Why acupuncture
When I was fourteen I developed seasonal allergies that left me feeling horrible. I would wake up with a stuffy and runny nose, itchy eyes, and, even worse, ringing in my ears from all the pressure in my sinuses. The ringing in my ears was the most debilitating part of the whole experience; I would be in the school hallway, totally overwhelmed with the sounds of hundreds of kids going to class. The ringing in my ears was confusing, upsetting, and very disorienting. It was like I was carrying my own personal ocean around. The strangest part of the whole experience was that around noon, all of these symptoms would go away.
When I mentioned it to my parents, they immediately made an appointment with my pediatrician. My doctor was typically wonderful and understanding. This particular visit though was quite different. I mentioned the ringing in my ears and how it felt like I had the flu every morning. His response was allergies cannot cause that ringing in your ears, you are listening to your music too loudly. Stop listening to music with your headphones or you are going to damage your hearing even further. You may have caused permanent hearing damage already. He also advised that I try an over the counter anti-histamine to alleviate all of my other symptoms. That was the end of the visit.
To say that I was surprised and disappointed with this response would be an understatement. I was also afraid. Hearing loss was something I had never considered and actually wondered if I had caused damage already. I listened to my iPod every morning on the way to school, maybe I had listened too loudly for too long and now I was paying for it. I was also wary of becoming sleepy from taking allergy medication. My allergies affected me during the morning, meaning it would affect me mostly during school, when I needed to be the most awake and alert. I was also confused; if I had hearing loss, why did the ringing disappear with the rest of my allergy symptoms by noon?
Some weeks passed and I was still suffering. The ringing in my ears got progressively more frequent and I was having trouble listening to my teachers. My mom was telling her coworker about my struggles with allergies and how she was confused what to do. My mom’s coworker turns out also suffered from seasonal allergies and he recommended an acupuncturist that he saw when the seasons changed.
I made an appointment to see this acupuncturist as soon as possible. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but I had never heard of acupuncture. All I knew needles was that needles were involved
The day of the appointment was one of the worst days in terms of my allergy symptoms, especially the ringing in my ears. When I walked into the appointment, my acupuncturist took one look at me, rubbed my shoulder and said, don’t worry, honey. It is going to be okay. That subtle support and communication that she understood what I was saying was essential. I’ll never forget it.
When she put the needles in (some on my face, some near my ears, some on my hands, some on my feet!) she let me relax. And in that 20 minutes, I could feel my sinuses draining and suddenly the ringing in my ears was gone.
The amount of gratitude that I have for this entire experience, including my doctor’s input and even my allergies themselves, is massive. Without any of these factors I would not have become an acupuncturist. I would not have understood what it felt like to be unheard in a doctors office. I would never have realized that support alone can be life changing especially when we are talking about our health.
So much of this experience informed me about how I want to approach my acupuncture practice. I want to provide support and understanding to every one I am lucky enough to treat.
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended for the purpose of providing medical advice. All information, content and material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment.
