On Sept. 26, 2023, I had my first complex migraine. It was the most painful thing I had ever experienced, with an excruciating headache on the left side of my head and my left leg going numb. It resulted in me going to the hospital, where the doctors told me it would just happen once and I would need IV fluids. They were wrong. I started to get more and more migraines, ending up back in the hospital, desperate to find answers. It got so bad I had to do an MRI because the doctors wanted to rule out a tumor. Thankfully, my MRI came back clear, and my official diagnosis was that I suffered from what they called “complex migraines.”
I had never experienced migraines, and I had no idea what was in store for me. The doctors prescribed me medicine, saying that was the only way to treat them. I decided to research and talk to my family, and my uncle suggested acupuncture. He had been doing it for years, and he said it was the best thing he did for his health, both mental and physical. I will admit I was very skeptical and hesitant at first. I had so many questions. Does it work? Do the needles hurt when they go into your skin? Will my migraines stop? I was so desperate to get continuous relief that I asked my uncle to make an appointment and went into it with an open mind.
According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, acupuncture is “a technique in which practitioners insert fine needles into the skin to treat health problems. The needles may be manipulated manually or stimulated with small electrical currents (electroacupuncture). [It] has been in use in some form for at least 2,500 years.”
For me, it was way more than that. I have had the pleasure of working with the sweetest acupuncturist who, from the first day, made sure I would feel relieved and free of pain. We have worked together over the past seven months to not only maintain my physical health but my mental health as well. I truly owe it all to her as I went from getting two to three migraines a week to now getting one to two migraines a month.
It was shocking to me how such a practice could rid me of the pain that was taking over my entire life. I go once a week, and the session is usually around an hour long. It also does not hurt whatsoever, and it is the time of the week I look forward to the most. Before I even say anything, I walk in, and my acupuncturist recognizes what she needs to target for me to feel at peace as I walk out. I feel like the term “at peace” is used frequently and has lost meaning, but I truly feel relaxed. Almost everything I was worried about had stopped holding such a weight.
I will always stress the importance of taking care of your physical and mental health. Acupuncture is something that I have found helps target both and has significantly changed my way of life. It saved me from enduring constant painful migraines but has also significantly helped me with my mental health as I am someone who deals with OCD and anxiety. If anyone is stressed, deals with OCD and anxiety like I do, or even has other health issues, I will always recommend trying acupuncture. No matter what you are experiencing, acupuncture might help combat those problems. You never know, it could change your life like it did mine!