So I think I remember saying that I was doing pretty well a few months ago. Well I feel like I'm hitting a downturn and having a flare at the moment, so it's a bit depressing. To be specific, I was seeing this Chinese doctor who did acupuncture on me which was really effective, like literally that morning after he did it, my flares would go down that evening, and I would sleep like a baby. He also gave me Chinese medicine, and it sort of had the effect of prolonging the effects of the acupuncture. But then after like 6 months, he said his treatment is only temporary and couldn't really cure me, so he referred me to another doctor. On his first referral, after seeing another doctor for a few weeks, I went back to the original doc because I could feel my skin deteriorating after stopping the acupuncture treatment, but after a few more weeks of going back to him he sort of asked me to leave because he thinks I'm addicted to the acupuncture (what kind of doctor asks a suffering patient to leave!?).
So now here I am, my skin worsening after a few months of almost clear skin from the effect of acupuncture, having seen a few other Chinese docs but not any of them could compare with effects of the original one. And then I start to ponder on the thought of what the doc said about addiction to acupuncture - could that even be possible? That acupuncture gives instant healing effect, but in the long run would cause reliance on it?? Gosh it's sounding like the side effects of steroids, which is just crazy and scary. But it can't be, I mean it's not even drugs - it's just a needle in a place in my body - how is that even scientifically possible to cause addiction? But I'm truly starting to wonder if this acupuncture treatment has slowed down my healing process, or could it just be the notorious one-year flare? I wonder how everyone else's experience on acupuncture is like?
Anyway, the good news is that I'm not entirely back to square one. My skin now is slightly red, with average amount of shedding, and less able to regulate body temperature (when I was better back then I was so resilient to coldness and would easily sweat). Comparing to the initial month of heavy ozzing on legs, super red on entire body, and my shivering all the time, this is still progress. Although the most depressing part is that there's an oozing patch on my face that won't go away. It's so hard to manage, especially because I need to go to work and need myself to look somewhat presentable. But still I learn to be grateful for every bit of progress I make during this awful healing process.
Hope every TSW out there is getting through this journey day by day... Happy healing everyone!
