after a series of disastrous neuro appointments, and a gp who has thrown up her hands telling me she's not smart enough to help me, i started exploring eastern and non traditional healing methods. i go to craniosacral therapy once a week, trigger point acupuncture once a week, and work with a very educated and intuitive private pilates instructor twice a week. i've also been going to sound healing sessions. my take on all of it? i feel much better and even my husband has started to ask me if i'm feeling better as i don't act as "in pain" as i've been. here's a rundown of what i think is helping:
cranio. this technique comes from appalachian "laying on of hands" and has actually been scientifically proven to move cerebral fluid. weird because the therapist spends most of the time with his hands beneath your ankles, sacrum or neck. there is no massaging, nothing very physical at all, but i can actually feel some sort of unblocking occurring. hogwash you probably say, but i never say anything to my therapist when it is happening, but he always is able to pinpoint the exact moment i felt stuff start to move. is it in my head? probably. but that's where my problems are, so since i can afford it (it is very expensive) it can't hurt.
trigger point acupuncture. this is not the relaxing kind of acupuncture. i do that, too. this involves sticking slightly different needles into the places where muscles bunch into knots, twirling the needles until the muscle releases, then leaving the needles in while you take a little snooze. my neck was so tight and painful i and no one else knew what to do. they tried botox which was a horrible disaster. i couldn't lift my art above my shoulder and the pain just moved down my back. trigger point acupuncture is actually softening the knots in my arm and neck (i had so much pain in my arm, some days i didn't want to use it) to the point my neck is starting to feel like a normal person's neck. we're going slowly--sometimes when i work too vigorously on my neck it makes me have nighttime hallucinations, but i'll be damned it is making me feel better. and as i said, others are noticing, too.
pilates. i have a gifted pilates teacher who trained at the kane school in nyc. she understands my problems and each session we get closer to figuring out how to keep my body strong and lean without hurting my brain. until they found the chiari, we couldn't figure out why stomach work made my head hurt, but now that we've figured out my brain doesn't know how to move my lower body's muscles without contracting my neck and shoulders, we're working on isolating the stuff i want to work without hurting the stuff that makes me feel sick.
sound baths. ok, this is the weirdest thing i do, especially because i'm very sensitive to sound. basically you go into a room with a group of people, lie down with eyes closed and listen to sounds. it makes me feel great, so i keep going.
Thanks for this post. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine really help, they are the most effective in comparison to western medicines which only knows to loot the pocket. oriental medicine Fairfax VA
I'm sorry you did not get such great results as I have. Mine was strickly for pain, but as I started, I had a great flare up of gastroparesis and my stomach has no movement. He has also been working on that to try to get it functioning again and today, my stomach growled for the first time in about 4 months! There is a lot of emotional ties to the pain, so it is very psychological and I have to constantly bring myself in a different state of mind. But I'm like you wondering if it is not as powerful on nervous system issues or if you did not have a person who was "in tune" with you as he needed to be.
I hope you get some relief of your symptoms!
I went to acupuncture treatments for 3 months hoping they would eventually help me since my acupuncturist told me it could be a few months before I noticed any major benefits. He also had me taking Chinese herbal formulas at the time. I just recently stopped going to him because I just didn't feel like I was noticing any benefit. Granted, most of my issues are more cognitive type things; I don't have that much pain except for my headaches.
I've often wondered if acupuncture just isn't a good fit for me, if we were treating the wrong thing (my acupuncturist thought I had some type of chronic parasitic infection of the nervous system like Lyme), or if the acupuncturist was just bad. I can't just dismiss the entire practice as BS when so many people say it helps them, though. I'm glad you found relief in it!
It wasn't as expensive for me, but it was expensive enough! $65 a session, plus the herbs were $40 a bottle.
I had a feeling it was pricey......and that ins would not cover it....I am glad u r able to cover the cost of it...and I do understand how desperate u r to feel better.
Thank you Christine! I hope PT helps you! It's so painful, but I find it helps in the long run. I hope you can avoid surgery!
Viv, you are right in that it helps recovery! WOW! I think I would go even if he wasn't the greatest!
Selma, I am currently paying out of pocket because my insurance doesn't cover it. It is outrageous! However, I felt like it was a last resort, so I'm draining my savings :/
Here, it is $85 a session, which is more than a massage! But I think it shows how desperate I was to get some relief!
I wasn't asked, but it's "traditional" for the Chinese OMDs practicing on their own to keep prices the same for years for their regular patients. In my area, the going rate for acupuncture is about the same as for a massage, which I find unfair, considering it's 4 years of schooling.
It does get expensive, but sometimes insurance covers some of it. Medicare does not. UNC Hosp. offers it in their family medicine department, at a lower rate if 6 appointments are made. I see another practice doing that too.
So glad it is working for u....I have heard and repeated the same thing u want a Chinese acupuncturist to do this for u as it is the method that seems to work...my issues are the costs to go and ins....co-pays and what not it all adds up....do u find this expensive?
I'm so glad that this is helping you!
I am a big fan of acupuncture! (of course, there are good ones & bad ones). If mine still lived here, I probably never would've had surgery. I KNOW I would be recovering much better if he were still here. (part of my frustration)
My guy is an American PhD medical anthropologist, fluent & literate in Chinese. He's a scholar, so he's writing chapters in books & teaching acupuncturists in continuing education. They don't have to be limited to the ancient meridians! It's very exciting that acupuncture is evolving. Even limited acupuncture is probably better than none.
Needless to say, he's learning a lot about Chiari!
I am so happy that you have found relief with this! That's amazing and if nothing else would be well worth trying! :) I am back in PT to rebuild my quad in my right leg! There's a 3" difference in size between L & R! of course the 29 degree contracture and less than 90 degree bend aren't helping matters but I fight through the pain and cramps! Lol! They forgot how determined I am at therapy! Lol! I was told to take it easy and not to push myself to hard! Lol! I do anyway and pay for it later! But if I decided to go through with surgery 7 on my knee I need to build it up as I will lose some automatically after surgery and right now there is none to lose! I wonder if acupuncture would help with this also! :) it's a thought! So glad it's helping! (((HUGS))))
Could be, you just need to try another practitioner.
Unfortunately, it can be expensive, but TCM does treat what is too subtle for western medicine (like Dysautonomia). They aren't constricted by labels; they try to correct symptoms.