acupuncture

i have just finished a course of acupuncture. over the last few weeks my physiotherapist andy who is a trained acupuncturist has been sticking needles in me to see if it will help with the aches and pains of my me/fibro. i have been lucky enough to received this on the NHS (i would imagine it is not readily available) as otherwise i could not have afforded to try it. i wanted to give it a try as one area which acupuncture is claimed to have an great affect is with pain relief.

so what is acupuncture and did it help? well it's an ancient system of healing developed over thousands of years ago as part of the traditional medicine of china. the aim of the treatment is to restore the balance of energy qi (pronounced chee) through the painless application of very fine needles into strategic points of the body.

qi consists of yin and yang and these two opposites (but also complementary) need to be in balance otherwise disease and illness occur in the body. needles applied to these acupuncture points give access to meridians or channels in the body through which qi flows: so that adjustments can be made to balance the yin and yang thus restoring harmony and health.

luckily andy did not apply as many needles as in the poor bloke above and it did not hurt as he popped them in my lower back. once or twice i did feel very relaxed and woozy but unfortunately i had no pain relief. sadly even if i had felt a benefit it probably would have been temporary as acupuncture is not known for it's long lasting effects.

although it may have not worked well for me (this time) it does not mean i would not recommend others have a go - you never know it may just be worth a try.

odd socks

my life with cfs/me/fibro lately::wearing odd socks (and not even noticing for ages), feeling so happy when i'm lucky enough to have the energy to get dressed at all (even if that means wearing odd socks as that's all that's clean!), not remembering anything i did the previous day, trying to not get too upset by ignorant folk who do not understand (or even want to) my illness and can say hurtful things, feeling like i'm climbing mount everest when i'm only climbing the stairs, having to give up my prescription pain medication even when it helps a bit as the side affects far outweigh the benefits, reading many pages of a book before realising i have read it before, having such a fuzzy brain that i miss my stop on the train to my well being course and having to go all the way back, burning a pot of soup yet again by forgetting it's cooking and being sick and tired of being sick and tired!