Episode 4 (Day441) Acupuncture

I'm beat! Just got back from a fantastic road trip to Buffalo and really haven't quite caught up on the sleep. The trip was definitely worth the missed Zs though. It was pretty awesome. There were waterfalls, s'mores, 70mph winds, Cold Stone, and a potential scabies outbreak. Thankfully Jon and I survived all of it without any scars (without scabies too)! Don't worry, false alarm! No contagious diseases here!



So road trips can be a little rough as a result of the RSD. This is because (and I'm not sure how many other RSD survivors have this symptom) the longer my foot is down, the more pain I have. This is why most of the time you'll see me with my foot up on a chair, a desk or even propped up on my cane. So a road trip is not quite as bad as a movie which isn't as bad as a plane ride. Movies just require understanding from my date and theater ushers when I prop my foot up on the seats in front of me. It's a little harder to do that in an airplane though. Anyway, the trip was fun and it's back to the grind and back to trying to figure out what the next step in my fight against RSD is.

Part of my exploration to find a cure has been alternative methods. So far that has led me to acupuncture. A friend of my father's actually fractured some of the vertebrae in his spine and has had amazing pain relief from this particular acupuncturist. As I've said, I'm willing to try pretty much anything to get some relief, so acupuncture has now become part of my treatment program. Now this may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but let's review what exactly we're talking about here. First, RSD causes my foot to be INCREDIBLY sensitive to any kind of touch. Second, acupuncture involves sticking many small needles into my foot. Put those two things together and you can see why it was a slightly terrifying idea to me. Let me tell you, I was pretty twitchy about the whole thing when I went for the first visit. Oh and it was totally warranted. Woo hoo does it totally suck to have needles stuck in your foot. Now I've heard people say that they don't feel those needles because they are so small, but I would like to say to them, "Liar liar pants on fire!"

This week was my third visit with my acupuncturist (Dr. K). The first visit Dr. K put the needles on both legs, both arms, my forehead and on my ears. Apparently the ear needles were to help me relax. I personally think if she wanted me to relax she shouldn't have stuck me with needles! Anyway, there were slightly more needles in the right lower leg (where the RSD is) than the others. Now here's the cool part. It definitely hurt more on the right side when she put needles there, but after about 1 minute, I couldn't feel those needles at all. I could feel every other needle in every other spot, but I couldn't feel a single needle below my R knee. In fact, most of the other needles were pretty itchy and the ones in my ears actually hurt a little. I think they hurt because they were trying to accomplish the impossible task, getting me to relax. So the first session lasted about 35 minutes and my mother was there with me keeping me company. A couple of days after the first session I actually felt a little bit of relief. I thought that maybe this was working! Now, to be fair, that was about the same time that I started taking the Lyrica.

The second session was a week later and my father came with me. This time Dr. K only put the needles in my lower legs. She must have given up on trying to get me to relax. So again, it was like medieval torture. No, I'm kidding. I won't lie, the needles felt like little bee stings, but again the discomfort was pretty short lived and again after about a minute I didn't feel the needles in the right leg. The session lasted about 35 minutes and I didn't really feel a difference either initially or in the days that followed. But I'm nothing if not stubborn so I made another appointment. Now, Dr. K has said since the first session that she felt I'd have to have sessions about once a week for a little while and then maybe the frequency would decrease if I did get relief.

Oh! I should mention that unfortunately my insurance company, MVP, does not cover acupuncture, but many insurance companies do, so if you're thinking about doing it, check to see if it's covered. It's a pretty expensive treatment. I'm paying $55 for each session, which can add up after a while.

So my third session was on Tuesday. This time I brought Jon with me. Or rather he brought me. Either way, poor Dr. K must think I'm some sort of nutcase who can't be alone. Truth is, my family is just interested in the acupuncture and in being part of the quest for the cure! Anyway, the third session Dr. K only put needles in my right lower leg. Oh, man this one was different! Almost immediately my entire foot lit up in pain. It was very similar to the pain that I had following the failed sympathetic block (I'll blog about that later). During the whole 45 minutes of the session I held Jon's hand and felt like my foot was on fire. The pain followed the same path as the flare ups that I have. To describe it accurately, I felt like my foot was in a sock of hot needles. My heel is always spared. The pain shoots from the big toe across my foot and up the outside of my leg. The pain from that session lasted about 2-3 hours afterwards and my foot hasn't quite gotten back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be.

Now here's what I choose to take from this session. Dr. K said (and I agree) that this means that something must be happening with the acupuncture and this might indicate that she's doing something right. Hey, at least it's something, right? I'm going back next Friday and will be updating you all on the progress.

Alright, I'm off to bed. It's much too late and I'm much too tired to type any more. Plus the dog just ran into the other room and I think it may have been to poop somewhere. Gotta run!

Nitty Gritty:
Medications: Lyrica, Lortab (1)
Activities: Moderate day of work, some walking
Weather: Cool, rainy
Pain level: 6