Anxiety, Arthritis and Acupuncture
By Patricia White
By Patricia White
Each New Year brings a new start or so we tell ourselves. A new year is no different from each new day. Humans, especially this one, always believe tomorrow will be bigger and better. It’s like erasing the big classroom blackboard once a year, once a week or once a day. The chalk dust is still in the air, but will soon settle somewhere, just as the things we try to erase from our lives and bodies. This dust just takes a little longer to settle out.
I had a snake-bit kind of year in 2019 in two big A words….
Arthritis and Anxiety. I started new meds a half dozen times for each, stopped each a
half dozen times and cried two dozen times
more because I just wasn’t getting the results I wanted, or the side effects
were worse than the ailments, or it was too hot, too cold, too hard or just
wasn’t in God’s time.
With all the new wild-child treatments on the horizon,
it was time for me to step out there and test the waters. I have heard so much
about CBD oil and that the folks who were taking it were all but walking on
water after anointing their tongue with the oil of the sacred leaf.
It took two stores before I found a lady who was knowledgeable enough to tell
me exactly how many drops of which sacred oil I needed to achieve a state
somewhere between ecstasy and relief. I didn’t want to feel like I was floating
or give off an aura that something was funky with my soul. I just wanted
relief, no side effects, nor to feel out of the ordinary, just good!
I took my little green bottle of CBD oil home and started using the
drops immediately. Nothing happened. Damn. There’s always
tomorrow. Next day, I went for my thirty-two-year cancer-free checkup. I was
thinking about telling the Doc I had started taking CBD oil. I was worried she
would not approve. When the nurse took my blood pressure and it was in the stroke
zone, I knew I HAD to tell her. My mind was already racing to the moon
that the one dose of drops was going to kill me via stroke. This is part of my
problem. I worry too much about things that are never going to happen. The
Doctor was thrilled that I was taking CBD. She praised it and said they had
many patients achieving great results from Abraham to Zachariah. Wow, did I
feel better. The Doctor also strongly suggested Acupuncture and gave me a
brochure about a clinic they referred patients to and trusted. I was on a roll! Did you notice, another A
word? Acupuncture.
I thought about the Acupuncture thing for a few days as I continued
my CBD oil treatment. On day six, I woke up with no anxiety and my knees were
an itsy bit better. I called for an Acupuncture appointment. An appointment was
available the next day and I was ready. The sweetest Chinese lady, Ling, greeted me
and welcomed me to the world of ancient Chinese medicine. Without a fear in my
fluffy old body, I crawled up on that table and welcomed an array of thin
needles. Ling placed one needle in the “happy
spot” in the center of my forehead, two in my ear lobe, several in my low back,
leg and my foot. About 20 in all. No pain. She then attached electrodes and
turned on the juice, one needle at a time. When I felt a little sizzle,
I let her know. It was all good, until she turned out the light and said she’d
be stepping out for about 15 min. OK, then I got scared. What if my warm-up
pants come sliding back up over my butt if I coughed or sneezed and all the
needles come flying out, shocking me senseless? Here comes the
anxiety again, then the tears. I am a hot mess and a weeping wuss. Not a freaking
thing was hurting but I didn’t want to be left alone. She asked if I’d like to
listen to some classical music. Yes, please. She asked if I’d like her to get
my hubby from the waiting room. Yes, please. Moments later, my Phil came in,
touched my head with the special energy he brings to me and I relaxed, trying
not to look at my watch too often. Close to 15 minutes of being hooked up, I
was ready for that needle in the happy spot in the middle of my forehead to
come out. It wasn’t making me happy. It wasn’t hurting me, but I knew it
was there. I could see it, even in the dimly lit room. I asked my hubs to take
a picture so I could always remember this moment.
The door opened. In walked
the Ling. She asked how I was feeling. Good, thanks. She removed the needles as
quickly as she put them in, and I was done. See you next week. I felt so proud of myself. We are barely into
February and I have tried two new things, and both have been painless,
effortless and I think I am finally on the right path. I can do this. No
more drugs!!!