Thursday, January 20, 2011

Jen's #58 and Liz's #33 - Try Acupuncture

Jen here! I have always wanted to try Acupuncture. Right after massage school, in my never ending quest to find what really made me tick, I researched Acupuncture schools. Never even getting a treatment, I was convinced that is what I wanted to do....that is how I roll. Never got a massage?.....naturally I go to Massage Therapy School. Never lived on my own?....move to Las Vegas. I guess I tend to be go-with-your-emotions-not-your-head kind of girl. Anyway, I eventually got away from my Acupuncture school obsession and settled going to Esthetician school (never getting a facial, of course). So needless to say, I was pretty damn excited to try this!

Liz and I started off by filling out simple paperwork and then we had a joint consultation with Dr. Lee (of Lee's Oriental Medicine). Basically he asked why we were there and even though I had no serious pressing issues, I DO have a slipped disk in my low back that happened about 5 years ago. Every now and then it acts up, about once a year I can't walk or stand up straight for 2 days or if I am really active coupled with not stretching, I get a burning sensation in my left butt cheek. To some this might sound like a pleasant feeling but its not. So we decided that be the focus of this treatment.

We went into a room where he took my blood pressure (which was perfect, thank you) and then told me to take off my shoes and stand up. This is where he proceeded to lift up my shirt in the back, pull down my pants enough to grab my underwear and basically give me a wedgie. (I was wearing those boy short kind of panties, ok?!) He exposes most of my left butt check and starts....well, punching it. I wasn't sure what was going on but went with it. He went down my leg a little bit to ask where the pain goes, then came back up to my butt check and just started straight up, punching it... again! After a few more jabs to my lady lumps, he told me to lay face down on the table where he proceeds to stick these suction cup thingys on me. I have definitely seen these before...he said it was to increase circulation to the area.
I know it looks gross. Like I have utters. 

He lets those chill for about 10 minutes then brings the needles out. They didn't hurt at all going in and he seemed really impressed that I wasn't scared. haha. He connected some kind of electrodes to the needles, which made them vibrate and tingle....it was a pretty cool feeling! Surprisingly, it was really relaxing. I probably could have taken a little napper if I let myself! After about 20 minutes, he took them out (which surprisingly I could feel more then when they went in) and slapped a patch on my butt! He said it was 99% herbal and will help relax the muscle. It felt cold, soothing and was even entertaining when later on I took kickboxing and it came out the bottom of my pants because I forgot I had it on! 

All in all, I would try it again. I didn't really notice a HUGE change in the burning sensation as I went to work the next day BUT I know this is something that won't cure it in one session. 
Look at all those needles in my butt!

'Til next time!....Lovey, Jen
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Yo, yo, yo... Liz on the board now! How's it going?! Good! I'm good too, thanks.

So, I too have always wondering about acupuncture. I never did it because I always thought that it was super pricey, which some places are.

Dr. Lee was such a cutie. I couldn't help but giggle at some of the things he said sometimes and sometimes giggle because I had no idea what he was saying. I'm horrible with accents and he is Korean. This place is more of a medical acupuncture place. So this wasn't necessarily the best place for someone like me who doesn't really have any medical problems. There was a short list of medical "issues" he could address, which consisted mainly of joint pain, injuries and so on. So I went for the things that weren't really medical: anxiety/nervousness, insomnia, depression... Am I depressed? Three weeks out of 4, no. Do I have insomnia? No. My sleep schedule just sucks so I'm up usually until 3a.m. Do I suffer from anxiety/nervousness? Well, don't we all to some extent. Come on!

After hanging out with Jen for a little bit in her room, seeing those suction cups go on, (Boy, in person it looks crazy. haha. I thought her skin was going to burst like a pimple. But I've heard of it before from my mom, who has also had it done) Dr. Lee took me to another room to start "poking" me. He first put pressure on Solar Plexis Chakra. This does NOT feel good at all. I've had this done before with my mom's yoga master, Danielle. It feels like he is touching my spine through the front of my body. But, he told me that's where I hold a lot of stress.  


One went into my forehead.

There's one on the crown of my head.

A couple went into my legs through my jeans. They were too tight for him to pull up. I wish you could have heard/seen him laugh about that.

One into the hand and one into my arm.

Ahh.. You can see them better in my head here.

Relaxed!



As Jen said, you feel them coming out more than going in and he was pretty amazed that we weren't scared of the needles. Hello, we both have tattoos that were visable that day. hahaha. I'm pretty sure he said the one on top of my head bled a little when he took it out, but he took care of that with a cotton ball and pressure. I'm not exactly sure what he did to me, as I don't feel any different. But overall cool experience! I'd recommend it.

Til next time, keep it real! ~liz

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