Psoriatic Arthritis: Second Time Acupuncture, Cupping & Moxibustion

Good Day Everyone,

Last Friday I went for my second session with my Japanese therapist for some more complementary medicine/therapies. I could not believe the difference the first session had made to my left shoulder. A week later and that shoulder was still feeling great. There was barely any tension or tightness. I've also found that I sleep really well on a Friday night after my sessions.

In last week's session the therapist started by asking me how I was feeling, specifically with regards to my problematic left shoulder. I informed her of the huge, positive, difference the first session had made to my left shoulder and explained that I was struggling with the pain in my right shoulder and collar bone joint. Also the arthritis in my right wrist and thumb was particularly active.

Acupuncture needle in my foot

She started this second session, very much like the first one, with me lying on the massage bed facing up and her examining my stomach and then poking it in several places with an acupuncture needle. She then examined the rest of my body in detail and focussed a lot on my spine. After this I spent the next hour or so face down as she did acupuncture on various parts of my body including my head, neck, shoulders, and ankles. She did focus more on my right shoulder given that that was my problematic area currently. I apologies in advance for the quality of the photos as they were taking using a phone rather than my camera.

Acupuncture needle in my head

Like the previous week, she used Moxa patches on my ankles.  In the photo below you can see the Moxa patch on my ankle burning away. As the stub burns further down, the metal part of the base/patch does get quite hot so if the therapist hasn't taken it off by that stage then I'll usually say 'hot' in Japanese and she'll immediately remove it. She also uses a 'cigarette' version of the Moxa patch and sort of pushes the warm ash into certain places on my back after she's pierced it with an acupuncture needle.

You can listen to my experience of my second session in the video below as well as how it left me feeling afterwards and again three days post-session. In the video I also talk about my first ever experience of the wet cupping (also known as blood letting) that the therapist did on the back of my neck.

As she wrapped up the session the therapist stuck these acupuncture plasters on various parts of my body. As you can see from the photo below, the plaster has a raised nodule in the centre and inside it is a very fine, short acupuncture needle.

Single needle acupuncture plaster

I removed these acupuncture plasters a few days later and I tried to capture a photo of the needle at the center just to show you what it looks like. You'll have to excuse all the fluff that's on the sticky part of the plaster in the photo below.

In case you are wondering, my sessions typically last around 80-90mins. The first one cost 8,950 Yen and all subsequent sessions cost 6,700 Yen, which is actually cheaper than a massage.

I'll be honest, I am struggling to fully understand how exactly these therapies are working and you may think that there is an element of the placebo effect, but I am actually feeling a reduction in not only the tightness in my muscles and joints, but also a reduction in my pain, and there's no mistaking when I'm in pain. The way I look at it is that at least there are no real side effects to these therapies unlike modern pharmaceutical drugs and even if I don't understand how they are working, I will continue to explore these therapies for as long as they are having a beneficial effect. I only wish I'd started to explore them a few years earlier, but hey, you live and learn ;o)

Have you ever tried acupuncture or any other complementary therapies? What was your experience?

Love Sheen xxx

Psoriatic Arthritis: First Time Acupuncture, Cupping & Moxibustion

Good Day Everyone,

If you've read my previous post then you'll know that I've had a very tough and painful few weeks with my recent arthritic flare. I cannot put into words the fatigue and exhaustion I have felt lately, not to mention the excruciating pain, sleep deprivation and breathing difficulties. Arthritis is sooo much more than a few aches and pains!

In my desperation to manage this flare I dramatically upped my pain medication...it did nothing! I went for three massages in one week in the hope that they would alleviate my spinal and shoulder pain but again this was unsuccessful.

Acupuncture needles in my hands

So I finally bit the bullet and decided that nothing could be worse than the pain Arthur (aka arthritis) has been causing me, not even the pain (or fear rather) of needles and started to explore complementary medicine, namely acupuncture and cupping.

In this video, I talk about my first ever experience of not only acupuncture and cupping but also something call moxibustion. In a bid to save my arthritic fingers from unnecessary typing I wont repeat what I discuss in the video but I'll leave a few links down below to where you can find more information about these three therapies, in case you're interested in them.

Oh and by the way, in case you were wondering... I cannot believe HOW MUCH BETTER I feel after just one session and I'm now KICKING myself for letting my phobia of needles and pain get in the way of trying these therapies sooner! But at least I seem to be turning a corner and finally feeling human again :o).

Love Sheen xxx

More about acupuncture here
More about cupping here
More about moxibustion here
Watch moxibustion in action here