It Might Just Be Magic.....

Three different times in my life I've visited an acupuncturist. The first time was while working at the Delaware Museum of Natural History and having problems with my hip. I'd tried anti-inflamatories and physical therapy....but the aches and pains lingered. So a co-worker mentioned acupuncture. My first reaction was one of complete skepticism....but then I figured "What have I got to lose?" Five visits....discomfort gone.

The second time was while we lived in Bayview and I was having problems with a shoulder. Same sort of progress until someone mentioned a good acupuncturist just a few blocks away. She had a lovely studio near the lake and, once again, within about six visits I felt so much better.

And then there was the two-year cough. Really, really annoying for both Dave and me. Loud and constant and frustrating. Visits to my primary care physician, allergy tests, chest x-rays, inhalers, a pulmonologist....no one had any real answers or any real "cures". They kept telling me what it wasn't and I was certainly glad to hear serious possibilities could be discounted. But still....cough, cough, cough.

So I decided to, once again, try acupuncture. My daughter recommended the one she visited and so off I went. Scott was very personable, well educated and thoughtful.....and within six to eight visits my cough was basically gone. Not completely....but compared to the previous two years I was "cured". I still go about twice a month. Just to stay in tune...for my sinuses, for my cough and my now aching thumbs. (Too much quilting) When I went yesterday I mentioned that my hips had really been bothering me for several weeks. They complained whenever I got up from a chair, and they ached after taking a walk. I said I thought it was probably aging and the beginnings of arthritis or someday hip replacement.....he said he'd try a couple extra needles to see if that would help.

Now my acupuncturist uses moxa rolls at the ends of the needles that he inserts into my legs. A little "ball" of some kind of herb material. He then lights them "on fire" and for about three-four minutes a sensation of warmth moves down each needle and it feels like I'm lying on a beach in the sunshine on a summer day. (I've asked if I could take some of the needles and moxa rolls home but he smiles and says no.) Well yesterday, he put the magic balls on the ends of the new needles and within a few minutes a felt a "ball" of warmth heat up inside at each hip joint. It was amazing....like having two internal heating pads. I loved it.

I go back in two weeks and he'll repeat the process. I already look forward to it....lying on the heated treatment table, listening to the meditative music and waiting for that moxa magic warmth to do it's stuff. I don't understand how or why it works and frankly don't care.

Yep....it's magic....and Scott's expertise. There's a reason acupuncture has been around for three to five thousand years!