Throwing John in My Nest

WARNING: This post makes references to social media. If you are not a Twitter person, please continue reading for content. If you are a fellow Tweep, consider checking these folks / events out. We are a pretty welcoming lot. Just don't try to sell us stuff.

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I love that social media has introduced me to many amazing and talented people, with skill sets I may never have otherwise encountered in my daily life.

One of these people is @JBlaska. After a fantastic conversation at #stptweetup with the delightful @grandciel about health, healing, and how we are just reaching the tip of the iceberg in our knowledge, we asked one another about acupuncture. Neither of us had tried it, nor knew much about it. We vowed to keep our Twitter-eyes open.

I no more returned to my seat, and John introduced himself. We did the usual pleasantries, and I discovered lo and behold that John had traveled the world to study with the best of the best Tibetan and Chinese practitioners of Eastern medicine.

My luck with Western medicine was proving to be more of a medicate-and-wait-for-the-next-thing-to-tear-apart, then see if they can be braced, injected or operated upon. Four surgeries - more, actually, if you count the five c-spine epidurals - one pending with this wicked ankle, more cortisone shots than I can count in my hands and elbows, a brace collection that would rival that of a linebacker, and a medication list that literally has me on a first-name basis with the pharmos over at CVS... Western was doing me no real proactive favors.

The next day, John emailed me a casual "thanks for chatting"-type note with a basic reminder of who he was. Nice. Email or written, thank you notes get my attention.

Now, I'm not a big believer in that The Secret chickie. She's a tad too kooky-dook for my taste, but I digress... Meeting John was serendipitous. Maybe even coincidence.

"God feeds all sparrows, but he doesn't throw seed in the nest." He threw John in my nest, and I needed that extra push to make the call and check it out.

I have said it before, but in case it got missed: the goal of this blog is to spare even one person the frustration and pain that this rare disorder has brought into my life. If someone five years from now sees themselves and says - "Hey! That's me!" and can get diagnosed earlier, more quickly and without being told it's all in their head, it's worth it.

Transparency on the table, this is not an overt or covert ad for John and his business. However, three weekly visits later and there seems to be a reduced constant "haze" or aura of pain 24 hours a day. Migraine sufferers know what I am talking about. Anyone who has ever bonked their funny bone knows, too. This EDS pain is like that, and never goes away. It's neurological pain, baby, that sh*t sticks with you, until you medicate so heavily that it's a drug haze. Either way, it's zombietown.

Whether it is the acupuncture (totally painless, by the way), the heat light, the pure relaxation, or the comfort John provides in his utterlyfantasticallywonderouslyamazing knowledge of the human body, it HAS helped. Plus, the cozy and peaceful office is a 180 from the cold, sterile brightness of a traditional doctors' lair.

Maybe it's that, or a combination of things. Don't know, don't care. The percocet bottle will hopefully remain in it's little hutch today. It ain't magic, folks. Just because a method of healing was discovered thousands of years ago by people who look and live differently than we do, doesn't negate the validity.

Well, I am hopping off my soapbox and heading to the kitchen to *stand* (yay!) and make some bread and some dinner. When standing long enough to cut some veggies totals you out for the day, being able to cook and move on is a gift.

Secret? Whateves. I think it's John.

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Not paid, not requested, not even approved. Here is my biased recommendation if you are in pain: www.everspringhealth.com or follow @evrspringliving or @ JBlaska on Twitter.