At age 19 an orthopedic specialist diagnosed me with degenerative disks in my lower back. He told me that my condition was irreparable and would worsen over time. He said to me, “I have never seen so much degeneration in the spine of a 19 year old.” When I was in pain, I went to see him and he treated me with steroids. Even with the medications I was always in pain. By age 27 the steroids no longer helped my pain at all and he told me the next step for treatment was to get epidural injections in my spine. The idea of starting injections at such a young age frightened me and motivated me to seek alternative forms of treatment for my condition. Luckily I stumbled upon acupuncture.
My first visit for acupuncture could not have been more different from my first visit to the orthopedist. After informing my acupuncture doctor of my medical condition, he told me, “We can help your pain. Come here and you will feel good. No other doctor had ever told me I could live a life without pain. I didn’t believe him but I wanted to, so I made 10 appointments not really thinking it would do any good. I was wrong. My back started to get better; it was better than ever with no steroids and no injections. One year later I felt better than I thought possible, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.
I continued my acupuncture treatments. In addition to treating my back pain, my acupuncture doctor treated me for what he called my “whole body balance”. Over time I felt myself gaining a new sense of connection within my body and a new awareness within my mind, and I realized that I had been living my entire life up to that point as an unhappy person and I never even knew. I thought it was normal to dread the sound of the alarm clock every morning and drag myself, almost against my will, through each school/ work day. The only time I could ever say with certainty that I was happy was when I was on vacation. I was unhappy living day to day in my real life, and this was, and always had been, my deepest problem.
Though it took me quite a while to identify my unhappiness, my acupuncture doctor recognized it almost immediately. He gave me needles to adjust my body. He told me that according to the research in animals, acupuncture increases endorphin secretion in the brain, which leads to happiness and good feeling, and my endorphin level might be below average. He told me normal people want to get up in the morning because they are happy about their lives and therefore strong to face the day. I could now see the difference between myself and a happy person, but it was hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that my unhappiness could change. By contrast my acupuncture doctor was certain that he could help me become a happy person and make me change from my heart, “Come here and you can be good. You can be so good”, he would tell me. And yet again he was right. To my surprise I found myself no longer dreading the alarm clock in the morning. I now want to go to work and have doubled my daily output. I have a smile on my face each morning and feel very lucky to be who I am. My daily life is great, and nothing in it changed other than my perspective. I never thought I, or anyone else for that matter, could change genuinely in such a profound way but that is exactly what has happened to me. Acupuncture has made me into a strong, happy person. I plan to continue on this path and am certain that acupuncture is the key that is able to unlock my best possible self. Now I am so good.
30 year old, F. April 12, 2013. E01088, H & Z Acupuncture. hz-acupuncture.com