Third Acupuncture, and Improvement.

I had the biggest victory so far last night when I blew a 360 on my Peak Flow Meter!

The reason 360 is such an important number, is because that officially puts me in the range for 'healthy' lung capacity. Albeit in the very very LOW range, but in the range nonetheless.I should always be in the numbers between those yellow squares, and this is literally the first time in years that that has happened. I spend my life breathing numbers below the red.

This is the kind of win I've been looking for since I started acupuncture, and I'm so happy to finally have something to look at and say "I did this! I work hard, change my diet, get stabbed with needles twice a week and it's all for something!" The best thing is that we're far from finished. Far, far from finished.

My acupuncturist felt the strength of my organs today, and was happy that all of them are stronger, which I certainly could have told him myself! He was very happy, as was I.

As of late, my energy levels have been higher, my nose isn't running as much, and I have suddenly lost the urge to drink coffee. I have been drinking coffee damn near everyday since I was 14, and just a few days ago I stopped craving it. Usually I wake up in the morning thinking about the way coffee tastes, and how it wakes me up, but lately it just hasn't had the same appeal to me. On an even cooler note, I've been drinking green tea if I ever feel like I need something to wake me up, which is probably a pretty damn awesome alternative.

So things are finally happening. It's not a lot, but it's noticeable.

Soon I will have a post about an at-home allergy test, and might start filling in some gaps with vegan and vegetarian recipes.

Second Acupuncture, Diet Restrictions, and Some Herbs

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.

First Acupuncture

My very first acupuncture appointment was today, and it was certainly a doozy. I guess I thought to myself that I knew what to expect, that I had expected some very serious and obvious change in my lungs and congestion, and I'm having a a harder time dealing with the fact that I am not completely healed than I thought I would.

The atmosphere was amazing. I took my shoes and socks off, and I went into a room where there were 3 other patients under blankets, looking peaceful and pretty close to asleep. I knew there would be other people there, and I found myself less anxious about it than I thought I would. The reason this is done this way, is that it's been proven through studies that people heal faster when in groups, than when alone. It's the same reason chemotherapy is done in groups. Anyway, Everyone looked peaceful, and I didn't feel anxious about it, so that was good.

My acupuncturist started off by putting 4 needles in my face, about 5 -7 in both of my arms and legs, and then put a blanket over me to let me rest. The needles actually hurt more than I thought they would, and my right arm started tingling almost immediately. Putting about 20 needles into me right away was very weird, but after they were in I could hardly feel them (except for the tingling).

At first, I felt amazed. My congestion cleared up, and considering I didn't take any Advair this morning, my breathing was surprisingly nice. However, after only a few minutes, my chest began to tighten, I started to wheeze, yawn uncontrollably, my congestion came back, and on top of all that, I was feeling very, very anxious, and considering how peaceful the atmosphere was, I could not relax or calm myself down.

The acupuncturist came over and asked me how I was doing, when I explained to him how I was feeling, he put another needle in my face (not even quite in my face, but rather right on my widow's peak), as well as a couple in my wrists, and some in my feet, and more on my legs. He also gave me what he called a "Happy tack". It's a small tack he put in the cartilage near the top of my right ear that he told me I could leave in for up to a week. It's connected to my sympathetic nervous system, and should keep any other anxieties at bay.

After the extra needles and the 'happy tack', my anxiety had dissipated within the minute, and my breathing became easier. I still felt wheezy, which I found very disappointing, and I continued to feel wheezy until i came home and took my Advair, but I'm trying to remind myself that all things worth having take time. I knew there wouldn't be obvious effects immediately, but I'm still finding it hard to accept, I thought at least my lung capacity would be a little higher, but it's hanging out where it normally is. My next appointment is only 2 days away, so we'll see what other things happen.

On the bright side, it's not as if nothing happened. I had been warned about 'healing responses', which include a lot of different experiences, one being extreme exhaustion. After the appointment was over, I was feeling okay, then after about half an hour, I juts got so tired I could do almost nothing productive. I thought maybe my sleepiness was due to a lack of coffee, but even as I was filling up my pot for coffee, I was feeling an overwhelming urge to just lie down on the kitchen floor. I ended up taking a long nap before my coffee had even finished brewing, and when I woke up I was still feeling as if doing anything besides sleeping more was too overwhelming. And when I finally did manage to get up and moving, I felt confused and disoriented. I was trying to make dinner, and was just having the damndest time comprehending my recipe.

Healing responses are good, though. It shows that things are happening, and that something, somewhere, in my body is moving forward towards something healthy. So maybe I shouldn't be so concerned with not feeling as though things are improving, as long as something is happening, right? Right.