A personal account of acupuncture

I came across PeaceBang's account of her first acupuncture session, and I wanted to write a post about it because 1) it gets at many of the reasons why I personally like acupuncture and 2) it points to some key problems with conventional medical practice. Don't get me wrong. I think biomedicine is a great thing, and I *love* my MD. However, I can empathize with PeaceBang's observations of and feelings about her doctor always seeming rushed and stressed, getting prescription notes thrown at you, etc. I often leave my doctor appointments feeling very frustrated that I wasn't able to address the various questions I had for her because my fifteen minutes was up. And don't get my started on the triage nurses who are supposed to be able to answer your questions in between appointments--in my own experience, they have not been particularly helpful.

For the most part, these problems are not so much the fault of individual MDs or nurses (although some health care providers are better than others) but are indicative of broader problems with our current medical system.

Oh, in case anybody is wondering, I have been getting acupuncture regularly for the past five years. I have chronic eczema, and although accupuncture hasn't "cured" my condition, it has decreased my symptoms without the use of potentially harmful steroids, antibiotics, etc. I recommend it for anyone suffering from eczema or other skin and allergy problems.