the Cost of Single Acupuncture Treatments

The service involved sticking needles in my face and chest, then burning incense attached to the ends of the needles not sticking in my skin. Price was for one treatment.

Acupuncture seems to be limited to various forms of needle sticking, some with incense, some with electric current, some without either, some with both. All forms were available. Prices were dependent slightly on the number of needles and the number of times they expect you to return for more needle sticking.

None of this is covered by any insurance I know of, and probably won't be without act of Congress, as was the case with chiropractors.

The practitioner was polite and confident in his work. I hesitate to say he was all that kind because he was, after all, sticking needles in me. Though he said it wouldn't hurt, it did hurt. And he seemed to enjoy it, though that may have been the migraine talking. However the needle-sticking process was no help at all. Or, rather, it was a great help in eliminating acupuncture as a means of solving my migraine headaches.

To get an idea of what a migraine headache feels like, consider the following: imagine a spotlight, one of the 10 foot across ones that they use at movie premieres (or at least used to), and place it an inch from the end of your nose and turn it on. Then imagine placing your head between two jet engines on afterburn. And finally imagine being kicked repeatedly in the stomach by a large, angry ostrich. That about sums it up. At least for me. Oh and imagine having it happen randomly about once every month or so and last for a day or three.

So when real medicine had failed me, in desperation I sought "alternative treatment." So far no luck in stopping the headaches. The best course of action has been to simply sedate myself until the migraines pass.

Don't bother unless you're into having things stuck in your skin for the sake of having things stuck in your skin. If you are into that kind of thing, make sure the sticky things are sterile before they're stuck into you. And that they aren't long enough to be stuck in so deep as to cause real damage. Oh, and be sure they have nice handles on the non-pointy end for easy removal in case they do get stuck in fairly deep.