Menopause and healing from a traumatic injury
Why did I chose to have acupuncture? Being a female of a “certain age” they call it, I was suffering from menopausal symptoms:
Hot flushes – 20 per hour every hour of every day
Not sleeping
Piling on the weight , but not over eating
Brain fog …. And the list can go on….
I certainly wasn’t prepared to put up with this, and someone said “Try acupuncture”. Straight on to Google, I found Mango Acupuncture in Chester; yes she had an appointment. No fear, just desperate to sort this out… I was filled with the emotion of the unknown, fear along with joy; this is going to work isn’t it?! NO pressure, but I had to try something!
During the consultation with Emma; I blurted out all that was happening to me. She listened and listened and listened some more. Emma explained the process of Yin & Yang and balancing of the energy within to help my body cope with these normal hormonal changes.
Emma’s explanation was logical; re-training your kidneys and liver to work with each other to ensure they deal with the heat my body is generating and reduce these hot flushes. Instead of the vicious cycle of overheating, and dehydrating, leading to more overheating, it’s all about encouraging the body to adapt to it’s new normal - to maintain homeostasis or ‘yin and yang balance’. It’s a traditional Chinese medicine theory, she said, that acupuncture treatment is based on.
OK, I must read about this Chinese medicine, I have no idea what it actually is but I was interested to find out. We need to retrain she said: I remember reciting those words over and over in my head. We do things to our body and our body stops doing the natural things it should do, it becomes lazy she said; we drink a cup of coffee every morning giving it the rush of caffeine to function: when we do this our body is not producing the natural hormones to kick start the day… your body will wait for its morning kick from your drink. Made perfect sense to me…
Acupuncture is not a quick fix, it is an investment in myself with self care from the inside out. After all I would not think twice about socialising in the pub and spending money chucking wine in my stomach. I made a promise to myself - no WINE until I learn a way to balance my hormones. Water, water, and more water, to flush out every day without fail, green vegetables, and no alcohol. OK lets do this…
My investment started with two sessions a week for the first 3 weeks. My investment to ME. I went home after every session and slept all night. I don’t think I moved a muscle; regenerating my faith in who I was, not one hot flush all night. I kept my promise and weeks went by: another 6 sessions were booked and instead we went once a week. Some sessions I just slept, maybe even a little snore fell out. I felt calm and more grounded in myself.
The flushes were small and reducing at a fast pace, the sleep was amazing, the fog had gone. I began to feel like myself once again. Today I have a little hot flush in the morning when my body wakes up and another flush when I am about to fall asleep; that is it.
That was just the beginning of my journey with Emma at Mango Acupuncture: 3 years later I still go and have a monthly ‘balance’. I need to make sure the investment I have made with Emma continues on its beautiful natural calming path. I can honestly say, Emma is the most honest gentle soul I have ever met, a remarkable young lady.
I have to add - during my time with Emma, I broke my ankle - 3 places, 3 plates, 9 pins. After waiting for 4 months not being able to walk on it, another journey began. I just needed to be able to drive to get to Emma to present this swollen ankle with plates and pins to shout help once again!
She never failed; once the wounds from surgery had healed, we began with 6 sessions, 2 per week once again on the road to heal the ankle. The surgeon had done their part and pinned the bones. I am sure when they pushed everything back it must have been like stuffing a pillow back when the filling comes out - it never goes back like it was. Meridian lines must have been cut /damaged, the circulation was poor, and the mobility was bad too.
The trauma I experienced was overwhelming as I sat there sobbing away with ‘help’ written all over my forehead. Emma began her work – after every session I could do something more, a little more pressure on the foot, a little more walking normally, a little more sensation in the toes. I was feeling fabulous again; still a journey to complete but feeling fabulous.
The investment I had done earlier paid for itself as my body was reacting to the acupuncture in a quick and positive way. My body knows what it should be doing and it knows what it should be putting right. 12 months later, still with the pins and plates attached to me, I am pleased to say my ankle is back to normal – I have lost 5% of my capacity there; the surgeon said I would lose 25%, so that is a bonus for me. No scarred, bulky tissue, all smooth, strong, and much more flexible thanks to the magic pins.
I believe I could not have healed on this level this quickly without the acupuncture from Emma and I can’t thank her enough for her skill, expertise, and patience, along with her gentle soul shining through once again. I run through the park with my grandchildren; thank you Emma from the bottom of my heart. I am staying on this journey with Emma, on a monthly basis, it keeps me grounded and balanced. It’s worth every penny of investment; apologies to Emma - you are not getting rid of me easily.