed that too.
Then she put four needles in my stomach, near my bellybutton. She said I was so brave for having my bellybutton pierced and she would be too scared to get a piercing. I said: 'No, you only stick needles into other people.' XD
She put some needles in my knees as well (I think two in each), in my calves (also two in each, I think; one of them hurt realllly bad so she took it out again), a few in my feet, one in each hand and one in each ear. I think she also put some in the top of my head, but I'm not sure since I didn't feel anything there.

Then I had to lie there for 20 minutes. I normally find that very boring; I don't have the peace of mind to just lie there and do nothing, but I felt more relaxed now. We chatted a bit about Japan and Thailand and then she felt my wrist again after a while. She said it was much slower now. Then she took the needles out again.

She also advised me to take Chinese herbs in combination with the acupuncture. Many acupuncturists also work with Chinese herbs, but she doesn't. But she gave me the address of a guy in Nijmegen who works with them. So I'll phone him next week.

On the way home, I felt all right, but at home I got more and more tired. XD So I'm going to bed early tonight.

I still have little spots on my body where the nails were, and one spot is slightly swollen, but it's already going down and there is no pain anywhere.

She said I should start noticing an effect right away, so let's hope so!

I'm going back again next week, so I'll let you guys know how it goes then. ^^