You might not believe this (my parents and Mr Pharmacist barely do!) but today I wandered into a Chinese medicine place and had acupuncture. Oh yeah, little miss needle phobia voluntarily had 11 needles placed on various parts of her body, one in the HEAD! Wow, I can’t believe I did that.

Confused? Join me in the department of back story:

I have needle phobia. I haven’t had blood drawn like a normal person since I was 15. I go into complete panic mode. And I’m trying to combat it lately. In the last few years, I’ve managed to go to the dentist multiple times and had injections, two tooth pulled and a root canal. Before Christmas, I had the contraceptive implant stuck into my arm with a needle from Hell. And I’ve always wanted to try acupuncture.

Acupuncture is said to be very good for migraine sufferers. I personally know two people who got rid of their migraines completely thanks to acupuncture and Chinese medicine. But how does a person with a needle phobia get acupuncture? As it turns out, she just randomly wanders past a place, views the sign in the window, and then does it. And I was a bit anxious, but it was fine. I had two needles in each arm, two in each leg, two on my tummy and one on my head. Then I was told to hold still and relax for half an hour. With 11 needles in my body. It’s a testament to how far I’ve come that I not only did this, but I got a full treatment plan and am going back ten more times to do it again.

Of course there’s something wrong with the flow of my chi or whatever. It all sounds like gobbledygook to me to be honest, and I don’t really believe in alternative medicine. But guys, I’m desperate. I will try anything at this point, even pay a place almost £500 to stick needles in my body and give me powder to drink with hot water that makes what can only be described as thin mud. Sandy and gray, powdered herbs. But what if it does work? What if this makes a difference? What if this reduces the level of hell that I’m in to slightly uncomfortable every now and then rather than frequent torture? It’s absolutely worth a try.

I feel like Mulder; “I want to believe.” If believing makes it work through the powers of placebo, then you know what, that’ll be good enough for me. I don’t care how I get there, I just want to get there. I want back the life my migraines have taken away from me.