swimming through pudding

While combing through old posts for a "best of wmtc 2009," I came upon my reports on my acupuncture experience.

The first time I tried acupuncture, it was with a physiotherapist who was using it for deep-muscle trigger-point stimulation. The effects were good, but they were very localized - it only effected the one trigger point she stimulated. The treatment was very time-consuming and painful, and turned out to be too impractical for something as generalized as fibromyalgia.

But my second experience with acupuncture was very different. I saw a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, right in my own neighbourhood. Treatments were quick, painless - and very helpful.

Reading these old posts reminded me what excellent results I had. I didn't have a reduction in pain or tenderness, although the doctor thought I would eventually. But I did experience a huge increase in mental clarity and ability to concentrate. It was like having my old brain back again. (It also reminded me how much fibro effects my mental functioning.)

Now that I'm in school, I could really use those positive effects. I can get my work done, but it takes so much more effort to arrive at the same place. It feels like my brain is always fighting through fog. Like I'm mentally swimming through pudding, or walking through thick, wet clay.

Sometimes it's bad enough that I think about talking to my professors about a disability accommodation. I haven't done that, and probably won't... but that's how it feels. (Whine, whine, whine.)

Now with the start of a new calendar year, my supplement health coverage through Allan's job starts over. I could go for $400 worth of acupuncture treatments. If my experience is the same, just as the treatment begins to take effect, my coverage will run out. Or my school term will be ending. There's no way we can afford the treatments on our own. I get discouraged and think, why bother.

But perhaps it would take effect more quickly this time. Or perhaps... I don't know, something else. A bag of money falls on my head.