Team headstrong will enter 2014 under 2 new teams, Greenville Velo (out of Greenville, SC) and Maddog83 (out of Tucson, Az).. It has been a great 4 years of racing, companionship, and community. We have accomplished some great things, but like all things, time moves on and so will we. See below for more details......

Monday, February 13, 2012

#13 Marginal Gain - Acupuncture

Some of you have heard me say that being married to Teenie is like being on a Star Trek voyage.   It got strange today.

Still on Yellow Light, I headed to Yoga at  9AM, on Teenie's prompting.  I have been poking around,  and tried one core class to replace Sam's class while we are in Tucson.   I am really a yoga virgin.  After 1.5 hours in 105F heat, putting my body into unnatural pretzel like positions while standing on one leg, I was beat.   Feeling like I had just done a 3.5 hour hammer fest team ride, I did not speak a full sentence for 25 minutes.   When I did, it was,"Wow, that was hard!"  Pretty sure I lost 6 pounds via sweat as that was the net gain in weight for my towel and shirt (both of which are dry fit stuff).

A cat nap ensued and then came the real terrifying news.   I learned I had an appointment with an Acupuncturist at 3:30.   Being honest, our new friend Mary had suggested this treatment and I politely had responded positively.   Now a guy was going to stick needles in me (who knows where?) to cure bad sinus and allergies?  'Mary, is a cool person...it'll be OK.'  How is that for whippin' out a quick affirmation?

At 3:30, I rolled into a strip center on Prince.......not the best part of town.   The glass in front of the office has 1000 diseases named on it.  Presumably, these guys can cure all of them.   I do not see sinus and/or allergies.  I really don't even know what feng shui is?  To tell the truth, I just looked up how to spell it.   But, I am dead sure this place has zero feng shui.

After a quick consultation,  Dr Robert Wu, OMD (?) looked up my nose, pressed around on my face and made a diagnosis.   Even though Dr Wu is hard to understand, his simple explanation seemed very credible.   He said my nose was clogged, not allowing the mucus to escape.  Mucus was rolling down my throat, irritating my esophagus and bronchial tubes........at least, I think that is what he said?

Dr Wu urged me to come to the next office for the fix.   Seated in a metal folding chair, I soon had 3 needles sticking out of my cranium and Dr Wu inserted the first two swabs (green) up my nose about 4 ft into my sinuses.   "Five minutes," he said,  "and I'll be back." (didn't somebody famous say that?)   These were followed by yellow swabs for 5 minutes and finally brown ones for 10!




All good.   They gave me powder to put in water and drink (imagine drinking the root of dessert plant).

$123.00 USD (not won, yen or anything like that)

'Come back on Wednesday!'

In all seriousness, while way out of my comfort zone, I did not have a bad experience.  Going to any doctor is not fun but if this one cures me, I will be singing his praises.

Just think, today was my 'day off'.  Lemmon tomorrow, will be breeze.

"Beam me up, Scottie" 






8 comments:

Sam said...

Awesome! If this works, team Headstrong are going to be sticking needles in each other. Maybe it will make us faster too :)

Brian said...

Careful! cyclist sticking needles into themselves is serious business in our sport haha

Giselle said...

I can't wait to hear if it works...keep us in the loop!

Kristen Weinacker said...

Ahh....join the club of having needles stuck in you! I BELIEVE! I've had about 5 sessions of dry needling and had great results!! You become desperate to try anything that may work, and sometimes it does, and sometimes you end up looking silly with colored swabs up your nose and a grease rag for a snot cloth because you can't afford to buy the fancy extra soft tissues because you are so broke ;),...

But, you won't know unless you try. Knowledge is power, keep seeking those alternative therapies. We aren't "normal" everyday people, we are athletes, disciplined, and very headstrong. We expect results now and not the usual, 'take this pill or that pill',.. just doesn't work for us.....we are....hmmmmm......special :) Good luck, and like G said, keep us posted!

The Hoods said...

Just curious...how was climbing Lemmon with those sticks up your nose? Are they on the banned list?

Debi said...

wow he really 'stuck it to ya' so to speak....

I have my doubts - but if it works - then it works!

Kimberly said...

I'm all about HOT YOGA, but not so sure about needles;-) Actually, I have been practicing Hot Yoga for over a year and when I think I'm getting a cold (or attacked by the green monster,) I do 2 or 3 days of HOT YOGA to literally detox is out! Just this year, it has worked twice! I felt like I was getting a cold two times already (I am surrounded by 400 kids every day!) so I up-ed my Yoga and so far, so good! Plus taking Juice Plus, of course!!!!!!

Perry said...

Jonathon Boyer from my old home region of Nor Calif(the first American to complete the TdF, and who finished 12th one year) was a big believer in Acupuncture. He actually used it during his first RAAM in the late 80's.