How Quickly
Dear Patient,
“How quickly am I going to feel better?” a person will want to know.
I have a story about that.
One time I was working a shift at my clinic when I had sudden onset, severe abdominal pain. I was doubled over in pain; there was no way I could treat patients. Fortunately a colleague stepped in and gave me a treatment. She placed the needles and after a few minutes of rest, I felt a needle pop out of my ear, then felt blood trickling from the point. Immediately, I felt remarkably better. The pain vanished.
I share this story because it’s truly an example of the exception proving the rule. Such a dramatic and swift outcome with acupuncture is possible—and exceedingly rare. More often, change happens incrementally, sometimes almost imperceptibly, in uneven, unpredictable spurts.
Like most worthwhile endeavors, healing takes time. And there’s no predicting how long it will take. You’ll start, you’ll advance, you’ll stall. This is how it works.
But even when you don’t notice the change, healing is still happening. Plates are shifting far beneath the surface, too deeply to see or feel at first. But it’s happening.
Love and gratitude,
Your Acupuncturist