Having failed miserably with the new drugs to control hot flushes I booked myself an acupuncture appointment. I’d been in correspondence with the practioner and duly turned up at an address in Hartley in Plymouth… it looked like a family home, which is was.
The young woman acupunctuarist (Sp?) beckoned me in, invited me to sit down and took my history. This involved finding several different pulses in both wrists and looking at my tongue whilst asking me heaps of questions. Did I rush about a lot… yes I did… did I suffer from heat… oh yes… did I have headaches.,. yes when tense…. and I told her about the breast cancer, the implant and the drugs which was the reason I was here. So once diagnosed with a YIN pulse I had to lie flat and she placed 4 needles in each foot and ankle. It was a very strange sensation – the needles were very fine so it didn’t hurt as they went through the skin but there was a surreal nerve reaction to each one, it was almost as it a pulse of electricity was released. Further needles were placed in my right hand and wrist (she wouldn’t touch the left side as that was the mastectomy site and side) and then I had to lie quietly for 30 minutes. The good news from this is that the treatment didn’t make me vomit. The bad it cost £60 and it takes a series of treatments to be effective. I felt fairly zoned out but I think that was due to the rushing about in the day and an enforced rest period at about 4.30pm. Have the volcanic hot flushes stopped… no not yet. Am I convinced… not entirely, I’m rather sceptical but I will give it another go.
The Impatient Geography Patient 