Acupuncture is Powerful!

Yesterday I learned that it's very important to ask the person you are treating if they have eaten or if they're afraid of needles (and monitor if they are tensing up during treatment). I had a knee treatment done by one of my professors early in the afternoon. A couple of hours later, I allowed two fellow students (2nd year) to do their needling exercises on me. One did face points to treat facial paralysis and the other did foot points - all very painful. When the student doing the face points finished off with Large Intestine 4- on the thenar eminence I began to feel faint, then had a rapid heart rate, then began to shake uncontrollably. A clinic supervisor came by, along with several other students and said that they might need to call 911. That added to my condition and I lost control of my hand and face muscles. They took my blood pressure and my heart rate was at 156bpm. I was freaking out, thinking that my face and hands would be paralyzed. I felt like I was going to pass out. This continued for about 20-25 minutes until I finally balanced out and got up and went to class. Last night I felt like my electrical system had been messed with (it had). I couldn't sleep and was having a hard time breathing regularly.

Now, about 14 hours later, I still feel pretty weak. Unfortunately I have finals this weekend and don't feel much like studying. What did I learn from this? 1. ask a patient if they ate 2. don't over-do treatment 3. acupuncture is damn powerful.