Over the last year I have felt overwhelming bouts of stress
and anxiety. I knew I needed to make
changes in my life but didn’t know where to start. I would read blogs, articles, and anything I
could find to try and see what I could try to maybe help me with this anxiety,
and also my desire to change the direction my life was headed. One thing I kept reading about was
acupuncture. When I first started
reading about acupuncture I thought, but do people really do that? I hadn’t had
any experience or knowledge of this being practiced around here. Then I heard my sister talk about how she
goes to get acupuncture and how much she likes it. So I started to see if there were any places
here in Louisville and how much it would cost.
Unfortunately acupuncture can be very expensive so when I saw that I
just put it on the back burner. I had
mentioned to my mom that I wanted to try it sometime, but it was just too
expensive.
One day back earlier this year my mom found out about this
health center opening up and they were doing an open house and offering free
“samples” of the services they provide.
One of the services they provide is acupuncture, so my mom and I went to
check out this open house and we were able to try a mini session. I told the person doing the acupuncture
(Becky Flynn) about my stress and anxiety, and my mom told her about how she
has really bad sinuses. Becky then chose
a few points for both my mom and I and then we just had to sit very still for
about 15-20 min. My mom said that as
soon as one of the needles went in she could feel her ear open up from some of
the built up sinus pressure. I didn’t
notice anything right in the moment, but I also wasn’t really expecting to feel
anything. Stress and anxiety are so hard
to measure, I didn’t know if I’d notice a difference. However on the drive home I felt about 20lbs
lighter, I could tell a major difference.
My mom and I decided we wanted to keep going and see how
this could help us with our physical aches and pains, but we soon found out that
the health center was still too expensive for what I could afford. But then Becky told us she has her own
practice outside the health clinic and she offers a sliding scale pricing, to
make it affordable for anyone needing acupuncture. As soon as we found this out we started going
to see her. My mom and I went regularly
for 4 weeks and then we took a bit of a break.
One of my biggest concerns about trying to start eating
healthier, is I couldn’t control my hunger.
I would try to eat less and eat healthier but then I’d just get so
hungry I couldn’t stand it. I mentioned
this to Becky, and told her about how I was starting to meet with a
nutritionist and I wanted to have more energy and desire to make these choices. I honestly believe that getting acupuncture
has helped me get to the point that I am right now.
I started writing this blog post a couple weeks ago, and
because of how busy I am during the week I have had to work on this only on the
weekends. I’m so glad it’s taken me a
little while to get this together because I have liked acupuncture ever since I
started, but after this week I LOVE acupuncture.
I have been so stressed about doing school
full time and work more than full time, and I had my first test in my stats
class this last week. During my
undergrad at BYU-Idaho I had a routine that I did before every test, I would go
to the temple the day before and the day of I would get a Jamba juice. So I stuck with that routine, I went to the
temple Thursday night, and then I had an acupuncture appointment Friday
afternoon, my plan was to take the test right after my appointment, and her
office is very close to a smoothie king so I was planning on getting a smoothie
on my way home.
I joked with my mom about hopefully Becky can help me with
being prepared for my test, and then when I went to my appointment I mentioned
that I had a test that day. Becky then
stated she was glad I told her about my test because she would do some brain
boosting points. She also addressed my
stress, and I mentioned how unbelievably tired I was, and that I had a horrible
headache that just wouldn’t go away.
I left that appointment with absolutely no traces of a
headache (and trust me it was a really really bad one), I was so wide awake that I
didn’t even go to bed until around midnight that night, and I wasn’t even a
little tired. When I went into that
appointment I was so tired I was questioning if I could even take my test
because I felt my brain shutting down.
And my stress was basically gone.
I was able to take my test when I got home, and while I didn’t get a
perfect score (that would require a miracle haha) I did sooooo much better on
my test than I ever anticipated.
Excuse me while I go set up appointments for the day of my
tests for the rest of the semester… I’ve definitely found a new thing to add to
my pre-test routines J.
I’m not saying this is a cure all, and that I never feel
stress and anxiety anymore. What I am
saying is it has helped me come a long way in the last 4-5 months I have been
going. Another thing I love about this whole experience is Becky, she is so
helpful in explaining what she’s doing, and why she does what she does. Honestly if you live in the Louisville area
and are even a little bit curious about acupuncture you should check her
out.
Whenever I tell people that I get acupuncture their eyes get
real big and the first thing they ask is but doesn’t it hurt? Isn’t weird to
have needles sticking out of you? Well let me tell you, it doesn’t hurt, not
really. Honestly there have been a few
times, and a few pressure points that do hurt, I’m not gonna lie. But the majority of the time I don’t feel
anything, and if I do it’s like someone lightly snapping a rubber band on your
wrist, it stings but quickly goes away.
I honestly feel like going to get acupuncture has helped me
keep my stress and anxiety down, has helped me stay motivated and focused on my
trying to eat healthier and be healthier.
I used to get headaches daily, and I took medicine every day to prevent
these headaches, yet I’d still get them. I have since run out of the medicine
and I was scared of not being able to get it renewed, but when I have gone to
get acupuncture I am able to keep the headaches under control without the
medicine.
I still very much believe in modern medicine and going to
the doctor and taking medicine, but I also feel like if there is a way to get
and feel better without medicine, I’d like to try that too.
Below, and scattered throughout this post are some pics of when I got acupuncture the last
couple of times, I often not only get the traditional acupuncture with needles
and stuff, but I also get a treatment called Gua Sha.
I have pics of what my skin looks like after
that, and it honestly looks a lot more painful than it is. I can’t even describe how much I love Gua
Sha. I’m sure many of you have gotten
that pesky crick in your neck from sleeping on it wrong or twisting it just the
wrong way. I do all the time, and I’ve
gone to chiropractors to try and get it worked out, and I’ve gotten massages to
try and get it worked out, and while I love both the chiropractor and getting a
massage, I have never had that crick in my neck go away faster than I have with
the Gua Sha technique. She also does a
technique called moxa, and I’ve had this done a couple of times and it has
serious instant boosts of energy.
I can't say enough good things about my experience with acupuncture and I suggest it to anyone who listens... seriously guys give it a try... and especially if you live near or in the Louisville area check our Becky Flynn and her practice 5 Elephants (isn't that the cutest name). And I promise she will take great care of you!! And one of the best parts, it's so very affordable!!
This is the moxibustion therapy. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but the two times I've had this done I have left with so much energy it's unreal!!
