Acupuncture Rocks!

When I'm away from blogging for lengthy amounts of time it's due to one of several reasons. We're busy with yard work which seems to never end unless we're under three feet of snow. We've managed to get away for a few days which I don't like to advertise. I'm tied up with doctors appointments which seem to come in batches.

I haven't reported about my pain issues for quite awhile but I do have an update worthy of note. I've been counting the doctors I've been to in the last couple of years in search of an answer. My then family practitioner. After five years of nagging to get her to listen she finally sent me to an orthopedic surgeon. You heard about that one. The one who has a sign over his receptionist's desk that read "Be nice or leave." I ended up leaving for he found nothing "he could operate on". Next came a spine specialist. You heard about that one too. After two shots in different areas of my back he sent me packing. Again. Nothing.

I changed family practitioners to one I had known before. He sent me to the pain specialist. You remember that one too I'm sure. The last thing we tried that didn't work was botox in my butt. He then talked me into trying methadone. That lasted two weeks. I told my doctor I didn't want to take a narcotic. Period. End of story.

To get one more opinion I was sent off to a neurologist for a nerve conduction test. I finally got that done yesterday. Nothing.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... I was going to acupuncture. The acupuncturist had his own idea of what was causing the problem and assured me we were going to try and fix it rather than just mask it. I believed him and in him. He got my knee back to working. For a time I couldn't get up or down from a kneeling position. It was agonizing. Every week we worked on it. Then it worked. I figured the pain was being fixed from the bottom up!

Even now, though the pain isn't gone, it has eased and I've backed off to less potent pain medication at a dose that had quit working quite some time ago. That's progress! Oh yes, I mustn't forget. I had fresh x-rays taken and a new MRI. It showed the shredded muscles and ligaments in my butt had healed but that I have mild arthritis in my hips, especially the left one. I also have a lot in my tailbone and some additional degeneration in that area. Everyone has concluded that's what's causing my pain. Six years of agony and they conclude it's arthritis.

I asked him this morning if it truly is the arthritis if he could fix it. Well, he can't fix the arthritis but he can fix the pain. He gave me an unequivocal "yes", which is unusual for him He usually says "We'll try."

Nothing happens suddenly with acupuncture, but the time has come where my body is responding positively more readily.

So there you have it. I'm waving good bye to a whole slew of medicine men. I'm going to have my life back. I have no doubt what-so-ever.

Oh, yes, I should mention that the neurologist and one of his nurses wanted my acupuncturist's name and phone number. It seems they both have some issues that no one has been able to figure out. Somehow it seems just.