I hate this
Jul. 13th, 2008 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrian_turtleI thought I had found an acupuncturist, or a way of doing acupuncture, that worked for me. Sometimes it didn't help, or only helped for a few minutes, but other times it gave me more than a day of diminished pain. The time and money I'm spending on it is not trivial. It's not so much the half-hour I actually spend with the acupuncturist that makes me wonder if the benefits are really quite worth it...it's the time and energy of getting to Central Square, and the constraint on my schedule. It's challenging.
Thursday, the acupuncturist suggested treating my shoulder a little more aggressively. All the treatments that worked so far have worked on my right hand, and she was concerned that I keep coming in and saying my most intense pain is in my left shoulder. She's tried to treat the shoulder, in very gentle and indirect ways that had no effect at all. It was frustrating, and I was eager to try something that would help. Thursday, she tried putting needles in different places, to try to "activate the channel." It hurt a little, at the time, like a very mild electric shock from my left elbow to my fingertips. (It was very strange, because the needles were in my right ankle.) It felt controlled and theraputic, and not nearly as scary as when swelling in the shoulder pinched a nerve and caused shooting pain down the arm. But that was Thursday.
Friday was worse, with the shoulder pain flaring from jaw to fingertips, and the arm nearly useless. I was irritable and distracted at work, and I came home Friday afternoon to sleep 20 hours. I did almost none of the life maintenance I had planned for the weekend. Today I did laundry, bought soymilk and toilet paper, and made a lunch for tomorrow. There are a great many things I'd be doing differently if my shoulder were functional. Or even if it wasn't distracting me so badly.
When I plan for treatment of chronic health problems, and consider "Can I afford this treatment now?" I think about how much it will cost in money, and how much it costs up front in time. Sometimes I remember to think about travel time and energy, or how difficult it will be to schedule around work or other obligations. The thing that's hard to plan for is the risk of introducing new problems or of making the original problem worse. At least people are accustomed to talking about side effects for drugs (even if they presume they all go away when you stop taking the drug), but stuff like acupuncture or physical therapy or vitamins or chiropracty are all spoken of as having positive effects when they do anything at all.
Thursday, the acupuncturist suggested treating my shoulder a little more aggressively. All the treatments that worked so far have worked on my right hand, and she was concerned that I keep coming in and saying my most intense pain is in my left shoulder. She's tried to treat the shoulder, in very gentle and indirect ways that had no effect at all. It was frustrating, and I was eager to try something that would help. Thursday, she tried putting needles in different places, to try to "activate the channel." It hurt a little, at the time, like a very mild electric shock from my left elbow to my fingertips. (It was very strange, because the needles were in my right ankle.) It felt controlled and theraputic, and not nearly as scary as when swelling in the shoulder pinched a nerve and caused shooting pain down the arm. But that was Thursday.
Friday was worse, with the shoulder pain flaring from jaw to fingertips, and the arm nearly useless. I was irritable and distracted at work, and I came home Friday afternoon to sleep 20 hours. I did almost none of the life maintenance I had planned for the weekend. Today I did laundry, bought soymilk and toilet paper, and made a lunch for tomorrow. There are a great many things I'd be doing differently if my shoulder were functional. Or even if it wasn't distracting me so badly.
When I plan for treatment of chronic health problems, and consider "Can I afford this treatment now?" I think about how much it will cost in money, and how much it costs up front in time. Sometimes I remember to think about travel time and energy, or how difficult it will be to schedule around work or other obligations. The thing that's hard to plan for is the risk of introducing new problems or of making the original problem worse. At least people are accustomed to talking about side effects for drugs (even if they presume they all go away when you stop taking the drug), but stuff like acupuncture or physical therapy or vitamins or chiropracty are all spoken of as having positive effects when they do anything at all.
