Cupping bruises
It started with a sore shoulder and neck - no big deal, maybe I just wrenched a muscle. The days go on, Ibuprofen is swallowed in heroic quantities, the stretches are done but the pain remains. I start to feel a tingling in my left arm, but ignore it. It only tingles when I set my left elbow down on the desk, so let's just not do that, OK?
The tingling turns into numbness. "OMG, my left arm and hand are completely numb! Am I slurring my speech? Catch me if I stroke out!" I don't stroke out but the numbness continues. It's no longer isolated to moments when I rest my left elbow on the desk; it's now numb regardless of position. I'm left-handed and start to worry that I'm doing permanent nerve damage by ignoring the problem.
A logical person might get a referral to a chiropractor. I'm not always logical and remember a friend waxing poetic about acupuncture, so I go the alternative route and schedule a non insurance-covered appointment at my city's center of acupuncture. Nothing wrong with me that a few needles won't fix! I've never tried acupuncture before and am frankly fascinated.
The practitioner asks me many questions about my health, my level of stress and declares me a typical candidate for acupuncture. I don't much like being typical, but if that means I am cleared for needle therapy, so be it. During the examination, I tell her that I have ITP, an immune system deficiency that results in me having way less platelets than normal people. "That just contributes to your fatigue and irritability", she says. Yay, my irritability is clinical!
I take off my shirt and she starts working over my shoulder. She asks if I've done anything to try and fix it. "My boyfriend tried giving me a backrub, but it's so deep that I couldn't feel what he was doing. And he has great hands for deep backrubs."
"I'm putting in the needles now - how does that feel?" Actually, I don't feel anything, it doesn't hurt a bit. "Do you feel any sensations?" Nope. "Hmmm. Have you ever heard of cupping?" Why yes, yes I have.
"Cupping could help you. It creates a tight suction at the spot of trouble; it will draw up any toxins and will allow the area to relax, so that other therapies can help break up the knots."
"OK."
She places a glass cup on my back and applies suction. It feels pretty good. She applies another and another, till there are 10 glass cups suctioning the skin of my back, largely concentrated on the side that hurts. "The skin under the cups is purple - that's because there are a lot of toxins there. People question this technique and say we're just making bruises. If the skin was healthy, it wouldn't be purple, it would be white or pink. If we keep doing this, your skin will heal and would bring up pink when we put on the cups."
"So how bad does it look?"
My arm is still numb, but my back pain is worse. I think that actually mean it is working, since my back was completely immune to rubbings and massage before. The acupuncture and cupping broke up the tension up enough for me to feel it.
She also asked me about my diet and personal habits - go figure, that kind of stuff matters. "Well, I eat a lot of the good fats, but haven't exercised like I used to when I played competitive racquetball. I also drink moderately and smoke sometimes. But my cholesterol is 140!" I'm waiting for the usual oohs and aahs that my low cholesterol brings, distracting them from the moderate smoking and drinking. "You have an auto immune blood deficiency - your cholesterol should be low." Dammit.
So, basically, I need to exercise more and eat better. Shocking! And I have the cup-shaped hickeys on my back to prove it. I'm going to go back on Friday for another session - anything that will take away this back pain without me being on oxycontin or muscle relaxers will be worth it. One funny thing though - when I got home, I immediately started researching cupping. Turns out it's safe for everyone . . . unless you have low platelets and bleeding disorders. She knew that when she put the cups on.
So, if I don't show up for a while, let's all hope Gwyneth's New-Agey treatments didn't lead me to a pulmonary embolism brought about by my newfound levels of increased blood circulation.
