Does it hurt?

I remember when I started acupuncture, the acupuncturist told me, "It's not about the needles." I once heard that the needles were so thin that you hardly even feel them.

NOT TRUE!

I definitely feel them! They definitely hurt.

Not a ton. It's not as if I'm in agonizing pain. But they do prick when they enter the skin, often making me jump and squirm a little. I've gotten used to it, but they still hurt. Sometimes when a needle goes in, it sends a pulse of...something (Qi?)...through a meridian, and that's pretty freaky. I'm a pretty needle-phobic person and this has taken a lot of getting used to, but, even after two years, I'm not really used to it.

(My friends wonder why I do it.)

The acupuncturist (her name is Marlena) puts the needles into a number of points: some on my feet, some on my legs, some on my arms, some on my shoulders (this is where I've been aching recently), and some on my head. Yes, my head. Recently, to help with my allergies, Marlena has been putting needles in my ears, which is very weird. There's also a point between my eyes, right above--where the "third eye" in Hinduism is supposed to rest, I think--and sometimes she puts a needle there, too.

And then I flip over on my back for more.

Again, after two years of this, I've very much gotten used to it, but I certainly would never say that I don't notice it or that it doesn't bother me. I've learned to block it all out by closing my eyes and thinking about...anything else. Had I known in advance what I was getting into, I probably would have been too chicken to try it out.

But I don't have regrets; I'm glad I went into this blindly.