I felt a hot burning sensation in my right buttocks and electrical shocks pulsating through my anklebones at two second intervals -- exactly. Giggling at me was a young girl in a blue uniform that looked no older than twelve. I thought I was in a dream.
The only down side to this trip, and it has been ugly, was my back problems. I have been walking more than usual out of necessity. I’ve also kept a daily workout routine of Pilates and cycling in an attempt to keep some excess pounds off as well keeping in shape to a minimal degree. All of which seems to adversely affect my back by inflaming the lumbar 4/5 area. Yesterday afternoon I had my first appointment at the Mungkala Medicine Clinic.
I scheduled two back-to-back appointments, a consultation at 3:30 and the first acupuncture treatment at 4:00. The clinic itself turned out to be a house in a nice residential setting and only two blocks from my hotel. It could be an easy walk if the treatments worked. Once again, I was greatly impressed by the cleanliness and efficiency of health care in Chiang Mai. The new patient form was one small sheet of paper asking for name, address, telephone number, date of birth and the reason I was there – nothing else. Consultation fee was 200 baht and another 500 baht for the first treatment. A total of $ 25.00, U.S. currency.
Dr. Rungrat was a knowledgeable Thai physician that had studied medicine extensively in China for over twenty years. She knew exactly what my problem was – lower back and sciatica nerve pain down the leg. This condition appears to be more and more common with every doctor I see. I was assured I would get relief in some form and she suggested four treatments. They were booked in daily succession beginning with today and ending on Monday morning.
For the first time in my life I was very open-minded with the concept of acupuncture. First of all, I was left with no other alternatives – it’s this or the scalpel. I was escorted to exam room number four; there were eight rooms total. The Doctor showed up within five minutes. I removed my shorts and lied on my side on a hard bed facing white- laced curtains and a lovely view to a garden in the side yard. She inserted seven needles in my body, two at the spine, two in the buttocks, one behind the knee, and two at the ankle. The ankle and buttock needles were right on, I could tell the minute they were inserted. They were in the exact stops the pain originated. There was no discomfort; I could barely fell the needles at all. Then she attached small alligator clips with wires connecting to a machine that looked very similar to a typical EKG heart-monitoring device. A heat lamp was placed within inches of my buttocks.
Power up. I could feel it now. Electrical current pulsated through every nerve that my pain was felt and the heat lamp intensified to a burning sensation. I remained like this with a young nurse, I swore looked twelve years old, standing by me to insure I didn’t move for twenty minutes. After about ten minutes the needles began to itch and not moving was as difficult as meditation. The young nurse, Anna, would touch my body near where a needle vibrated slightly from my movement and scold me with smiles and giggles. How could anyone possibly feel annoyed in this situation?
The first treatment ended and I walked back to my hotel, I was slightly better by about 10%. That isn’t much, but if I can improve 10% with each visit that will be a significant reduction in pain from noninvasive care and enough to make this trip really worth while.
This morning I head to my Pilates class then back again to the clinic in the afternoon with a likely message between. I was going to say I may never come home, but the truth is I might already be home.
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