May 2010 - At my last Neurologist appointment the doctor gave me the option of receiving a prescription for pain killers. I declined the prescription for several reasons. The first of which is that I know how much pain I'm in and I could see myself becoming very dependant on the medication. Plus they held off on prescribing this kind of medication because headache sufferes tend to get rebound headaches and it makes the problem worse. The second is that our extended family has a history of addiction and I don't want to get near that. Perhaps I watch too much Intervention. So she suggested accupuncture as a hollistic way to ease the pain. My aunt has been treated with acupuncture for migraines and swears by it so I thought it was worth a shot if insurance could cover it.
Our insurance changed January 1st and I hadn't yet read the plan summary to see what kind of new coverage we had. Luckily our benefits for accupuncture changed and when another method of pain management has failed and performed by a chiropractor or certified accupuncturist in an office setting the treatment is covered. It took a couple of weeks for me to gather up the rates and to find someone who could help me but I landed on a doctor next to the office I work in.
The first day I had laser acupuncture based on the theory that energy can get your body back in tune. It was the strangest feeling. The neck pain I had after the Pain Management doctor did occipital nerve injections went away and I was back to localized pain in the temple area on the left side of my head. The he changed the laser position and frequency and the pain began to throb then slowly the throb slowed down and it became almost like a surge. I walked out of the office virtually pain free.
Today I had my second session. He used the laser as well as traditional acupuncture needles. He also did accupressure on my neck since those muscles are completely locked. Agian I walked out in no pain. I go back Friday and three times next week. We are hoping with aggresive treatment we can get the pain to go away. I feel hopeful agian and thats always a good thing.
