Acupuncture
My head's a bit swimmy, but pleasantly so, and that would explain the strange looks I got at the grocery store. Or it could just be that the store was crowded and my hair obviously needs washed.
But after dancing around it a bit I went to a traditional medicine place near my home, thinking acupuncture might be a better way to keep my gut functional, better than the speedy things I'm being prescribed now. My blood pressure is up from before and I figure the meds have something to do with that, so I"m doing what I can to get off them.
So I go there and even the doctor's English is minimal, but some things are easy to describe. He has a blood pressure machine in the lobby, so he knows that. Bless him he said "a little bit high". Something over 90, IMHO, is too much. I explained the simple thing first--my right ankle is still stiff from twisting it from IIRC over a month ago and prone to tightness pains in the heel. I mentioned/gestured stomach troubles, that I take medication for that but that I don't like medication. I got poked a lot, said ouch a few times and OUCH a couple times, and I think we understood each other.
Got sent to a cot with one of those massagey things on it--a nice touch--and got a few needles poked into my right foot, ankle, and shin. I'm a bit of a masochist, so the needle pokes were not a problem at all, though there was no doubting that they were needle pokes. The one on the top of the foot was quite intense. For the digestive system, apparently, I got these two odds things poked in my left thumb. They're like band-aids with little needles underneath--I took pictures of that and will post them soon. Those I don't take out until tomorrow. So I lay there getting my back pounded for twenty minutes, nice. I get a weird sensation like there's a needle in my butt, but I ignore it. The lady in pink scrubs comes in and pulls out the needles in the foot and leg and then puts these suction-cup massagers on my foot. No fair, I think. The orthopod would have skipped the needles and gone straight to those, so there's no scientificish way to know whether the needles helped the stiff ankle. More happy pounding on my back, aaaah. I'd been wanting a massage since I woke up this morning and that will have to do. I get moved to a different cot and have a wet wand--ultrasound therapy?--rubbed around the ankle, again a trick from the orthopod's playbook. No matter, having fun and they take the national health card. I got a prescription bag of herbal tea I'm supposed to drink after meals for a couple of days, and it's the weekend so I don't have to worry about side effects that could trash me.
So I have these little pricklies in my left thumb that I can't even feel, a thirst that took two cups of water to quench, and a head that's only slightly less loopy for sitting here writing this. I have a lead on a housecleaner because I'm tired of the dishes building up every week, and incidentally a lead on a place to celebrate Christmas with the other immigrants in town. Could've had Thanksgiving locally if I'd checked on it sooner, meh.
Oh wow, hands are now wobbly and over-relaxed. Weeeeee!
Acupuncture is fun. Now to see if it does any good. Now to have lunch and contemplate cleaning and organizing this place.
But after dancing around it a bit I went to a traditional medicine place near my home, thinking acupuncture might be a better way to keep my gut functional, better than the speedy things I'm being prescribed now. My blood pressure is up from before and I figure the meds have something to do with that, so I"m doing what I can to get off them.
So I go there and even the doctor's English is minimal, but some things are easy to describe. He has a blood pressure machine in the lobby, so he knows that. Bless him he said "a little bit high". Something over 90, IMHO, is too much. I explained the simple thing first--my right ankle is still stiff from twisting it from IIRC over a month ago and prone to tightness pains in the heel. I mentioned/gestured stomach troubles, that I take medication for that but that I don't like medication. I got poked a lot, said ouch a few times and OUCH a couple times, and I think we understood each other.
Got sent to a cot with one of those massagey things on it--a nice touch--and got a few needles poked into my right foot, ankle, and shin. I'm a bit of a masochist, so the needle pokes were not a problem at all, though there was no doubting that they were needle pokes. The one on the top of the foot was quite intense. For the digestive system, apparently, I got these two odds things poked in my left thumb. They're like band-aids with little needles underneath--I took pictures of that and will post them soon. Those I don't take out until tomorrow. So I lay there getting my back pounded for twenty minutes, nice. I get a weird sensation like there's a needle in my butt, but I ignore it. The lady in pink scrubs comes in and pulls out the needles in the foot and leg and then puts these suction-cup massagers on my foot. No fair, I think. The orthopod would have skipped the needles and gone straight to those, so there's no scientificish way to know whether the needles helped the stiff ankle. More happy pounding on my back, aaaah. I'd been wanting a massage since I woke up this morning and that will have to do. I get moved to a different cot and have a wet wand--ultrasound therapy?--rubbed around the ankle, again a trick from the orthopod's playbook. No matter, having fun and they take the national health card. I got a prescription bag of herbal tea I'm supposed to drink after meals for a couple of days, and it's the weekend so I don't have to worry about side effects that could trash me.
So I have these little pricklies in my left thumb that I can't even feel, a thirst that took two cups of water to quench, and a head that's only slightly less loopy for sitting here writing this. I have a lead on a housecleaner because I'm tired of the dishes building up every week, and incidentally a lead on a place to celebrate Christmas with the other immigrants in town. Could've had Thanksgiving locally if I'd checked on it sooner, meh.
Oh wow, hands are now wobbly and over-relaxed. Weeeeee!
Acupuncture is fun. Now to see if it does any good. Now to have lunch and contemplate cleaning and organizing this place.