Cumbria Acupuncture Blog

Mr Place is a retired bricklayer. For the last 10 years he had been suffering from a very embarrassing problem - a sharp pain in his anus when he was in sitting position. None of the doctors he had seen could explain why he had it, but I thought it could be related with the strenuous physical work he had done in the past. As he was getting older, the symptom seemed to be gradually getting worse and he also felt really cold easily. For the acupuncture treatment, I used a few points in his lower back and sacrum area. After the first treatment when he got up from the couch, I asked him to sit down and see what it felt like. Sitting on the chair, he looked very surprised and said he could hardly feel the pain. When he came back the following week, he looked disappointed and told me that he was only pain-free for the day and then it came back. After the second session, he said he was going to be busy for a while and had to ring me for the next appointment. Three weeks later, Mr Place was in my clinic again, saying that the pain was easier only for about 2-3 days after last session. He said to me: "Maybe I shouldn't say this, but could you just put the needles right into that painful area?" I was surprised by what he said and gave my opinion: "Look, Mr Place, you've had the problem for 10 years and nothing helped. Now we've already seen some good result from the acupuncture treatment and it's encouraging. Please just be patient and give it some time. I'm afraid I can't do what you said. It doesn't work that way." Unfortunately, Mr Place didn't come back again after the third session, and I felt really sorry for him.