I have some pretty awesome news! Now that the tissue around my back, shoulders, and neck have been loosened up (combined with daily stretching exercises, an item/technique given, and some pain relief stuff), the pathways that run up into my face are now open. I don't know the terminology.
Before they had to do acupuncture right on the face, and around my face, but no matter how many needles they put further away ...like in my arms, hands, feet, or even behind my ears or on my neck never made a difference before...because I had so much blockage from tissue and tension.
However, now they can finally do acupuncture needles in farther away areas like on my hands and feet, etc. and I can feel it in my face!!!! It's such a weird feeling, because I didn't think it was possible for those areas to affect my face, but I could feel the blood current pulsating all the way up into my face, and I could feel my muscles and nerves start to respond.
Last week they put needles in a bunch of places, but what hit me the most was a needle they placed in the side of my hand. They also use to put a needle between my thumb and index and that didn't work for a while, and then one day it was really intense, and I felt the sensation travel down into my wrist. However, this one that was in the side of my hand...nearest the pinky....I felt it in my upper face around my nose, and behind my ears.
What's even more surprising is I could feel some muscle contractions start to flare up in my lips and around my nose, and 3 minutes later all of a sudden they calmed down. In the past it took the whole session to finally see the contractions calm down...and they only calmed down a bit...I could still feel them, just less noticeable. However, this time, the completely calmed down.
For the first time in forever, I tried puckering my lips outward (like a duck face) very slowly and I had NO spasms! Then I tried rolling back my lower lip slowly ...up and back over my teeth, and it didn't spasm at all. The feeling of my face was so drastically different than before too. Different than any other sensation. It felt heavy....like my face was normal. I'm not use to things feeling THAT normal. I couldn't believe the ease of movement in my face without a spasm taking over, or without pain. I could still feel some throbbing around my forehead on the sides, near my ear....but the muscles in my face felt different. It felt heavy....like my movements were stable. STABLE!
I don't know how to describe the feeling of stable. I felt like I was placed in a normal body with a normal face, with normal movements. I also could feel the left corner of my face pull back even further without difficulty when I smiled. Usually when I try to make very slow movements; like doing a sly grin (pulling my left corner of my mouth slowly back and up) there is contractions beneath. Or even when I try to slowly crinkly my nose, my upper lip feels unstable. But for once nothing!!!
I was so shocked that I had to keep looking in the mirror and doing it over and over again, just to see if a spasm would happen. Anywhoo, even though the symptoms started to set in about 4 days later, I was still ecstatic about how long I went without symptoms. I know it can only keep getting better and better from here on.
My acupuncturist asked me how I feel about sessions once a week. I said it was absolutely necessary, and that I noticed the symptoms come back 4 days later...so I want to be consistently addressing it. She said she is proud I am so very aware of my symptoms because not everyone keeps a log of what they feel or when things reoccur or how they arise. Also she agreed every week is best. I told her about how the one time I couldn't get in for 2 weeks and I felt like I was back at ground zero.
My session this previous week was just as good. We did the same treatment, including some work on my back. I was feeling sore around the ridge on the back of my head, behind my ears, and in my right shoulder. I also felt the constant need to squeeze my upper back muscles and neck. The soreness I felt was no longer in a very small specific area as before....for the first time the dull soreness spanned across a greater length of my face; for example from the sides of my nose all the way down into the sides of my chin...whereas before I would usually feel soreness in one or the other, but never tied together. Again, 3-5 minutes into my session the contractions around my face/lips went away.
We'll see how things go this next week. But I'm very happy and surprised with the progress made. It may seem small, but to me it feels worlds different than before. I told my acupuncturist that on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest pain) the pain in most areas is now down a to a 4 or 3, and as far as my spasms/contractions they are also at a 3 or 2 in the larger areas I get them in. Anywhoo, it's so hard to describe what I'm going through, but I still feel the need to write about it. I can definitely feel the nerve going from behind my ear, into the side of my face and up near my cheekbones right now flaring up...but it's been flaring up on and off. However, as the days pass, the consistency of the flare has gone down. I don't feel as sore in so many areas all over now, just in certain areas, but broader ...if that makes sense.
I'm so very happy with it all! I still am on cloud 9 just remembering how my face felt normal for a couple of days. I know that tension in my upper body may be a lifelong battle, but I feel through this experience I am learning how to prepare and protect myself from overusing my muscles and nerves....and most importantly I'm learning how to LISTEN to my body and being highly aware of it's signs and changes given. I feel I understand the complexities of people's physic much more....well...maybe not understand....but respect and am mindblown by the human body and how it functions...and how each individual's form and function varies.
