My foray into acupuncture.

I decided to try acupuncture to heal/treat/forever banish my arthritis. As my luck would have it, my middle toe on my right foot has gotten swollen and troublesome in the past month or so. Aleve helps, but I would rather not commit to a lifetime of pill-popping. Not judging, it's just not my style.

I found a wonderful little man right here in town that came highly recommended via yelp. When I showed up, he was indeed adorable and kind. He placed about a dozen needles in me, most notably one on top of my head. Then he instructed me to lay and breathe deeply from my stomach (which surprisingly was much harder for me to manage than it sounded). He also provided me with a couple heat lamps - which left me feeling like a 4 hour-old wonton at the local Panda Garden Buffet.

Here's the kicker: at the end, he takes out some sort of hot poker and places it on my toe and instructs me to let him know when it's hot. Several times. At first I tried to play tough guy and stick it out as long as possible (giggling at "stick it out" in an acupuncture post). By the end I was yelping "That's HOT!" with a sense of urgency I'm certain not even Paris Hilton herself is familiar with.

I've done three "sessions" and I don't think I'm noticing anything. But perhaps I'm not getting into "the zone" enough to let it work. I'm too fixated on whether or not those stupid lamps are giving me a tan.