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Does Acupuncture Even Work? A Pissed Off Patient is Wondering

I’ve been seeing my acupuncturist for over 4 months now. The whole point is to get pregnant by regulating my periods which sadly have been occurring less frequently ever since I became a patient. My period finally came today, a whole two months since my last cycle. I forget, until it happens, that I get highly emotional when I’m on my period. That emotion came out in flares.

Tonight while I was laying down waiting to be needled, my acupuncturist talked about my need to do this and that, and how I should be focusing on this and that, and I swear to God all the thisses and thats got to me. I could hear the tears bubbling inside and then I just lost it. A river of hopelessness and despair poured down the sides of my cheeks into my ear canal and my hair. “You are stressing me out!” I sobbed. “Why am I never doing enough? Why isn’t this working for me!”

I held back all the other things I wanted to say. I truly believe in the power of acupuncture, but is this all a waste? Maybe he’s not the right healer for me even though 3 personal friends of mine swear by him. These are friends I trust wholeheartedly. And oh, the money. Flushing money down the toilet as our accounting professor used to say about corporate excess. Was this my personal excess? A waste of money, a waste of time. I don’t even enjoy the sessions, the needles do hurt sometimes.

Bleh, hopefully I will be feeling less volatile tomorrow. I was reading a book about how you should stick with something for 3 months and if it’s not helping to stop. I will give it another month or two.

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12.12.12

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  1. Michelle

    December 19, 2012 at 11:00 pm

    I went to an acupuncturist in the city who had previously cured a shoulder injury I had and continued as part of fertility treatment. After a year, I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere. So I found another one specializing in fertility based in Oakland. I went to her for a year as well. My sister then switched to her as well.I thought she was great! Third generation acupuncturist I still recommend to everyone. Rarely felt a needle. My mom even got treated for a skin rash that wouldn’t go away and became a believer.

    But even after a while and as awesome as she was, that too was frustrating, so I took a break. I was just tired of all the damn needles both western and eastern. Though I still believe in acupuncture and there are studies that show it improves chances when combined with other fertility treatments.

    If the one you have doesn’t specialize in fertility, I’d recommend finding one who does. They’ll have a better understanding of various fertility issues and can work with any western treatments you might be receiving.

    If you’re interested, it’s Maria Yung at Lolo Health in Oakland.

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