To begin the treatment of 12 flowers, you lie down on a massage table, face down with your back exposed. After the needles are in place, an herb pellet is lit on fire and placed beside the needles in corresponding order. The pellet is created by mixing a Chinese cooking sage along with other herbs to create the tablet form. It then begins to smoke and burn down. The theory is that the faster the pellet burns down, the more that the area that it relates to is cold. This also brings heat to that organ system, helping it to warm up.

So, the smell isn't too bad and you really can't feel too much. Until a little later when they burn down close enough to the skin. At that point, your acupuncturist will remove the pellet and extinguish it in a bowl of water that is also on the table.

The first treatment, the pellets burned very quickly in my kidney areas. At the point that they were very close to the skin, I couldn't feel hardly anything. This is where the interesting fertility tie in comes along. Mr. R. wonderingly commented to me, "The kidneys in Chinese medicine also play a part in fertility. Didn't you have trouble conceiving and carrying your daughter?"

I had seen Mr. R. after my miscarriages and a long, drawn out recovery from a couple of D&Cs gone wrong. I had needed to do something, but was scared to continue along with traditional Western testing. Going in for acupuncture treatments made me feel like I was choosing a path to return to health and that I did have a certain amount of control. It also really helped with my stress at the time.

I don't know why I felt so good about his comment about my fertility issues back then. I also don't know if the treatment will work to help with my allergies. I do know that I left the office feeling confident about a choice that I had made for myself almost four years ago.