Acupuncture treatment in the sunny South West

     Yes, today I went in to a new doctor.  I went to the Chinese Medical Clinic in Las Cruces to see Dr Nakano.  I originally scheduled the after getting back from our trip to California where my feet and legs were so swollen that I couldn't get my shoes back on for days.  I went immediately to my family doctor who gave me a prescription of Lasix to pull the fluid off.  I took it for about 5 days of the 2 weeks but it mace me feel so awful, I quit.  The prescription was really not doing that much for me anyway. 

It took me a month to get in to Dr. Nakano as he is apparently very busy.  By the time today rolled around and I was filling out the "Why are you here" paperwork I included the pain I have in my left shoulder as well as the on going swelling in my left leg. 

When I was called to the exam room, I waited about 10 minutes until the doctor came in.  He went over my chart, asked me a few questions and then had me lay on my left side, where he started putting pressure on different spots of my neck and shoulder and around my shoulder blade.

He then started in the middle of my head and in my neck. and various other places He, then, rechecked some of the areas that I had showed pain from before.  Already, the pain was much, much less that it had been. 

He put a heat lamp on my shoulder for about 20 minutes and I just laid there in peace and soothing music.  I was so sorry to wake up and sit back up to rejoin my day. 

When we retested the tender spots,  there were almost NONE!!!!!  Well, not on that side anyway.  I can also say that my feet and ankles already don't hurt the way they did yesterday. 

I will go back to see him a few more times as acupuncture is definitely not a quick fix as many of us in America expect to get out of a pill or surgery or such from our western medical doctors.  This will be more like pealing an onion, to get past the symptoms and down to the honest to goodness ROOT of the problem.  Now, I plan to head for bed to see if a good nights sleep might just be in order!!!

For anyone else who wants to follow me on this journey, let me know, and I will post further episodes of my acupuncture adventure.