Migraine

Ok dear, I just looked back after writing about my chinese Dr. and saw the picture of your neck. Poor baby!! Please explain what was done to you, in detail.

When my dr. did what he called cupping,he took round glass balls. They are opened on one side. Kind of lloks like a round drinking glass. He put a small amount of oil on skin, then somehow, I think with a lighter, put smoke in the jar and stuck it on my skin. What happened was the ball of the jar sucked up my muscle. It hurt but felt good too. He said this treatment stretches muscles and relaxes them. Yes my skin turned red but only in the circle area where the opening of the jar sat on the skin. Now I do bruise EXTREMLY easy. However suffered no bruising just the red circle for 3 or 4 days.Nothing like what I see on your photo.


Not giving any med. advise but this I know. When I started seeing chinese Dr. I gave him a complete list of drugs, and dosages and lenght of time I had been on them. Also when I see my fibro Dr. I gave him a complete list of all the herbs in my herbal formula. This is CRITICAL that ALL DR"S know what vitamins, herbs and medications you are taking. Even over the counter cold meds ect. Then just to be safe I double check with the pharmacist. Drugs, and herbs can affect one another. Even some foods will interact with drugs.
If your acupuncturist had you on herbs then took you off it may be because he knows there can be interactions, and does not want to harm you.

Now I could not believe how this treatment helped my back muscle spasms. When Dr. saw the red marks on my skin he said " Oh, your skin turn red. Hmmm." I did not inquire as to whether this was normal, because he does not speak good english. However, I guessed by his tone that it was not the usual result.

One day I was shopping and there was a girl that had smaller red circles on her face. I asked her what happened as it looked as though she had been burned. She told me she had acupuncture for migrain.

quote:

Originally posted by Candace:
I'm including a little pic of my neck after spooning, just the one side, although the bruises went all the way around. You can see that it's definitely bruised all along trigger points in the neck, and not just "all over" although I can attest he did the technique all over.

He too was very anti-meds... I didn't mention my Topamax... but he frowned quite a bit over my birth control meds. I however, have no intention of quitting them, since I'm in suspicion of possibly developing some ovarion cysts and the meds may be keeping them at bay... something he accepted with a bit of a grimace. He did point out that they mess with your kidney, which I guess aids in soft tissue healing... which would be issue for me with my collagen issues... so I appreciated his insight, but he was kinda pushy.

I wish I knew more what to expect, but I guess just like anything it's all a guessing game. I have found that the natural docs are just as egotistical as the MDs, but they tend to believe in their ability to "cure" you more.

Bev, you're too cute! ("Poor baby!!") It actually didn't hurt really when he did it--two days later I felt a little like I had been run over by a truck... but the actual treatment was ok.

Spooning is actually called Gua Shua I think.. he used a chinese soup spoon and oil and rubbed my skin with it. You'll see the bruises kinda center in circles... ish.. those are trigger points in my neck. The idea in this treatment is that it draws up blocked blood in from your trigger points. I think mine was extra bad, but that is the idea in the treatment.

I've also heard of cupping before. He actually did some *very* light cupping to my upper back at the same time as this... I guess they can do it just a tiny bit to relax the muscles, it didn't even leave a mark.

You're probably right, I'd probably be better off telling him about all of my meds, but he also didn't ask. I went back one more time, and since I didn't fare to well (head pain wise) after the spooning, he opted to just needle me. I haven't gone back since... I just wasn't that impressed. I may try acupuncture again, maybe even spooning (!), but I'll doubt I'll be seeing him anymore.

I said poor baby because those marks looked scary to me. I bruise very easily and when I bruise it hurts.
I cannot say I blame you for not going back. If a treatment does not work why wast the $$. I hope you find something that works well for you.

Yeah, I knew you were being sweet--you sound sweet! I actually might give spooning another try... some interesting things happened in my head during the treatment... but I really didn't "click" with the practitioner... and I'd like to. I also hear acupuncture explained as a very relaxing experience--and I want to get in on that part of it!! For now though, I don't have the energy to pursue it... it's not totally off the list, but it's not on the short one! Thanks for the kind words.