ChiKat

Being a pin cushion was interesting. I can't say my arthritis is cured, but I wasn't really expecting that. I can't say my arthritis is better, and I was hoping to say that. But the session did have an impact on my body. The acupuncture did something.

I got to the session on time, and we spent over an hour talking about the pain I feel, and how my actions impact the pain. There were leading questions about my relationship with my family (good, so nothing to talk about there), my marriage (also good, despite the dirty dishes) and my job (the one I quit that wasn't satisfying, and the one I have now, which is fine). All in all, the consensus was that the usual stress triggers weren't an issue in my life, but I was still in a pain.

Not a ton of pain, which suggests to me that if I did have the usual triggers, my RA would be much worse.

The final decision was that I have problems with my blood flow, coupled with wind and damp.

I guess that wind and damp are common components of acupuncture. The idea is that cold or damp energy can clog the meridians in your body, or as in my case, be blown around my body, causing arthritic pain. I did a little Googling, and it sounds like the damp/wind diagnosis isn't entirely original – in fact, it's the pretty common cause of arthritic pain in most people, according to acupuncturists.

My acupuncturist put needles along the meridians in my feet, legs and arms, in an attempt to slowly correct things. She told me not to expect anything right away. Instead, she wanted to see me monthly for about two years. At the end of two years, we should have fixed the blood problem and I would have gotten as much out of acupuncture as possible.

I liked that she had a timeline in mind, although two years seems like a long time. Especially for something I don't entirely buy into.

At the same time, I woke up the following morning feeling looser. My joints felt lubricated. Instead of crackling and popping, they moved smoothly. My swollen wrist is a little less swollen.

So something happened. I'm going to stick it out for a few more months. It isn't cheap, but at $50 a visit, it's not unbearable. The visits are coming out of my clothing allowance, so I will be decidedly unfashionable this summer, but I figure I'm spending it on internal beauty, so it can't be all bad.

In a few months, I will either be telling you about all the money I wasted, or I will be raving about the joys of the needle.