I have been in a little bit of shock for the last two days...trying to figure out what happened at my appointment Friday.

I should start by saying that I have been feeling steadily worse for the last couple of weeks. The allergies have gone to my chest again and I have a cough and am just extremely tired. When I go outside it gets worse, probably because of the outdoor allergies, and by the time I would get to Christina's office she would hear me really hacking and coughing. These treatments can take a toll on your strength. I said twice to her I think I should go to the doctor and probably get penicillin. Her answer was try the Chinese herbs etc., so I did that for weeks. Probably waited too long. Once it goes down there I usually have a problem.

Friday I arrived at her office after prepping to clear C again. She said she had called Dr. Nambudripad to ask for advice because she was concerned I wasn't getting better, and wasn't strong enough to keep doing the clearings. Dr. N told her she couldn't continue if my muscle strength wasn't there. So the plan was to discontinue for awhile until I get my strength back and get rid of the infection if there is one.

She suggested we do a balancing treatment to get me stronger before I left. She got 2 needles in and I completely lost it!! My head went hot and then the tears started coming and I ended up pouring my emotions out about the last 19 years of frustration, guilt, etc. over being sick. Boy...acupuncture is powerful! It opens up pathways and stuff just tumbles out. Two days later I still can't quite believe it. Christina was very nice through it all. Sat and talked to me. She then went to treat another patient. I got myself together and when I left there was no one at the front desk so I just walked out.

So yesterday, in addition to being embarrased about what happened (I know I shouldn't be but...), I am starting to get a little angry over the whole thing. I feel abandoned! How am I supposed to get better if I can't get treatments? Make me worse and then say go away until I'm stronger?? I need to get rid of the allergies so I can stop the constant bronchitis problems. It really is a catch 22.

She hasn't called to see if I'm alright and nothing was said about canceling all my appointments. Why not call me before I drove all that way if she knew she wasn't going to treat me. It is hard to prep for something like C and I could have saved all that trouble.

I liked her a lot so I overlooked some of the things she did and said that didn't conform to Dr. N's protocol. I couldn't find her listed on the website but I just thought she knew enough. Maybe I was wrong. When I found her I wasn't specifically looking for a NAET practioner. I had never even heard of it. So when she recommended it to me I said O.K. She had been recommended by my doctor as an acupuncturist and I think she is very good at that. To be fair, she told me that NAET was not her specialty.

So what to do? I'm going to go to my doctor this week to address the cough. And I have found some other NAET practitioners not too far away that are listed on the website. So I think the next step is to get some consultations. My advice to anyone out there looking for someone is to get the referral from the website. I read that advice and ignored it because I was already there for something else and just continued.

I sure am tired of this. It takes a lot of energy to get well!

On a positive note, I did pass the newspaper ink and do think I'm seeing a difference there.

Over the years I've tried just about everything. In addition to the shots there were the pills, both prescription and over the counter. I've also tried a lot of "natural" remedies including supplements and the "honey cure"...the one where you get honey from local bees and eat it. But nothing has worked. About five years ago we moved to an agricultural area (what was I thinking??) and I have gotten steadily worse.

I can't breathe! My eyes are killing me. If I go out and there is any wind my nose just runs. Makes it a little hard to do anything outside. And in addition to the allergies I now have allergy induced asthma and have to use an Advair inhaler. I am so sick of it. Right now I have just finished a dose of antibiotics for bronchitis. We built a house here so I can't very easily move, but I don't want to be on a steroid inhaler forever. My regular doctor wants me to go to a new allergist. He thinks a good allergist would be able to make up a comprehensive mixture to inject and I might have better results than the last time. But I really don't want to go though the testing and the allergy shots again so I've been putting it off.

Last week my gynecologist recommended acupuncture! She thought it would help generally with the anxiety disorder and for the allergies. I have thought about this over the years and always wanted to try it but didn't know who to go to. I have never known anyone who has tried it. But she knew two good people so I picked one and called.

I have my first appointment on Monday and I'm really looking forward to it. As long as I don't have a panic attack with all those needles sticking in me! Should be very interesting. Checked with my insurance though and it's not covered. I wonder how many treatments it takes for results? One site I found says at least once a week for 2-3 months. Could get very expensive. I'll keep you posted.