About two years ago I began to experience some pain in my left thumb and the surrounding tissue.My thumb ached, but the pain was tolerable. A month later, though, it had spread until my entire hand was in so much pain that the only way could get a little relief was to wear one of those hand splints on it. Over a short period of time, it progressed to the point where I had almost no use of my left hand at all. I had to get help putting on clothing, and if by chance I forgot about what was going on for a moment and picked something up, the pain would just shoot through me.
A few months later, both my shoulders started to seize up. I could not lift my hands above my head, and my range of motion was severely impaired. My family got tired of watching me grimace, and although I know better than to do this,( because Western medicine does not work well for me), I went to my doctor at Kaiser. She gave me muscle relaxers and a splint and sent me home. The pain and inability to move my hand and arm only got worse and the muscle relaxers helped a little, but they did not fix the problem.
Through my husband’s BNI group, I met Dr. Anna Chang. I am not advertising for her here, but I am advocating. Dr Anna proceeded to stick her long, slender needles into various parts of my body, she even lit several of them on fire. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall, watching me lie there, on the table, with needles sticking out everywhere, some of them smoking..it’s kind of a funny picture. Now those of you who know me already, you know that I am deathly afraid of needles, but when you are in pain, it’s surprising what you let people do to you.
Gradually I noticed that my hand was feeling better, and over time I have gotten almost all motion back in my shoulders. It didn’t happen over night, the treatments took a few months, and I still go for a session whenever I can. Dr. Anna told me the pain in my shoulders was the result of weak lung function. It was not something wrong with the shoulders themselves. As I do have asthma, who was I to argue? Week after week, she continued to stick her needles in me, she gave me some Chinese herbs to take, plus some exercises to do. I did as she asked, and I am better.
And the side effects? You are going to laugh at this. The side effects of her treatment is I no longer have anxiety attacks when i am driving on the California freeways!! I did not have them every time I drove, but I would have them without warning, and let me tell you, you don’t want to be driving at 70 mph on the freeway, in the passing lane, when you start having an anxiety attack. I had not even told her about the anxiety attacks, and I myself did not even realize I was better until I was cruising down the 5, singing along with the music, and realized that I was NOT having an anxiety attack.
I sound like a big pile of mess here, I am not. None of these things ever stopped me from working or living my life, but they did cause it to be a little more difficult. Now that they are gone, everything is a lot easier. I don’t know why acupuncture, or massage, or chiropractor work for me. They just do. I have worked with Ambika Waters, on my homeopathic remedies for poor circulation and stomach issues, the roots of which were emotional issues from various unpleasant life experiences. My sister, Valentina always alleviates my back pain when she stretches and massages me.
I do know that the theme in Western medicine is to provide people with relief from pain. I also know most of the time, they don’t advertise a cure. I know plenty of good doctors, and many of them try their best with the tools they have been given, but even they are getting frustrated and are starting to prescribe holistic remedies.
I am not saying this works for everyone, to rise up and throw away your pills and your doctors, all I am saying is for me, finding out why things hurt, and fixing those things, works better than taking a pill to make it stop for a little while..
Cindy Fletcher
