My second acupuncture seemed....different, somehow. I felt a little anxiety going in, but absolutely none while in the chair. While I was being stuck, I felt calm, tired, wonderful, a little inspired. He put pressure on my knee, asked me if it did anything for my congestion, (which, it didn't, not really), then put pressure right above my ankle, and my nose cleared up in an instant. He put a series of needles in my feet and ankles, and for a solid 15 minutes I was able to breathe in and out of my nose! It went away after a little bit, and he said he wasn't too surprised considering all of my sinus/chest congestion.
He 'prescribed' a couple herbal tinctures for me, one for the asthma itself, and one to detox my body of all the bad stuff in my liver, I guess. I'm supposed to dilute it in water and take both of them twice a day. I have yet to try them, but my money is on the fact that they are probably disgusting. I peeked at the list of ingredients, only to see a bunch of Chinese herbs I couldn't even begin to recognize. So, this should be magically mysterious.
I was also given a list of dietary restrictions to help my asthma and congestion, and let me just say that 'overwhelmed' does not even begin to cover how I feel about it. Considering I've been a vegetarian for a solid 5 weeks, more diet changes are really really scary to me. Here are some of the things he is asking of me:
1. No dairy of any kind, ever. Since I watched Forks Over Knives the other day, I've been very aware of how much dairy I've been taking in, and I've been managing to cut back on it, but he's telling me none, whatsoever, or I'm going to stay congested pretty much forever, and the acupuncture won't do as much for me as it could.
2. Eat less soy. Pardon my French, but: FUCK. After becoming a vegetarian, AND cutting back on my dairy, I've been turning to soy for a lot of things. I've been getting a lot of protein from soy products (including at least 1/4 cup of soy nuts almost every day), and replacing milk with soy milk when I have the opportunity to at work. I bought some Almond Milk today, so hopefully that should give me some freedom with something somewhere.
3. No coffee. Not sure where to go with this one. I love coffee. LOVE IT. It's my favorite thing, possibly ever, and espresso even helps my asthma if I'm having a bad lung day. Every single one of my instincts are telling me to just say OH NO. HELL NO. But, there is tea, and liquid ginseng, and other things. I can certainly try, and I will.
4. 'Congee for breakfast daily'. Not sure what this is. Must investigate.
5. No carbs. Upon tracking my calories lately, I have found that I eat too many carbs every single day of my life. So, certainly this will be worth looking into.
6. No sweets. Fuuuuuuuu, why won't you let me have anythinggggggggg?! I mean seriously, at this point, I feel like if I'm not eating vegetables constantly, I'm going to be doing something wrong.
7. No food with artificial coloring. Okay, I'm cool with this one, because I know it triggers my asthma in weird ways.
8. Cut back on nuts. ABSDGODWG*OGW((*)HRE@(*)R@YG*. I can't have soy, meat, or nuts. I just don't know what you want from me anymore. Truly, I don't. Although, I did not realize that peanuts contribute to phlegm production. I can certainly cut back on that.
9. Sleep my 10 PM. Err....no. Most nights I'm done with work at 10:30, and get home around 11. However, I think I get the concept. I HAVE been going to bed around 4 AM for the last 6 months, I can certainly aim to move that back to 1 AM.
10. Among all these things, he also suggested getting an air purifier, washing my sheets once a week, taking a probiotic called "Floragen", meditating twice a day and avoiding other things I am already avoiding (such as meat). These things I know I can manage.
So, that's a lot. I am basically 'allowed' to eats fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. Again, I know this is for my health, for my asthma, but it's a lot. He told me to start slowly, to not overwhelm myself, but that is clearly not working.
He also keeps talking to me about lowering my stress levels. To meditate, to get away from things. I've never considered myself "stressed", but I get uptight, and kind of controlling, maybe that's what he means. Ah, anyway. I can't think about all of this right now.
Post-acupuncture was certainly different from last time. Where on Tuesday I almost took a nap on my kitchen floor, today I feel riled up. I feel like running, and maybe punching something. I feel careless, and I feel like eating a gallon of ice cream, eating a cheeseburger, and smoking a freaking cigarette. I feel like sprinting across town. I feel like listening to metal. I feel...weird. I feel like I'm 14-years-old, and spiting everything around me. I'm hoping a lot of this is related to my stress regarding my new diet restrictions, and I will hopefully calm down soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment