A Licensed Acupuncturist’s First Acupuncture Treatment

In 1992, I was unhappy with my high tech marketing job and was looking for something else to do. When someone suggested acupuncture it immediately felt right. Trouble was I had never even had an acupuncture treatment.  Better give it a try so I decided to see if acupuncture could heal a rash that had just appeared on my arm.

My dermatologist had identified the rash, but said there was nothing he could do for it. I didn’t know any acupuncturists or anybody who had been to one so I just selected a name from the phone book and made my first ever acupuncture appointment.

It seems funny to me now but I was VERY nervous going in:

Would the needles hurt?

Did I have to believe in it for it to work?

Was I going to have to come back a bunch of times?

Should I have told my doctor I was doing this?

After the consultation my acupuncturist asked me to lie down on a table. She began to insert lots of thick needles into my hands, arms, feet and legs.

WHOA!

I felt every single insertion, especially when she manipulated the needles to “stimulate the Qi.” Actually, I broke out in a full body sweat.

For the next 30 minutes I lay there wondering if this was what I really wanted to do for a living or if the was the craziest idea I’d ever had. I HAD to find out if it this needed to be this painful.

So I researched a little deeper and learned that ACUPUNCTURE DOESN’T HAVE TO HURT—there are thinner, disposable needles available and the result was just as effective, if not more so, than heavier ones. Yea!

Over the next 3 years of acupuncture school, I practiced and practiced my technique and learned how to insert needles with as little discomfort as possible. Turns out the body responds very well to this more painless style and nowadays my clients are happier for it. I believe that if a treatment is painful, the body has a tendency to shut down and not respond as well.

I am happy to report that even though I was not comfortable with MY first acupuncture treatment, it did clear my rash right up!

Otherwise, I might still be working in a job that did not feed my soul. Acupuncture rocks!