So I just had my first acupuncture appointment today...what an experience! I'm visiting my sister in Seattle this week (she attends Bastyr university's Naturopathic medicine degree program) and there is a place she goes that is reasonably priced and has excellent practitioners there. After the experience I'm tempted to do more when I get back to SF.

I was told that it wouldn't hurt at all. I learned that this is just a ploy to get you in, because it did hurt, not a whole lot but still enough that I would have liked a warning. ;) The practitioner working with me told me I experienced more pain in certain points of my body because of issues I am having with those parts (spleen and stomach, apparently). While it was a bit painful (really not bad at all, I was just unprepared) overall it was incredibly relaxing, and afterwards I felt much better for it.

I'm interested to find anyone else who has tried recurring acupuncture treatments and how they've affected overall health, since I'm now considering making this treatment a regular occurence in my schedule. I'm going to try searching around to see, but please give a shout if you have a personal experience you'd like to share!